The Mud Creek chapter of the Kansas Anthropological Association (KAA) will host an Artifact Identification Workshop on Saturday, Sept. 21, in the city of Salina. The event will take place at the Smoky Hill Museum, 211 West Iron, Salina. Hours for the event will be from 10
a.m. until 2 p.m. Interested persons from the central Kansas area may drop by the museum and speak with professional archeologists. Well-experienced avocational archeologists from the KAA will also be present. Collectors can bring Native American artifact or early historical items any time during the session for assistance in identification and dating. Helpful suggestions will also be made for cataloging and collection maintenance. No appraisals or sales will be made, this is a free public service to improve knowledge of our state’s archeological heritage.
The public is encouraged to visit this event. Visitors may come and go as is convenient for them. Light refreshments will be served.
In previous years the Mud Creek ID Day has been held in Abilene, Kanopolis, Lindsborg, Lyons, McPherson and Newton. This will be the 12th year the chapter has hosted the event. The Kansas Anthropological Association is a non-profit organization which was founded in 1955 to bring together professional and amateur archeologists and collectors for the study of the history and prehistory of Kansas people.
KAA holds a number of events each year with statewide participation, the most popular of which is the annual field school/archeology training program (KATP). In June 2013 the event was held near Hays at the presumed site of the Billy Dixon trading post in Ellis County. The trading post, or “Whisky Ranch,” was the site of an historic stop over for teams of buffalo hunters and travelers on the trail from Fort Hays to Fort Dodge in the early 1870’s.