The Great Drought and the Middle Archaic

The Great Drought and the Middle Archaic 

by John Bradford Branney

Figure 1. Mallory Points from the Middle Plains Archaic.  

Author’s note: B.P. stands for "Before Present" and is the standard measurement convention used in radiometric dating. B.P. refers to an uncalibrated radiocarbon age with a baseline date of A.D. 1950. Measuring the amount of the radiocarbon isotope Carbon-14 in a sample from a dead plant or animal can be used to determine when it died. Since the radiocarbon isotope Carbon-14 has fluctuated through time, a correction is necessary to convert the uncalibrated radiocarbon age to a calendar date (Branney 2019). Once scientists correct the uncalibrated radiocarbon measurement, a date can be reported in calendar years, years ago, B.C., A.D., or cal BP. In my article below, I used both uncalibrated radiocarbon age and corrected calendar dates. I hope this is not confusing to the reader.    

In my last article, A High Plains Paleoindian Projectile Point Journey, I indicated that a few archaeologists believed that there was a cultural dichotomy on the High Plains sometime between 9,000 and 10,000 years ago. That dichotomy existed between the Cody Complex out on the plains and the Foothill-Mountain Tradition in the foothills and high country of the Rocky Mountains. Based on archaeological evidence, the people who made Cody Complex projectile points preferred to occupy the open plains and prairies, focusing on a bison-centric economy. In contrast, the people who made Foothill-Mountain Tradition projectile points preferred the foothills and mountains and led a more diverse lifestyle, incorporating more plants and mountain sheep into their diets. Of course, their preferences did not exclude the Cody Complex people from traipsing into the foothills and mountains on occasion, or the people of the Foothill-Mountain Tradition from visiting the plains periodically. 

Between 8,500 and 8,000 years ago, Cody Complex sites and their diagnostic projectile points disappeared from the archaeological record (Knell and Muniz 2013:13). The ecosystem was changing. Based on a postglacial climatology study in the Great Basin of North America, Antevs (1948) proposed a time period called Anathermal from around 10,000 to 7,500 B.P. (i.e., Radiocarbon Years Before Present). During the Anathermal, the melting remnants of the Laurentide ice sheet had less of an effect on the North American climate, and the polar front was migrating northward. Based on his study, Antevs suggested that during the Anathermal, the climate across the Great Basin became warmer.   

Figure Two. A chronological table based on Antevs's model of the Neothermal. The left column is Ardelean's proposal for a Transitional period (Ardelean 2016), based on the climatic modeling of E. Antevs (1955:323). 

Antevs named the time period from 7,500 to 4,000 B.P. the Altithermal. During the Altithermal, the climate became even warmer and drier than the preceding Anathermal period. The Altithermal has been called the Holocene Climatic Optimum, Hypsithermal, and Mid-Holocene Warm Period. Bonnicksen (2000:49-51) referred to the Altithermal as the Great Drought and suggested it was a period of recurring drought conditions causing regional environmental zones to shift to higher elevations. Bonnicksen stated that rainfall dropped as much as 25 percent in the Midwest and temperatures rose as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Strong, dry westerly winds from the Pacific created hot and windy conditions. Extensive fossil sand dune fields along alluvial floodplains indicated that sand dunes advanced across the Great Plains. Lake levels dropped, and reliable water sources dried up. Mountain glaciers that had advanced during the last Ice Age retreated. The hotter, drier climate accelerated water evaporation and reduced soil moisture, suppressing plant growth and reducing organic carbon storage in the soil, which further compounded the situation by releasing more carbon dioxide into the air. Bonnicksen wrote that the lack of precipitation and higher temperatures affected the entire North American ecosystem and changed the landscape forever. 

What effect did the Altithermal have on human habitation on the open plains? Our 20th-century ancestors experienced it during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s (Figure 3). The Dust Bowl years were a challenging time for land and the lifeforms. The severest drought conditions lasted only for a few years, but ravaged communities, animals, and the economy. Now, imagine Altithermal conditions over several millennia with prolonged drought conditions and sporadic, unpredictable monsoonal rains. The support structure did not exist for prehistoric people to survive such a long-term climate event, so what did they do? They adapted, or they died. Based on the lack of archaeological evidence, it appears that human populations migrated toward major river systems or to the cooler high country. Archaeological sites on the open plains during the Altithermal are rare. Sites are more commonly found at higher elevations, along mountain streams, and near the fringe areas between the mountains and the plains (Frison et al. 1976:33-34).    

Figure 3. A photograph of a farm during the Dust Bowl Years.
It was a tough time to be a farmer. 

Anthropologist William Mulloy (1958) proposed that the Altithermal climatic event caused a cultural hiatus across the entire northwestern plains. Wedel (1978:19) claimed that the Altithermal reduced the carrying capacity for prey animals on the Central Plains. Carrying capacity refers to the maximum population of a particular animal species that an ecosystem can support. An ecosystem's carrying capacity is influenced by food, water, habitat, and other resources the animal species needs to survive. Fewer prey animals on the open plains during the Altithermal resulted in a land that supported fewer humans.   

Wood (1998:38) added that the Altithermal caused deep lakes to dry up and was accompanied by extensive erosion and alluviation of drainage systems. He noted that critical prey species decreased in size during the Altithermal. Based on the discovery of fossilized sand dunes in the Great Salt Lake, Simms (2016:94) proposed that the water level reached its lowest level ever between 7,000 and 6,000 years ago during the Altithermal. The water level in the Altithermal was 13 feet below its lowest historically recorded level in 1963. He described the Great Salt Lake as a mere puddle during the Altithermal. 

Stone (2003:250) noted that in the 7,000-square-mile Denver Basin, high temperatures and low precipitation during the Altithermal led to the encroachment of cacti and woody brush and the shrinkage of short-grass prairie. Brunswig (1992:18) declared that semiarid to arid short-grass and sagebrush/yucca prairies replaced the earlier mixed tall- and short-grass ecosystems. Those changes placed plant, animal, and human communities under severe environmental stress, resulting in a substantial reduction in plant and animal biomass, particularly on the open plains. Stone added that except for a few isolated herds, bison were absent from the Denver Basin until the end of the Altithermal. She suggested that the worst drought conditions occurred between 5050 and 3550 B.C. 

From his archaeological and geological research in the Colorado mountains, James Benedict proposed two major Altithermal droughts, one from 7000 B.P to 6500 B.P., and the other from 6000 B.P to 5500 B.P. (Cassells 1997:120). Reeves (1973:1246) had a slightly different perspective on the Altithermal. He never disputed that the land was hotter, drier, and windier because it was. However, Reeves believed that the Altithermal created more shortgrass for bison to graze, and that humans adapted to the changes by shifting their subsistence strategies. 

The palaeoecological evidence for the Altithermal is compelling and paints a bleak picture for life across the Great Plains during that prehistoric time. Most researchers agree that the Altithermal brought long periods of hot, dry, and windy conditions interspersed with short, less severe conditions. Nevertheless, prolonged periods of hot weather with little precipitation dried up water sources and most likely created hardship for humans and animals. For bison and other prey animals, less forage and different water sources meant altering seasonal migrations, summer ranges, and the size of herds the land could support. That, in turn, affected human behavior. Benedict (1978:144) reviewed Altithermal Period archaeological sites in western North America, noting that nearly all of them were located in the foothills or higher country, near reliable water sources, and in zones with diverse vegetation.        

Based on archaeological and geological evidence, the climate on the plains became more hospitable between 6,000 and 5,000 years ago. Bison herds gradually returned, and humans followed. Even with a more favorable climate, life was probably rough for those first humans returning to the plains. They were not returning to a Garden of Eden. The land had been ravaged by harsh climate conditions for several millennia. It would have taken the ecosystem a long time to rebound, if it ever did completely. And the humans were returning to the open plains after generations of near absence. They would have to learn unfamiliar territory all over again through trial and error. Without knowledge of the remaining water sources, travel and trading with other tribes was risky. It is not much of a leap to assume that those Middle Archaic humans worked harder to survive than their Paleoindian predecessors. 

Figure 4. McKean Site 
projectile points.  

Signal Butte in western Nebraska and the McKean Site in Crook County, Wyoming were the first archaeological sites to define the Middle Archaic on the High Plains. Those two sites defined new projectile point types for the Middle Archaic in post-Altithermal sites. I will focus on the McKean Site, the type site for the Middle Archaic on the High Plains. The Smithsonian Institution's Missouri River Basin Survey originally recorded the McKean Site during salvage work for a future reservoir in northeastern Wyoming called Keyhole. Extensive excavations were conducted in 1951 and 1952 by archaeologist Richard P. Wheeler, and over a hundred projectile points were discovered at the site (Figure 4). Wheeler (1985:6) classified the projectile points at the McKean Site with a high level of specificity based on shape, size, and other factors. He then proposed an unprecedented nine new projectile point types from that one site. 

William Mulloy (1954) of the University of Wyoming reinvestigated the McKean Site. He interpreted the differences among the projectile points at the McKean Site as variations around a common theme. Mulloy advocated unifying the Middle Archaic cultural horizon into the McKean Complex with a single projectile point type called McKean. Wheeler (1985:9) later opined that the McKean Site should be divided into an Early Stage and a Late Stage, with each stage having widely dispersed components of distinct types and forms of material assemblages. He opposed Mulloy's proposal to combine all the components into a single archaeological complex called McKean. Frison (2014:234) reported that Wheeler and Mulloy never wavered on their differing opinions about the McKean Complex. 

Most people believe that there are three main projectile point types in the McKean Complex: McKean Lanceolate, Duncan, and Hanna. Some people believe that there is a fourth projectile point type in the McKean Complex called Mallory (Figure 1). I will not cover the Mallory projectile point type in this article, but I did cover it in a previous article (Branney 2020). There are also a few people, including me, who struggle to differentiate between Duncan and Hanna points. Taylor (2006:322) recommended combining Duncan and Hanna points under a common projectile point type called McKean Shouldered. After finding and documenting hundreds of Duncan and Hanna points, I see no value in classifying every point as either a Duncan or Hanna since many are difficult to classify. Rennie (1994:146) wrote that most McKean Complex researchers cannot even agree on the attributes that define and differentiate Duncan and Hanna points. Fortin (2015:119) found all three McKean Complex point types in her investigation of many sites from Canada to Colorado. 

Figure 5. McKean Lanceolate points surface recovered by
author in Wyoming and Colorado.  
John Bradford Branney Collection. 

Figure 5 is a photograph of five McKean Lanceolate points recovered on private land in Wyoming and Colorado. McKean Lanceolate points resurrected indented-base technology from earlier Paleoindian points such as Clovis, Goshen-Plainview, Folsom, Midland, and James Allen. However, comparing the average McKean Lanceolate point to a well-made Paleoindian point shows that they both have indented bases. That's about the only attribute that is comparable. In general, McKean Lanceolate points were randomly flaked (sometimes poorly) and were often asymmetrical in shape. From a craftsmanship and quality perspective, McKean Lanceolate projectile points could not compare with a typical Paleoindian projectile point. 

Did McKean Complex flintknappers lack the ability to craft beautiful projectile points? I do not believe that was the case. I do not believe the McKean people invested the time and effort to create works of flintknapping art as were many Paleoindian projectile points. Even though they are few and far between, I have found many beautiful McKean Complex projectile points. Perhaps McKean flintknappers stopped when they reached an acceptable level of functionality? Maybe other priorities demanded their time. We must remember that the High Plains was healing from perhaps the warmest and driest period ever in the Holocene Epoch. Herds of animals were just returning to the plains. For prehistoric people migrating onto the High Plains after the long Altithermal hiatus, surviving must have been their highest priority, and a projectile point meeting an acceptable standard was just good enough. McKean people probably received a higher return on their time investment by hunting in the field. After all, the people could not eat projectile point aesthetics. 

When I do find a well-made McKean Lanceolate point, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate it from an unexceptional Paleoindian point. At that stage, I rely on the presence of polishing along the proximal edges of the projectile point. If there is no polishing along the edges, I call it a McKean Lanceolate. In most cases, McKean Lanceolate points are quite distinguishable from their Paleoindian counterparts by the lower level of craftsmanship.  

Figure 6. Duncan, Hanna, or McKean Shouldered points
surface recovered in Wyoming and Colorado.
John Bradford Branney Collection.  

Figure 6 is a photograph of two other projectile point types in the McKean Complex, Duncan and Hanna points, or, as I previously mentioned, McKean Shouldered projectile points. Duncan points were originally described with triangular blades with slightly straight or convex edges. The stems on Duncan points were straight to slightly expanding, and the shoulders were angular to rounded. The base had a V-shaped notch. I classified points 2, 3, and 4 in Figure 6 as Duncan points. You may disagree with my classification. Hanna points were originally described with straight-to-convex blade edges, distinct shoulders, and expanding stems. The basal corners on Hanna points were rounded and lobed, and the side notches were medium depth. I classified points 1 and 5 in Figure 6 as Hanna points. Again, you may disagree with my classification, and that is exactly why I lump most Hanna and Duncan under the McKean Shouldered projectile point type. 

Figure 7. Classically made Hanna dart point found 
on June 10, 2022, on a private ranch
near Hanna, Wyoming. 

When we use projectile point types to define complexes and cultures, we find ourselves in familiar territory. Of course, the radiometric age of a component at a site is quite helpful. But for those of us walking across the ground saving prehistoric artifacts from cows, plows, and towns, radiometric ages aren't much help. Of course, there were other factors used to help identify Middle Plains Archaic sites, such as an increase in stone circles and ground stone tools, but those two factors are not as objective or definitive as projectile point type.  

Mulloy originally proposed that McKean Lanceolate, Duncan, and Hanna points were part of a single cultural system, but not everyone agreed. Metcalf (1985:181) questioned whether the same culture made all three projectile point types. Of course, it is possible that different people or cultures occupied the same sites during similar times. Based on analysis of the Signal Butte Site artifacts from Nebraska, Forbis (1985:23) observed that McKean Lanceolate flintknappers tended to use whitish chalcedony while Hanna flintknappers used more reddish jasper. He raised the possibility that the people making McKean Lanceolate points sourced their raw material from a different location than those people making Hanna points. His point was: why would the same culture source raw material from two separate quarries to make two different projectile point types? Forbis concluded that there was not one cultural complex, but two: McKean and Hanna, and that the term McKean Complex should only be applied to sites where significant numbers of McKean Lanceolate points were found. In her comprehensive study of McKean Complex sites from Canada to Colorado, Fortin (2015:119) noted that McKean Lanceolate and McKean Shouldered projectile points were found at every site that she investigated. Was that just a coincidence, or were both projectile point types made by the same people? In my opinion, it is the latter.     

William Mulloy knew that Middle Archaic people occupied the McKean Site multiple times, but he did not know that those occupations occurred over a thousand years. Kornfeld and Frison (1985:42-53) reinvestigated the McKean Site in 1983, confirming Mulloy's lower cultural unit at a radiocarbon age of 4590 ± 160 B.P., or 3390 ± 210 B.C. in calendar years. The investigators concluded that the prehistoric occupations in Mulloy's lower cultural unit spanned several thousand years, and that the McKean Site was not a single large campsite, but rather an accumulation of smaller campsites recorded over several millennia. However, the 1983 investigation did not confirm whether McKean Lanceolate and McKean Shouldered projectile point types originated from the same culture or complex. 

In her study of the origin and diffusion rate of the McKean Complex, Fortin (2015) analyzed radiocarbon dates from McKean Complex sites from Canada to Colorado. Fortin concluded that once the Altithermal ended, McKean technology diffused quickly across the plains, with the oldest McKean Complex sites in and around the Bighorn Basin of northwestern Wyoming. From its alleged origin in northwestern Wyoming, the McKean Complex spread into Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and eventually Colorado (Figure 8). Fortin stated that by 3220 B.P., the McKean Complex's presence was diminished, and that by 2440 B.P., the complex had completely disappeared from the archaeological record.

 Figure 8. From its origins in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming,

the McKean Complex spread rapidly across the Great Plains.

There are various hypotheses regarding the origin of the McKean Complex. Theories have the McKean Complex originating from every conceivable direction. However, it is logical to assume that the oldest McKean Complex sites in the Bighorn Basin should be close to the origin of the complex (Fortin 2015:97). Based on early salvage work in the Bighorn Canyon of northwestern Wyoming, Husted (1969:90) noted the similarities between Pryor Stemmed projectile points from the older Foothill-Mountain Tradition and the Duncan projectile point type from the McKean Complex. Both projectile point types are remarkably similar. However, the problem with that theory is the 2,500-year-long gap between the end of Pryor Stemmed projectile points and the beginning of Duncan projectile points. What projectile point bridged that temporal gap? Figure 9 shows Pryor Stemmed points from Husted's Bighorn Canyon investigation. 

Figure 9. Husted (1969:52)

James B. Benedict (1981:87) claimed there were two mysteries that Plains archaeologists have not been able to solve for several decades. The first mystery is why the Late Paleoindian cultural complexes disappeared at the beginning of the Altithermal, and the second mystery is where the McKean Complex originated some 2,500 years later. Benedict and Olsen (1973) hypothesized that Paleoindians retreated to the high country during the Altithermal

Figure 10. Benedict and Olsen
(1973:88)

and that the McKean Complex developed from those high-altitude refuges. Benedict suggested that the Fourth of July Site, or a high-country site like it, could be the bridge between Late Paleoindian and Middle Archaic. Benedict proposed that the parallel obliquely flaked James Allen and Pryor Stemmed points found at the Fourth of July Site could have evolved technologically into the McKean Lanceolate and Duncan points found at McKean Complex sites out on the open plains (Figure 10). The radiocarbon age of the Fourth of July Site came in at around 5960 B.P. Benedict noted that the Fourth of July Site was 1,500 radiocarbon years younger than other Late Paleoindian sites and 1,000 years older than the oldest McKean Site, several hundred miles north of the Fourth of July Site. Benedict put forward a plausible theory, but the proof remains undiscovered. 

While the origin of the McKean Complex remains in speculation, several archaeologists believe that they understand its fate. Reeves (1983:80; 137-138) proposed that the Pelican Lake projectile point evolved from the Hanna projectile point, and both were part of a serial phase within the cultural tradition he called Tunaxa. According to Reeves, the Tunaxa tradition lasted for approximately two and a half millennia, with temporal phases defined by three diagnostic projectile point types: McKean, Hanna, and Pelican Lake. Reeves supported his theory by pointing out the consistency of tool types surviving across those three temporal phases. Schlesier (1994:310) agreed with that assessment, stating that many researchers believed that McKean-Hanna-Pelican Lake were serial phases of the same tradition that entered the plains from the Rocky Mountain West. If Schlesier’s assertion was correct, Pelican Lake projectile points evolved from Hanna projectile points. Foor (1982) proposed that the gradual transition from Hanna to Pelican Lake projectile points occurred around 1300 B.C., with Pelican Lake taking over completely by around 1000 B.C.

Kornfeld et al. (2010: 122-124) added that around 3000 B.P., two Late Archaic manifestations on the Northwestern Plains and Rocky Mountains began replacing projectile points from the Middle Archaic McKean Complex. The first manifestation was the widespread cultural horizon called Pelican Lake, which extended across most of the northwestern and northern plains. The second manifestation the authors named was called Yonkee, but it had a far less geographical reach than Pelican Lake. I cover that technological transition in detail in a previously published article (Branney 2025).

What is your opinion about the McKean Complex? 

   

Figure 11. McKean Complex projectile points
from Wyoming and Colorado. 
John Bradford Branney Collection. 

References Cited

Antevs, Ernest

1948  The Postpluvial or Neothermal. Bulletin of the University of Utah 38:174-184. 

1955  Geologic-Climatic Dating in the West. The Society of American Archaeology. 

Ardelean, Ciprian 

2016  The “Transitional Period”: a short terminological debate around the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in North American prehistory. Studii de Preistorie. 2016. pp. 43-62.

Benedict, James B. 

1981  The Fourth of July Valley: Glacial Geology and Archaeology of the Timberline Ecotone.   

Research Report No. 2. Center for Mountain Archeology. Ward, Colorado. 

Benedict, James B., and Byron L. Olsen

1978  The Mount Albion Complex-a Study of Prehistoric Man and the Altithermal. Research Report No. 1. Center for Mountain Archeology. Ward, Colorado.    

Bonnicksen, Thomas M.

2000  America's Ancient Forests from the Ice Age to the Age of Discovery. John Wiley and Sons. New York. 

 

Branney, John Bradford 

2019  Radiocarbon Dating 101 – The Process. Academia.  

2020  The Middle Archaic Mallory Projectile Point in Academia. 

2025  First Light, First Blood, a Pelican Lake Story in Academia. 

Brunswig, Robert H., Jr. 

1992  Paleoindian Environments and Paleoclimates in the High Plains and Central Rocky Mountains in Southwestern Lore, Vol. 58, No. 4.    

Burroughs, William J. 

2005  Climate Change in Prehistory. The End of the Reign of Chaos. Cambridge University Press.  

Cassells, E. Steve

1997  The Archaeology of Colorado. Johnson Books. Boulder.  

Fortin, Yvonne

2015  A Spatiotemporal Analysis of the McKean Complex on the Northern Plains. Master of Arts Thesis, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan

Saskatoon 

Forbis, Richard G.

1985  The McKean Complex as Seen from Signal Butte, in McKean/Middle Plains Archaic: Current Research, edited by Marcel Kornfeld and Lawrence C. Todd, Occasional Papers on Wyoming Archaeology, No. 4. Laramie. 

Frison, George C. 

2014  Rancher Archaeologist. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City.  

Frison, George C., Michael Wilson, and Diane J. Wilson

1976  Fossil Bison and Artifacts from an Early Altithermal Period Arroyo Trap in Wyoming in American Antiquity, Volume 41, No. 1.  

Husted, Wilfred M. 

1969  Bighorn Canyon Archeology. Smithsonian Institute. Washington D.C. 

Knell, Edward J., and Mark P. Muniz

2013  Paleoindian Lifeways of the Cody Complex. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City.   

Kornfeld, Marcel, George C. Frison, and Mary Lou Larson

2010  Prehistoric Hunters-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Third Edition. Left Coast Press, Inc. Walnut Creek, CA.  

Metcalf, Michael D. 

1985  Comments on the McKean Symposium Papers, in McKean/Middle Plains Archaic: Current Research, edited by Marcel Kornfeld and Lawrence C. Todd, Occasional Papers on Wyoming Archaeology, No. 4. Laramie. 

Mulloy, William

1954  The McKean Site in Northeastern Wyoming. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 

10:pp. 432-460.

1958  A Preliminary Historical Outline for the Northwestern Plains. University of Wyoming Publications 22(1). Laramie.  

Reeves, Brian

1973  The Concept of an Altithermal Cultural Hiatus in Northern Plains Prehistory in American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 75, No. 5 (Oct. 1973), pp. 1221-1253. Wiley. 

1983 Culture Change in the Northern Plains - 1000 B.C.- A.D. 1000, Occasional Paper No. 20. Archaeological Survey of Alberta.   

Rennie, Patrick J. 

1994  McKean Complex | An Analysis of Six Middle Prehistoric Period Sites in the Northwestern Plains. Scholar Works at the University of Montana. Bozeman.   

Simms, Steven R. 

2016  Ancient Peoples of the Great Basin & Colorado Plateau. Routledge Publishing. New York.  

Schlesier, Karl H. 

1994  Commentary: A History of Ethnic Groups in the Great Plains in Plains Indians A.D. 500-1500. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman. 

   

Stone, Tammy

2003  Social Islands in the Denver Basin in Islands on the Plains, edited by Marcel Kornfeld and Alan J. Osborn. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City.  

Taylor, Jeb

2006  Projectile Points of the High Plains. Sheridan Books. Chelsea, Michigan. 

Wedel, Waldo R. 

1978  Prehistoric Man on the Great Plains. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman. 

Wheeler, Richard 

1985  The Middle Prehistoric Period in the Central and Northern Plains in McKean/Middle Plains Archaic: Current Research, edited by Marcel Kornfeld and Lawrence C. Todd, Occasional Papers on Wyoming Archaeology, No. 4. Laramie. 

Wood, W. Raymond

1998  Archaeology on the Great Plains. University Press of Kansas. Lawrence.   

About the Author

John Bradford Branney is a Wyoming native and an author, geologist, and prehistorian living in the Colorado mountains. He has hunted prehistoric artifacts for more than fifty years and has assembled a collection of over ten thousand artifacts ranging from Paleoindian to the historic Indian tribes. Branney has written fourteen books and over one hundred articles on archaeology and geology.