The Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 14RP1, is an archaeological site and museum located near the city of

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

in the state of Kansas in the Midwestern United States. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under the name Pawnee Indian Village Site.

Pawnee history

At the site are the remains of a village once occupied by the Kitkehahki, or Republican, band of the Pawnee tribe of Native Americans. It is one of four known Kitkehahki sites in the

Republican River The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, rising in the High Plains (United States), High Plains of eastern Colorado and flowing east U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline ...

valley. The dates of occupation of this particular village are not known; the Kitkehahki intermittently occupied the Republican valley from the 1770s to the 1820s. After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Spain and the United States disputed possession of the Louisiana Territory. Both nations sought allies among the Native American peoples of the territory, including the Pawnees. In 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike led an expedition into the southwestern portions of the Territory. He visited a Pawnee village soon after the departure of a much larger Spanish expedition; there, he persuaded the inhabitants to haul down a Spanish flag and to replace it with that of the United States.

Preservation and archaeology

In the 1870s,

Elizabeth A. Johnson Elizabeth Johnson may refer to: *Elizabeth Johnson Jr. (1671-1747), convicted during the Salem witch trials *Elizabeth Johnson (died 1752) (1689–1752), wife of writer Samuel Johnson *Elizabeth Johnson (actress) (1771–1830), English stage actres ...

of Republic County became interested in Pike's flag episode. She discovered this site in 1875 and, after studying Pike's journals and investigating another reported Pawnee site in southern Nebraska, concluded that this was the village that Pike had visited. To protect the site from being plowed, she and her husband bought the land. In 1901, the Johnsons donated the site to the state of Kansas for historic preservation. The state appropriated $3,000 to fence the land and build a granite monument commemorating the 1806 flag incident. At the 1901 dedication ceremony, several of the speakers drew parallels between Pike's symbolic triumph over Spain and the recent American victory in the Spanish–American War. In 1906, a four-day celebration was held to mark the centennial of the Pike episode. Subsequent research showed that Pike's expedition had not visited this village, but the Kitkehahki village now known as the Pike-Pawnee Village Site, located on the Republican River in Webster County in south-central Nebraska. The error was a fortunate one, however: it led to the preservation of this site, whereas the Nebraska site had been degraded by years of cultivation. Some archaeological investigation at the site was conducted in 1933, 1949, and 1957. Intensive investigation took place from 1965 to 1968. In 1967, a museum was constructed around one of the earth lodges prior to its excavation; the excavated lodge has been left open, with many artifacts ''in situ''. The museum is operated by the Kansas Historical Society. In 1971, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The 1901 monument at the site was damaged by a tornado in 2004. As a historically significant structure, it has been restored, but not to its original height and appearance.

References

Asher, Brendon Patrick (2009). "Kitkehahki Chipped Stone Technologies: A Comparative Study". M.A. thesis, University of Kansas, Anthropology. Downloadable PDF available via link fro
abstract
Retrieved 2010-11-24. National Park Service data, obtained fro
National Register of Historic Places NPS Focus
this page used to search for Republic County, Kansas, yielding a link to an information page for Pawnee Indian Village Site. As of 2010-12-14, no specific URL for this site's NPS information. "National and State Registers of Historic Places—County: Republic."Kansas Historical Society.
Retrieved 2010-12-14. Laugesen, Amanda.
"Making a Unique Heritage: Celebrating Pike's Pawnee Village and the Santa Fe Trail, 1900-1918."
''Kansas History'', Autumn 2000.

Retrieved 2010-10-26. Wulfkuhle, Virginia A
"KATP Field School Will Uncover New Information at Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site".
''Kansas Preservation'', vol. 30, no. 1 (January–February 2008), pp. 18-21. Retrieved 2010-12-14. Oliva, Leo (2005).

ttp://www.santafetrailresearch.com/ Santa Fe Trail Research. Retrieved 2010-10-28. "Pawnee Indian Museum".

Kansas Historical Society.
Retrieved 2010-12-14. Witty, Thomas A. and Richard Pankratz.
"National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Pawnee Indian Village and Site (14RP1)".Kansas Historical Society.
Retrieved 2010-12-14. Compare the 1901 photograph i
Laugesen (2000)
t
this 2010 photo
Platoff, Anne M.

''Raven: A Journal of Vexillology'' v. 6 (1999) p. 1-8. Retrieved 2010-12-14.

External links

Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site
- Kansas State Historical Society {{National Register of Historic Places Museums in Republic County, Kansas Native American history of Kansas Kansas state historic sites Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas Pawnee Native American museums in Kansas Protected areas of Republic County, Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Republic County, Kansas

Archaeological sites in Kansas This is a listing of sites of archaeological interest in the state of Kansas, in the United States. {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological Sites In Kansas Archaeology of the Great Plains Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. It ...

Plains Village period Former Native American populated places in the United States

Pawnee history

Preservation and archaeology

See also

References

External links