Work on an archaeological dig at a Wichita Indian village southeast of Arkansas City will continue this summer under the leadership of college professors from Oklahoma.
Oklahoma University archaeology professor Susan Vehik will join several colleagues leading 30 students from OU and and Oklahoma State University in the month-long dig at the Bryson-Paddock site. She also led students on the most recent dig at the site two years ago.
Vehik spoke on the Wichita Indians and the upcoming dig at a free lecture Saturday at the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum. About 20 people attended the lecture, one of four Saturday events celebrating Kansas Archaeology Month.
She refers to a climate change event:
Vehik said some argue that around 1420 an ice age began, and that led to a cooler, dryer climate in the Southern Plains.
"Between 900 and 1200 was a relatively peaceful period between Indian tribes," she said. "But after the climate change in the 1400s, people begin to fight over bison."
Probably a slight misquote on the part of the reporter, as this coincides with the start of the Little Ice Age. Interestingly, I'm reading Steven LeBlanc's Constant Battles and one of his main contentions is that under environmental stress -- which the LIA certainly caused over wide areas of the globe -- people tend to fight rather than cooperate. I'll post a review of the book when I'm finished with it.