Nebo Hill Archeological Site is a large hill a few miles southwest of Excelsior Springs, Missouri

Excelsior Springs, Missouri

Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 11,084 at the 2010 census. It is located approximately northeast of central Kansas City, Missouri.- Geography :...

. It has the highest elevation in Clay County and is named after the family who owned the property in the 1900s.

Archaeological findings

The hill is now a large archaeological site, with several ancient Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 artifacts having been found there. This ancient culture has been named the Nebo Hill culture.

The ancient peoples lived along Fishing River

Fishing River

The Fishing River is a tributary of the Missouri River in western Missouri in the United States. It rises in the northeastern extremity of Kansas City in Clay County and flows generally eastward and southeastward through Clay and southeastern Ray counties, past the town of Mosby...

, a tributary of the Missouri River

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

. The culture flourished from 3,000 to 1,000 BCE. Their distinctive spearhead and axe designs have been found as far north as Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. There have also been many pottery

Native American pottery

Native American pottery is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in the Americas. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks,...

 findings. Artifacts from the Nebo Hill culture have also been found at the Renner Site

Renner Village Archeological Site

The Renner Village Archeological Site is a significant prehistoric Kansas City Hopewell culture archaeological site located in the municipality of Riverside, Missouri....

 near Riverside, Missouri

Riverside, Missouri

Riverside is a city in Platte County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,979 at the 2000 census.The town on the edge of the Missouri River has a long history of racing and gambling. It formally incorporated in 1951....

.

The Nebo Hill culture is a Late Archaic culture, and it is thought to be the ancestral to the later Kansas City Hopewellian culture

Kansas City Hopewell

The Kansas City Hopewell were the farthest west regional variation of the Hopewell tradition of the Middle Woodland period . Sites were located in Kansas and Missouri around the mouth of the Kansas River where it enters the Missouri River...

.