National Register of Historic Places

Cherokee Sewer Site

Cherokee, Cherokee County, Iowa
Listed
December 24, 1974
Type
Site
Period
Listed
Ref No.
74000777

About this property

The Cherokee Sewer Site is a multi-component Prehistoric Indian Archaic bison processing site excavated in 1973 and 1976 near the sewage treatment plant of Cherokee, Iowa, United States. (Note: It is not associated with the Cherokee tribe of the Southeast or Oklahoma.) Analysis of evidence from the site shows a transition in bison hunting strategy on the East Plains during the Archaic period in the Americas. Data from the Cherokee sewer excavations produced some of the earliest models for climate change in the Midwest. A revisiting in the 1990s of "bison dentition and fetal elements" from the site indicates that the indigenous people of the Paleoindian and Early Archaic horizons conducted a late-fall to early-winter season of bison kill, rather than a mid- to late-winter season of kill, as suggested in the 1980 report. The evidence showed that there was a shift in the age of bison killed "from younger animals to older ones" during what is now known as the "mid-Holocene, roughly 6,000 years BP. Together these results suggest that "bison hunters on the eastern Plains used different adaptive strategies to cope with climate change than those seen on the western Plains." The site is listed as an archeological site on the National Register of Historic Places.

Location

Cherokee, Cherokee County, Iowa

Categories

PREHISTORIC
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Overview
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The Land
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Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back millions of years.
LiDAR Terrain
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Conflict & War
The battles, raids and skirmishes fought near here, across every era of American conflict.
The Civil War
The Civil War on this ground, 1861 to 1865: who held it, and the battles, camps and regiments nearby.
The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
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Rivers & Rail
The rivers, canals and railroads that connected this place between 1830 and 1911.
Notable People
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Finds & Access
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Literature
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Questions about this property

When was Cherokee Sewer Site listed on the National Register?

Cherokee Sewer Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 1974.

What type of historic resource is Cherokee Sewer Site?

Cherokee Sewer Site is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Cherokee Sewer Site?

The period of significance for Cherokee Sewer Site is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Cherokee Sewer Site?

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