Amateur archaeologists, members of the Missouri Archaeological Society assisted the archaeologists
from the University of Missouri - Columbia in the rescue excavation of the Old Monroe Site which
is also called Burkemper Site (23LN104) and was destroyed by highway construction near Old Monroe,
Missouri. The site was surveyed in 1980 by the Missouri Highway Department. The
rescue dig was directed by Professor Michael O'Brien (University of Missouri at Columbia) in 1984.
All of these photographs were taken by Michael Fisher and digitized by Michael Fuller.
Left to right: Jim Feagin (KC Chapter), Margaret Fisher (St. Joe Chapter)
and Ettus Hiatt (Mound City Chapter) held in water screening at Old Monroe in 1985.
Test pit with plowzone removed.
C-13 corrected and calibrated C-14 Dates from Beta Analytic:
1640 BC +/- 210 [Outlier date; Late Archaic],
9 BC +/- 114 [Earliest M. Woodland], and
AD 777 +/- 103 [Latest M. Woodland]. The
C-13/C-14 ratio calculations are
-24.45 o/oo to -28.5 o/oo which clearly demonstrates a temperate forest environment during the site's
occupation.
Deer bone and chipped projectile point in association at
Old Monroe site. Published reports of the excavation can be found in "Middle and Late Woodland
Subsistence and Ceramic Technology in the Central Mississippi River Valley" by Michael J. O'Brien
(1996) in Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations 52, and The Prehistory of
Missouri by Michael J. O'Brien and W. Raymond Wood (1998).
Outlined trash pit, unexcavated.
Click Here to see Exotics (Obsidian, Mica, Pipes, Copper) from the site
Click here to see pottery sherds from the Old Monroe site
Click here to see more pottery sherds from the Old Monroe site
Click here to see even more pottery sherds from the Old Monroe site