Kansas Historical Marker for the Indian Burial Pit (Salina, Kansas)

Item

Identifier: MS 014- series MS 014-2- item 498

Staff Only

Digital Collections - FHSU Scholars Repository – Digitized Copies of Materials

Dates

1853-1975

Extent

From the Collection: 10 Cubic Feet

Additional Description

General

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. Here they lived in earth lodges, tiling 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. The pit was discovered in 1936. It has been scientifically excavated, with the skeletons still preserved in the same flexed positions of their burial centuries ago. 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. Historical Marker Salina, Kansas E-21