Utz Site 23SA2
The Utz Site (23SA2) was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Missouri at Columbia and
published by Robert T. Bray (1991) in the Missouri Archaeologist.
The UMC fieldwork was conducted between 1961 and 1980. The site was tested by Gerard Fowke (1910:88-92) during 1906/1907
when he conducted fieldwork in Missouri on behalf of the St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. The
site is protected within Van Meter State Park near Miami, MO. Current evidence indicates that the site was a village of the
Missouri tribe and might have been visited by Bourgmond pr Dutisne. Bray (1991:9) speculated that the village was abandoned by 1712.
.. Oneota pottery from the Utz site.....
.. Catlinite from the Utz site.....
.. Stone Tools from the Utz site........
.. Trade objects from the Utz site.....
Archaeology students from Missouri State University examine the University of Missouri - Columbia excavation units at the Utz Site (23SA2)
during the summer of 1974.
Trash pit filled with large rimsherds and the fragment of a tool made from a bison scapula.
Illustration by Eleanor Chapman of a storage pit at the Utz Site. From Chapman and Chapman (1964:88).
Post mold outline of House 1 (shaded red) with associated burials. From Bray (1991: Figure 5).
Burial to the west of House 1 (shaded red). From Bray (1991: Figure 5).
Two adult burials were discovered in the
northwest corner of House 1 (shaded red). At least one of the burials
had been interrred while the house was standing.
From Bray (1991: Figure 5).
Extended burial at the Utz site. The ribs and chest area were disturbed - probably by
agricultural cultivation.
Postmold pattern indicates the shape of House 3 (shaded blue). From Bray (1991: Figure 5).
Postmold pattern indicates the rectangular shape of House 6 (shaded light red). From Bray (1991: Figure 8).
Postmold pattern indicates the shape of House 7 (shaded green). From Bray (1991: Figure 8).
Bray, Robert T.
1978 European Trade Goods from the Utz Site and the Search for Fort Orleans. Missouri Archaeologist Volume 39.
1991 The Utz Site: An Oneota Village in Central Missouri. Missouri Archaeologist volume 52.
Chapman, Carl H.
1946 A Preliminary Survey of Missouri Archaeology, Part 1: Historic Indian Tribes. Missouri Archaeologist. Vol. 10, Part 1.
1952 Cultural Sequence in the Lower Missouri Valley. in Archaeology of the Eastern United States. Edited by James B. Griffin.
University of Chicago Press.
Chapman, Carl H. and Eleanor F. Chapman
1964 Indians and Archaeology of Missouri. University of Missouri Press, Columbia.
Fowke, Gerard
1910 Antiquities of Central and Southeastern Missouri. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 37.
Webpage constructed 28 February 2007
Updated 8 March 2007