Site Constructed 17 June, 2002
Revised August 24, 2011
Archaeologists and Web Designers
Published description of Cloverdale Site written by J. Mett Shippee
and published in "Archaeological Remains in the Kansas City Area:
the Mississippian Occupation" Missouri Archaeological Society
Research Series 9, 1972.
pages 14-15: The Cloverdale site is thirty-five miles north of Steed-Kisker
(site). The house excavated there is an interesting example of the locations
chosen by Mississippian people on which to build houses. The structure
was discovered by R. B. Aker on a narrow ridge 200 feet above the extensive
village remains along valley terraces of Cloverdale Creek. Its location
prompts speculation that the builders and occupants were possibly seeking
isolation from people in the nearby village. The terrace village site
has evidence of occupation by Nebraska Culture and Mississippian peoples,
and Woodland people are also known to have camped in the valley. Nebraska
and Steed-Kisker materials are so mixed in the village site and in the
burial area on the nearby ridge that the two complexes are thought to
have occupied the area simultaneously.
A nearby burial mound, an a number of individual graves (examined before
they were destroyed by vandals) produced diagnostic artifacts of both
complexes in the general earth fill. The fact that the Nebraska Culture
people placed diagnostic artifacts near their burials indicate a departure
from what Strong noted in eastern Nebraska; burial thought to be of that
culture did not have associated artifacts that definitely identify the
remains.
The Cloverdale house was high on the ridge above the village site, which
is reminiscent of the places chosen by Nebraska Culture people as described
b Sterns in Strong, but the house plan is similar to those in Steed Kisker
sites in southern Platte County (Missouri). The entire inventory of artifacts
from the house floor and from the huge pit in the house are also similar
to those in Steed-Kisker sites. Decoration on one rim are similar to those
at Steed-Kisker, but the tempering material is sand and shell. The vessel
has a burnished surface and is very hard and heavy. The floor was originally
about two feet below the surface. A cluster of trees on the south side
of the structure prevented excavation to determine whether or not the
entrance was on that side of the house.