In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

The idea of having a celebration of archaeological research at Medicine Creek Reservoir came up in the fall of 1996 while the University of Nebraska State Museum and the Bureau of Reclamation were pursuing cooperative ¤eldwork at the La Sena mammoth site. We realized that 1997 would mark 50 years since the start of federally sponsored excavations at the lake. It also marked a personal anniversary for me because it was 10 years since my ¤rst visit to Medicine Creek, which came shortly after my being hired by Reclamation. It was during that 1987 trip that Brad Coutant and I discovered the La Sena site. Fortunately , this discussion of anniversaries took place shortly before the Plains Conference in Iowa City, where we had an opportunity to share the idea of a conference with others who had also worked at the reservoir . Everyone seemed to like the idea, but at the time I don’t think any of us had any concept of just how many people had worked on the various projects at Medicine Creek over the years. When the idea started to turn into reality, it became apparent that there were a lot of invitations to be sent out and a lot of addresses to be looked up. Unfortunately , some of the former researchers had passed away, and we weren’t able to track down all who survived. We sincerely apologize to anyone who didn’t get notice in time to attend. We were fortunate, however , that more than 90 people were able to attend and regale us with fascinating stories about their various expeditions to southwest Nebraska . I am very grateful to the many people who chipped in to make the event the success that it was and particularly to Donna Roper, Steve Holen, Nancy Pearson, and Myra Giesen, who took on the brunt of the planning. I also want to thank Les and Jan Hosick, who hosted the group for an afternoon at their replica earth lodge, just north of the Foreword Robert K. Blasing lake. A little more than a year after the reunion at Medicine Creek, we received word that E. Mott Davis passed away on December 23, 1998. Mott was an active participant in the reunion, and without his lively participation and anecdotes the event would not have been nearly the success that it was. We will miss him. Another part of this celebration was the publication of Kivett and Metcalf’s (1997) manuscript detailing their ¤ndings from the 1946– 1949 investigations at Medicine Creek Lake. That work is a signi¤cant volume of information by itself and, for that reason, is not discussed in this book, except by occasional reference. It came about in 1987 when Jeff Kenyon, then Reclamation’s Great Plains regional archaeologist , put together a contract with Marvin Kivett to prepare the report for publication. It was a huge task to get the very lengthy, hand-typed manuscript converted to a digital format. We could ¤nd no scanners that would do an adequate job on the multiple typefaces it included, so it was manually retyped. The new manuscript then required extensive proofreading. Kivett then provided many edits to the original manuscript . His death before he could complete these updates caused further delay and near abandonment of the project. In the years between 1987 and 1997 everyone who worked in cultural resources, including secretaries and interns at Reclamation’s Nebraska/Kansas area of¤ce, plus some staff in the Billings regional of¤ce, spent time working on that manuscript. Myra Giesen and Nancy Pearson made the ¤nal effort to see that all was included and that all numbers matched Kivett’s original manuscript and then sent it off to Plains Anthropologist, where Marvin Kay and his staff started their round of editing. When it ¤nally did get published, 50 years after the work was completed, it was a great relief to many people. With that project successfully completed, it is wonderful that the papers from the conference also can be published for a wider audience. The research at Medicine Creek covers a broad spectrum, in terms of both the institutions and disciplines involved and the amount of time represented. There is no doubt that research at Medicine Creek has provided great bene¤t to archaeology, paleontology, and geomorphology, and I hope that those reading this volume can gain some perspective on the breadth, depth, and importance of this work. xvi / Foreword ...

Share