Big Eddy Site, Missouri

The Big Eddy site (23CE426) is located in the lower Sac River valley at the Plains-Eastern Woodlands boundary in southwest Missouri, USA (Hajic et al., 2007). It is a rare, documented site that contains distinctly stratified and radiocarbon-dated Early Paleoindian through Late Archaic cultural deposits. Early projectile points recovered from excavations at the site include Gainey, Sedgwick (Eastern Folsom), Dalton, and San Patrice (Hope and St. Johns varieties) (Lopinot et al., 1998, 2000). There is a scant and inconclusive evidence for a pre-Early Paleoindian cultural horizon, represented by a large possibly utilized flake, refit fragments of a possible anvilstone, and a poorly preserved bison-sized bone fragment.

Early cultural material is contained within alluvial deposits belonging to an early submember of the Rodgers Shelter Member (a series of alluvial fills) that span the metamorphosis from a braided to meandering regime in the Sac River valley. Alluvium in the lower and middle...