Date of Award
5-2019
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: M.S.
Department
Anthropology
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Mark Muniz
Second Advisor
Rob Mann
Third Advisor
Michael Fosha
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Archaeology, ceramics, pottery, Great Oasis, Mill Creek, Over focus
Abstract
The Nonnast site (39ML0009) is a Plains Village site located in the Prairie Pothole region of Marshal County, South Dakota. The site was initially identified by a surface scatter of pottery that contained both Great Oasis and Mill Creek ceramic types. The Nonnast site is located outside the normal distribution for these two cultures which are concentrated in southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa. The site was formally tested in 2015 then again in 2017. The resulting thesis is an analysis of the ceramic and other culturally diagnostic material recovered from the excavations. The goal of the research is to firmly establish who occupied the Nonnast site and when. With the use of AMS dates, chi-square statistical analysis and ceramic typologies it was determined that the Nonnast site contains one component that most closely resembles the Over focus of the eastern division of the Initial Middle Missouri.
Recommended Citation
Ernst, Megan, "Pottery Analysis of The Nonnast Site (39ML0009), Marshall County, South Dakota" (2019). Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management. 27.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/crm_etds/27
Comments/Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank Michael Fosha of the South Dakota Historical Society Archaeological Research Center, not only for serving as an advisor on my committee, but for being a great mentor to me throughout my career. You have pushed me to become a better archaeologist. I would also like to thank my other two committee members, Dr. Rob Mann and Dr. Mark Muñiz of St. Cloud State University for their guidance throughout my graduate school endeavor.
Thank you to the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks Department who permitted the excavation at the Nonnast site. The excavation and resulting data could not have been obtained without the many volunteers of the South Dakota Archaeological Society: Terry Yun, Doyle Crume, Darrell Dehne, Ardith Sand, Rose Fosha and the Cumins Family. Thank you for your time and willingness to dig during the hot summer. Additionally, we could not have accessed the site without permission of adjacent landowners Joy and Joe Pitzl, thank you.
I would like to kindly thank the North Dakota Historical Society, University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist and the Iowa Archeological Society for the use of multiple images throughout this thesis. I also want to be sure to thank Dale Henning and Carl Falk for your opinions and willingness to discuss my research with me.
I am very grateful to the Archaeological Research Center and Katie Lamie for helping catalogue and sort through the excavated materials.
Lastly, I want to give a very special thank you to my husband, William Ernst. You have been extremely patient with me throughout this process. You have given me support, constructive criticism and encouragement when I needed it most. You are the best!