Uncovering a Massive Blade from Northeast Kansas	by Michelle R. Oehm
Central States Archaeological Societies 2021 April Journal	Marysville, Kansas

Figure 1. The large 11 ½” long blade in hand made from Niobrara Jasper. It was found on June 26, 2019.

It was a hot June day in northeast Kansas, and my kids wanted to go play in the creek. As we walked and splashed along, I spotted a bit of a blade sticking out way up on the bank, which was maybe 6’-8’ from the creek. I had no idea how big or what it was, but our family enjoys hunting for arrowheads, so I knew it might be something. We had permission to hunt on this property, so there was nothing to hold us back.

My son went up to check it out. I ended up putting foot holds in the bank for him and my daughter to stand, but when they were having trouble and it appeared quite large, I excused my daughter from the high side and took the knife. I very slowly chipped the dirt away from the piece until it was free. The knife had been embedded in a dark layer of soil. I noticed a layer of clam shells approximately 10’-20’ upstream from the blade and elevated in the bank as well, which might or might not have been related to the knife. It took quite a while to dig it out. But once it was free, immediately, my son fell from approximately 6’ up the bank into the river... and never let go of the piece! He was shaking and trembling when he turned around. I will never forget the look in his eyes when he handed the piece to me. I immediately knew it was more than just an arrowhead (Figs.1-4). The massive blade measured 11 ½” in length and was 2 ½” in width. It was super thin (just 3/8” in thickness). We probably should have spent more time and investigated more but did not. Soon thereafter it rained pretty hard, and the spot is now all covered in mud.

 

I have a lot of books on artifacts, having inherited them from a friend. I could not identify this blade at all. The closest thing I found was a blade on the cover of the #3 2005 Prehistoric American. This blade, known as the Gorsuch Square Knife, was found a short distance from where we live. The material it was made from looked identical to our find, which was Niobrara Jasper. The Gorsuch Square Knife shown in the magazine was restored from several pieces and measured 15 ¼”. Ours was unbroken. We knew we had quite a find. A few years earlier I had met Darrel Wilson at a Kansas Archaeological Society show. I had his card, so I phoned him and asked him to come see it. Darrel was awestruck, and stated that the blade would have taken an extreme level of skill to make. He commented ...

Read the complete "Uncovering a Massive Blade from Northeast Kansas" column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2021 April Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2022

Figure 5. The author holding the blade.