[Illustration: Figure 1. Floodplain of the Missouri River with locations of 23SA4 Gumbo Point site, 23SA162W Utlaut site, and 23SA162 Cole Lake Sand Ridge site.]
[Illustration: Figure 2. Test excavations at the Utlaut site, 23SA162W, with Detail “A” showing the burials.]
_BURIAL 6_ _Pot_ _BURIAL 2_ _Child’s skull_ _Pot_ _Shell Spoon_ _BURIAL 3_ _Scraper_ _BURIAL 4_ _Pot_ _Biface_ _BURIAL_ _Projectile point_ _Bundled bones_
[Illustration: Figure 3. Burial 1, 23SA162W. View is toward northeast.]
The projectile point is triangular, of tan-cream chert and is 3.1 cm. long, 1.44 cm. wide and 0.25 cm. thick (Fig. 4a). It is a typical Mississippian/Oneota point. The biface was cream colored with cortex present. There is a scraper edge on the long axis on one side (Fig. 4b). It is 14.0 cm. long, 9.9 cm. wide, and 3.1 cm. thick.
One of the most interesting aspects of this 35+ year old male burial is the possible “trophy” skeletal materials placed on the knee area. Remains of three persons and possibly a fourth were found in a fragmentary condition, and while some of the long bones were intact, the cranial remains present were shattered. Two explanations seem most obvious: (1) the remains are the result of some type of human sacrifice, or (2) they are secondary burial of remains disturbed from their original location. These ideas will be more fully explored later in the paper.
_Burial 2._ The skeletal material recovered from this burial was very fragmentary and the actual number of individuals involved could be three rather than the two suggested in the anatomical analysis. No complete skeleton was found, rather a series of jumbled long bones with the femur head facing southwest (Figs. 2 and 5), suggesting an extended burial on a northeast-southwest axis. At the knee area was found a skull which showed evidence of burning. This data, even more than that of Burial 1, suggests “human sacrifice” or some such exotic behavior. Because some of the long bones were burnt too, it is possible the firing occurred as a part of the burial ritual. At the northeastern end of the burial was found a child’s skull; its relationship to the adult is unclear at this time.
Also associated with Burial 2 was a ceramic vessel and a fresh water mollusc spoon (Fig. 6a-b). The spoon was very fragile and crumbled on cleaning. The vessel was a small globular jar with an everted rim and two strap handles. On the shoulder of the vessel below the handles were incised double nestled chevrons, while two single incised lines ran vertically from neck to base between the handles (Fig. 6a). The handles had double incised lines on them. The vessel was shell tempered with a slight scalloping of the lip. It was 7.63 cm. high, the orifice was 6.27 and 6.07 cm. in diameter, while the shoulder was 9.95 and 9.5 cm. in diameter. The vessel seems to be a typical Oneota form.