by
Patricia J. O’Brien and Kevin Hart
The Utlaut site (23SA162W) is located on the floodplain of the Missouri
River about one mile west of Malta Bend, Saline County, Missouri and
approximately two miles northwest of the junction of Highway 65 and 127.
The site is situated on land owned by Oscar John of Sweet Springs,
Missouri and was farmed by Ryland Utlaut of Grand Pass. Both kindly
allowed us to excavate there. We were directed to the site by J. M.
“Buster” Crick of Corder, Missouri, a local collector who had been
finding ceramics which looked “Mississippian.” His aid was invaluable,
for without it this work could not have been done.
Scattered occupational debris was found covering an area ca. 100 feet in
diameter around our test, but the major materials recovered, in six
burials, seem not to be related to the surface debris. Those materials
will be reported in a later paper dealing with site 23SA162, the Cole
Lake Sand Ridge site.
As mentioned, the Utlaut site is situated on the floodplain of the
river. The area, though, is in reality an old beach of the Missouri,
formed when the river swung south of its present course and came near
Grand Pass. Because the soil was almost pure sand, all of it was
screened.
The initial test was an east-west trench comprising five alternating
squares (Fig. 2). Burial materials were found between stakes 35W and 55W
north and south of the 0 line (Fig. 2). Remains of five burials were
recovered. While a few bones were treated as a separate burial in the
field (Burial 5), they were found to be related to Burial 2 on
completion of the analysis. The bones in burials 1 through 5 were in
very poor condition, and because of cultivation many are missing.