Front:
KANSAS
HISTORICAL MARKER
INDIAN BURIAL PIT
SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AGO, PERHAPS MORE THAN
A THOUSAND, THIS VALLEY WAS INHABITED BY MEN WHOSE
AVERAGE HEIGHT WAS PROBABLY WELL OVER SIX FEET.
THESE WERE NOT THE INDIANS OF QUIVIRA, WHOSE "7-
FOOT WARRIORS" CORONADO DESCRIBED IN 1541, BUT AN
EVEN EARLIer PEOPLE.
LODGES, TILLING THE SOIL, HUNTING AND FISHING, AND
HERE THEY LEFT RECORDS OF UNUSUAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
IMPORTANCE. ONE MILE SOUTHEAST OF THIS MARKER IS
A BURIAL PIT CONTAINING MORE THAN 140 SKELETAL
REMAINS THAT DEMONSTRATE THE REMARKABLE SIZE AND
STRENGTH OF THESE PREHISTORIC INDIANS.
DISCOVERED IN 1936. IT HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY EX-
CAVATED, WITH THE SKELETONS STILL PRESERVED IN THE
SAME FLEXED POSITIONS OF THEIR BURIAL CENTURIES ACO.
AMONG THE OBJECTS FOUND IN THE PIT ARE PIECES OF
POTTERY, A GRINDING STONE, PARCHED CORN AND BEANS,
A STONE TOMAHAWK, CEREMONIAL FLINT KNIVES, AND
CLAM-SHELL BEADS AND EAR PENDANTS.
HERE THEY LIVED IN EARTH
THE PIT WAS
ERECTED BY
KANSAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND STATE HICHWAY COMMISSION
21
HISTORICAL
SALINA, KHNSAS
MaRKER
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED --THE LL. COOK CO., MILWAUKER
