Two Mastodon femurs awaiting plaster jacketing during the excavation of Boney Spring. Photograph provided by R. Bruce McMillan.

-----------------------------------------------------

Archaeologists applying plaster jackets to Ice Age bones preserved in Boney Spring. The tusks of a Mastadon await jacketing. Photograph provided by R. Bruce McMillan.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Pre-excavation photograph of Boney Spring (23BE146) taken in 1967; provided by R. Bruce McMillan. The archaeological site, submerged after the construction of an U. S Army Corp of Engineers reservoir, contained highly significant Ice Age remains as well as a Early Woodland Period trash pit with artifacts and archaeobotanical remains. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Fuller

Boney Spring (23BE146)

Spruce logs and Mastodon tusks preserved in Boney Spring (23BE146). Photograph provided by R. Bruce McMillan.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frances B. King and R. Bruce McMillan
1975 Plant Remains from a Woodland Storage Pit, Boney Spring, Missouri. Plains Anthropologist 20 (68):111-115.

Early Woodland pit feature C-14 dated to AD 30 +/- 50. The roughly circular pit (128 x 148 cm) contained considerable amounts of nut shells and two uncarbonized squash (Curcurbita pepo) seeds. Photograph taken from the article by  King and McMillan (1975:111-115) published in the Plains Anthropologist.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two squash seed fragments (Left) and many examples of nuts (right) were uncovered in the Early Woodland Period pit feature. It also contained pottery (a local variety), an abrader, a nutting stone, and a large dolomite slab. A concentration of small acorns (Quercus alba = white oak) was near a long in the center while a cache (17 x 17 cm) contained 240 large acorns (macrocarpa, bur oak) were situated in the southwest corner. A hearth was situated on the southwest rim. Other botanical remains identified include Bulrush (Scirpus), Sedge (Carex) Knotweed (Polygonum), Pokeberry (Phytolacca americana), Buttercup (Fanuculus), Blackberry (Rubus), Wild plum (Prunus), Wild grape (Vitis), Violet (Viola), Dogwood (Cornus), Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis),  Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida), Cocklebur (Xanthium sp), and 17 unidentified. Images from the article by  King and McMillan (1975:111-115) published in the Plains Anthropologist.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------