Nebo Hill Hunters in the Central Great Plains?

By Dick Eckles, Editor, NAS

The Nebo Hill phase was first defined in 1948 by J. Met Shippee on the basis of surface collections recovered from the Nebo Hill type site (23CL11) and three related upland sites in southern Clay County Missouri.

Distribution: The core area of Nebo Hill Lanceolate points is primarily within the prairie regions of northwestern Missouri but examples have been found on the edges of the bordering states of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Sites in the core area are usually located on bluff tops and along river terraces.

Age: Currently, the most reliable radiocarbon date is from the 1975-1976 Nebo Hill type site excavations which produced a Late Archaic date of 3555 + 65 B.P. (Nebo Hill and Late Archaic Prehistory on the Southern Prairie Peninsula, Kenneth C. Reid, 1984).

Type description: (J. Mett Shippee 1948)

Based on specimens from the greater Kansas City area, Nebo Hill points are thick, lanceolate forms with (usually) tapered hafts; long, narrow blades; diamond-shaped to bioconvex cross sections; and flat to slightly convex bases that often were thinned bifacially. Haft areas are almost always unground.

The below image is of a Nebo Hill point which was found in south central Nebraska. It is one of several eastern point types that have been found by the author and others in the Central Great Plains drainages. The distribution of Nebo Hill points in Nebraska is generally limited to the eastern Nebraska counties and are rarely found farther west. Based on observations of the artifacts, commonly made from eastern lithic sources; it appears that there were numerous visitors from the eastern edge of the Plains. These visitors most likely traveled the river valley drainages, which were natural routes followed from the Missouri River, located some 200 miles to the southeast of the location these artifacts were found.

In the below Nebraska/Kansas map you will notice that all of the major Nebraska drainages south of the Platte River are tributaries of the Kansa River which in turn flows into the Missouri River at Kansas City, Kansas. The confluence of the Kansas River and the Missouri River is very close to the Nebo Hill core area as well as the Nebo Hill type site (23CL11).

When finding these eastern point types in the Central Great Plains region trading comes to mind. However, in the region this point was found there was little of value to trade for other than what the bison provided and it’s quite possible that it was the uncountable number of bison as being the primary attraction for the Nebo Hill visitors as well as other eastern cultures.