The Kimmswick Site (23JE02) is a
highly significant archaeological site
in Missouri that is protected within Mastodon State Park.
Several excavations have taken place at the site, but proof of its significance
as a Clovis kill site would not come about until the excavations in
1979, 1980 and 1984.
Dr. Russell Graham, excavating at the Kimmswick Site on behalf of the Missouri Parks Dept. and
the Illinois State Museum, uncovered one Clovis point during that the 1979 season. He continued working at the site
during 1980 and 1984. One Clovis point was discovered during 1980 and another during 1984.
Michael Fuller visited the site during 1979 immediately after the discovery of the first
Clovis point and took Kodachrome slides during that visit. The slides were digitized by
St. Louis Community College Instructional Resources.
The site is discussed by Professor Carl Chapman in
The Archaeology of Missouri, volume 1 (1975), and by Professors O'Brien and Wood
in The Prehistory of Missouri (1998).
Dr. Russell Graham gives a tour of the Kimmswick Site
to members of the Missouri Archaeological Society during 1981.
Reverse Hinge Fractured Clovis preform
from the lowest Clovis layer (Layer C-1) at the Kimmswick Site. Slide loaned by
Dr. Russell Graham.
Click here to see a reverse hinge fractured Clovis preform from the Martens Site (23SL222) in
St. Louis County, MO.
Clovis point found in situ during the 1979 excavation season.
Found in layer C-3 in excavation unit L22, specimen no. 32. The point was discovered by
Judy Caito - a volunteer and member of the Mound City Chapter of the Missouri Archaeological Society.
Slide loaned by Dr. Russell Graham.
Casted copy of the Clovis point
found in layer C-3 in excavation unit L22, specimen no. 32. This artifact is similar to examples
from sites in the West such as Blackwater Draw and Naco. It was found amongst disarticulated
foot bones of an adult mastodon and adjacent to a lenticular concentration
of botryoidal manganese. The cast measures 10.0 cm. in length,
2.4 cm. in width, and 0.8 cm. in thickness. The flute flake removed from the obverse
of the Clovis measures 1.8 by 1.2 centimeters.
Clovis point found in situ beneath a large bone fragment
during the 1980 excavation season. Found in Layer C-3 in excavation unit H-22; speciment No. 83.
It was made from an olive green chert and extensively resharpened. It was 1.25 meters away from
the Clovis point in excavation unit L-22. The elevation of the two artifacts differed by only 1.5
centimeters.
Slide loaned by Dr. Russell Graham.
Adult Mastodon tooth and other teeth in plaster jackets.
Upper Clovis component at the Kimmswick Site.
Slide loaned by Dr. Russell Graham.
Stone tools from the Kimmswick Site. a) Early Archaic
artifact in Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) from early 1900s; b-c) Clovis point
from excavation unit L-22; d) bifacial tool fragment from Clovis layer C-3; e)
utilized flake from Clovis layer L-3. Copied from a Missouri Archaeological Society
publication.
Stone tools from the Kimmswick Site.
f-g) Clovis in the Field Museum of Natural History (Chicago) from early 1900s;
h-i) Clovis points from excavation unit H-22; j) St. Charles point from
layer D in excavation unit P-26; k-l) reverse hinge fracture from layer C-1.
Copied from a Missouri Archaeological Society
publication.
Generalized stratigraphic profile of the Kimmswick Site.
Copied from a Missouri Archaeological Society
publication.
Top plan of excavation areas at the Kimmswick Site.
Copied from a Missouri Archaeological Society
publication.
Plot of excavation units yielding Clovis points
and the St. Charles point.
Copied from a Missouri Archaeological Society
publication.
Excavation unit at the Kimmswick site where the
Holocene (after Ice Age) soil deposits have been removed until the top of the Pleistocene
(Ice Age) deposits appear. A deep probe (in the foreground) shows the depth of Pleistocene
boulder and clay deposits. The Clovis points were found in two stratified and superimposed pond
pond deposits.
Transit set up at the site during 1979 to measure
elevation of bones and artifacts uncovered by the excavation at Kimmswick.
Excavating at Kimmswick during summer 1979.
Excavating at Kimmswick during summer 1979.
Excavation unit at Kimmswick where the Holocene soil
deposits are removed in half of the square to reach the Pleistocene deposits.
Soil from the Kimmswick Site was wasterscreened through a
sieve lined with window screen mesh in order to find small bones and waste flakes.
Basal fragment of a St. Charles Notched type that was found
in the Holocene (post Ice Age deposits) above the Ice Age deposits containing the Clovis points.
This specific artifact was found in stratigraphic unit D of excavation unit P-26 at the site. This type of stone tool
was manufactured between 7500 and 7000 based upon radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples from
other sites with St. Charles points. Slide provided by Dr. Russell Graham.
Animals bones found in the Ice Age deposits:
American Mastodon (Mammut americanum)
Moose (Cervalces sp.)
Elk (Cervus sp.)
Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus sp.)
Squirrel (Sciurus sp.)
Marmot (Marmota cf. monax)
Bog Lemming (Synaptomys cooperi)
Pine or prairie vole (Microtus pinetorum/ochrogaster)
Meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus)
13 lined Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus cf. tridecemlineatus)
Wood rat (Neotoma sp.)
Field Mouse (Peromyscus sp.)
Pocket Gospher (Geomys bursarius)
Long tailed weasel (Mustela frenata)
Jefferson's ground slothMegalonyx cs. jeffersoni bones
Paramylodon ossicles (they loved prairies)
Long nosed peccaryMylohyus nasutus
White tailed deerOdocoileus virginianus
Lizard, snake, and turtle
Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)
Russell Graham found in situ Clovis points with teeth of an adult
Mastodon and a juvenile. His assumption is a cow and calf kill.
The limbs of the animals were missing, carried away.
