The Logan Creek Site

Later work has narrowed the plaque's carbon dates. Charcoal from a hearth in Zone B, one of the Archaic levels, was dated in 1995 to 6340 plus or minus 120 radiocarbon years, calibrated to roughly 7,480 to 6,980 years ago. Bison dominate the animal bone from that zone. Studies of their teeth point to deaths in late spring, and the butchering suggests the camp processed animals from a kill of several bison close by. The site is also the type site of the Logan Creek point, a side-notched projectile point found mainly in Nebraska and into South Dakota.

What the plaque says

The Logan Creek Site Logan Creek was named for Logan Fontenelle, a chief of the Omaha tribe killed by Oglala Sioux in 1855. The first recorded settlers in this area were the Aaron Arlington family, 1857, who settled at the site of present Oakland, and John Oak, 1862, for whom the town was named. The Logan Creek archeological site, located on a nearby stream terrace, was investigated by the Nebraska State Historical Society, 1957-1963 with the aid of a National Science Foundation grant. Nine stratified cultural zones, extending a depth of nearly 12 feet, have been defined. The uppermost zone is attributed to a Plains Woodland people -- the first pottery makers in Nebraska, believed to have migrated from Eastern Woodlands. At least five of the lower zones may represent a distinct culture, known as the Logan Creek Complex. Carbon 14 dates indicate these closely related groups periodically camped here between 6000 and 8000 years ago. The water, good hunting and fresh-water shell fish may have been some of the reasons for the long inhabitation by these hunting, fishing and gathering people. Artifacts from this site show close cultural ties with contemporary Archaic cultures in eastern and northeastern America. The findings here are the earliest excavated human materials yet discovered in eastern Nebraska. In 1970 the Logan Creek Site was entered on the National Register of Historic Places. Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blackbird Scenic Overlook — 23 mi
  A pull-off on US-75 at Macy on the Umóⁿhoⁿ reservation, looking over the Missouri valley toward the hill where Wazhiⁿga' sabe, Blackbird, was buried after the smallpox of 1800.

More markers nearby

• The Founding of Oakland — 1.9 mi
• Governor Frederick Valdemar Erastus Peterson — 2.4 mi
• Victor Colson Homestead — 3.4 mi
• Lyons — 9.2 mi