Let me tell you a cute story about Ivan. He has a ritual whenever he finds an artifact he will stand up, holding the piece up in the air and shout, "I AM THE WORLD'S GREATEST ARROWHEAD HUNTER!!" Now Ivan's most successful hunts are in caves which is where he was digging this one fine day. He and his brother had been looking, digging and sifting for quite some time when all of a sudden, Ivan finds an axe head. Forgetting that he was in a cave where the ceiling was only four foot high, Ivan starts his ritual. He stands up quickly, declaring...."I AM THE GREA-----", then is suddenly stopped short by a heavy "clunk" from his head as he hit the roof of the cave! Needless to say, from the headache he had for the next few hours, this piece of stone cost him a bit more than others!

All items were found in Phelps and surrounding counties of Missouri, with the exception of the pots which were found in Kentucky. Everything you see on these pages are authentic and I have used Ivan's datings where applicable. The following pictures are just a small sample of his collection.

My son holding Ivan's pride!

For those looking for Missouri's Indian history, the only tribes in written history are the Osage and Missouri. In verbal lore, the Puants, the oldest stories tell, were located in the area with St. Louis being the central town. It was a huge trading area for all surrounding tribes. Four roads were used for travel to the area: the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, a highway that ran east to the shores of the Sunrise Ocean and another which ran west and then south to Tula capitol city of the Toltecs.

Their civilization succeeded for many years, until either the Cherokee (as they tell) or the Creeks (as I believe it was them that will also tell the story) came along and devastated them, taking over their lands and driving them away. If it was the Cherokees, they later spread eastward and for whatever reason never truly inhabited the land west of the Mississippi until hundreds of years later when pushed back because of the white man. The theory I have is based on the fact that there was a lot of warfare among all the surrounding tribes because the land was so good for hunting and farming. Eventually only the Osage remained in the area.

In researching for Missouri's ancient past it seems this land was uninhabited, yet evidence still remains that villages, hunts, farming existed. However, Ivan has found enough to prove that thousands of years of civilization did exist. We have tried to include all the different points and variety of items in these pictures. So now take a look at some of his artifacts. To view enlarged photes and descriptions