The Roulston-Rogers Site

Excavators at the Raulston-Rogers (SM-20) Site

In May, 1972, the Oklahoma Anthropological Society held its annual Spring Dig at the Roulston-Rogers site in Seminole County. An amateur archeologist and Society member first reported the site to the Oklahoma Archeological Survey in 1971. At the site, he found stone dart points and other evidence of a camp occupied by pre-pottery, pre-bow and arrow people from the late Archaic period (probably sometime 2,000-4,000 years ago). Not much was known from this period in central Oklahoma and so the site was chosen for excavation.

The Roulston-Rogers site is located on a sandy ridge overlooking Little River about 12 miles upstream from its confluence with the South Canadian. This is the Cross Timbers area, a transition zone from eastern forests to western grasslands. Eight burned sandstone concentrations were excavated, in some areas to a depth of almost four feet.

Rock hearth at SM-20

Several of the rock concentrations were small circular hearths. The larger rock concentrations could not be positively identified although they may have been used as large stone ovens. Although the sandy soil does not preserve organic material very well, charred pecan and walnut hulls were recovered.

Analysis of the excavated material revealed that people had lived at Roulston-Rogers for many thousand years. The earliest inhabitants hunted with spears and darts and gathered wild grains and nuts. Later people used pottery to store and cook food and hunted with bow and arrow. This Woodland adaptation with the use of pottery and bow and arrow was actually little changed from the preceding Late Archaic period.

Dart (lower row) and arrow (top row) points from SM-20.

Most stone tools recovered from the Roulston-Rogers site were chipped from Frisco chert quarried from near Fittstown in Pontotoc County southeast of the site. It is likely that the Roulston-Rogers campsite and the Frisco quarries were part of regular seasonal stops for the people who called this area home.