The Sac River has created a cut bank, some 5.2 meters high, revealing a rare site similar to the Rodgers Formation of the neighboring Pomme de Terre valley (Lopinot et al. 1998:39-40).

For some 14,000 years, the Sac River has gently flooded, covering over this site with thick, well stratified, alluvial silt (Bush 2006).

This detailed stratigraphy has preserved a record of a nearly continuous human occupation from recent prehistory back to the earliest Clovis, and possibly pre-Clovis residents.

Recovered artifacts show a continuum from Paleoindian through Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian, including perhaps important evidence for the transition from the Clovis to Dalton cultures (Chandler 2001a; Joiner 2001).

The site was periodically sealed by gravel layers and paleosols, ancient soils preserved by burial under more recent sedimentation.

In the 1970s, with the construction of the Stockton hydroelectric dam, the Sac River, which had for so long preserved the site, began to erode the bank (CAR 2006).

At this time, the Kansas City District US Army Corps of Engineers came to realize that this site was in imminent danger of destruction by the water releases from the Stockton dam.

This work revealed a much more valuable site than had first been expected and tedious hand excavation techniques were used to investigate the lower levels to maintain contextual information (Chandler 2001a).

Exploratory tests, though, revealed even deeper artifacts, manuports (natural objects moved by human action), and charcoal down to depths of four meters.

Hand excavations were made an additional 1.3 meters into the pre-Clovis deposits, finally reaching a paleo-gravel bar (Ray et al. 2000:68-69).

[1] In total, the US Army Corps of Engineers has now funded five years of excavations, and CAR has returned to the site through summer of 2006.

One of the most important aspects of Big Eddy is that the stratigraphy of the site is clear and has remained virtually undisturbed for over 14,000 years.

The stratigraphy of Big Eddy has been compared to the geology of Rodgers Cave in the neighboring Pomme de Terre Valley.

Kings Corner-Notched points, known at Middle Woodland sites associated with the Hopewell tradition, have also been recovered (Ray et al. 1998:74-76).

Dalton and San Patrice Cultures: Below the Middle Rodgers is a hard layer called Paleosol 1, 2.9 to 3.2 meters below the surface.

There may have been as many as five cultures at Big Eddy during this period as possible Packard and Plainview points have also been found, but out of context (CAR 2006; Ray et al. 1998:77).

It is hoped that the site may provide more insight into this boundary when a sudden change in lithic technologies occurs following the megafauna extinction of North America.

The 1997 dig went to the base of the Clovis material, but deeper samples had revealed intriguing hints of even older occupations at lower levels.

Well below the Gainey point, at a depth of 3.7 to 3.8 meters were found three large cobbles identified as manuports and three flakes (Lopinot et al. 1998:41).

At 3.9 meters, a gravel lens seals the site, with all deeper material being pre-Clovis in age (Lopinot et al. 1998:41).

Additional signs of modification on the stone include a pitted area at the point of fracture and percussion scars on the edges of the smaller fragment (Ray 2000:69).

Tom Dillehay of the Monte Verde site states that micro-use-wear analysis shows that the stone is manmade.

Marvin Kay, a lithics expert from the University of Arkansas, and Stanley Ahler, a micro-use-wear investigator, both believe the modifications to be the result of natural actions (Ray 2000:70; Chandler 2001b).

Just above the Paleosol, Early Archaic artifacts have been found with charcoal that yielded an uncorrected AMS date of 9,525+/-65 years BP (Lopinot et al. 1998:40).

Even if pre-Clovis evidence remains elusive, the excellent dating at the site has provided extremely valuable information about the climate of the region through time.

These different flora leave different carbon signatures in the soil which can be analyzed to determine the sorts of plants living at Big Eddy at different times.

This remarkable record raises the question, why did the early Americans find this site so appealing that they would return here again and again over the millennia?

Game would have included mastodon, tapir, ground sloth, deer, giant beaver, and horse (Chandler 2001a).

Later occupants, during the Holocene, would have been able to subsist on white-tailed deer, small game, mussels, fish, waterfowl, and edible aquatic plants (Chandler 2001a, CAR 2006).

Funding from the Army Corps of Engineers has now run out, and the CAR is seeking donations from individuals and corporations to continue the work.