18-05-2025
Missouri family heirloom identified as rare Native American artifact
FAYETTEVILLE, AR – What started as a family heirloom in a Missouri home has now been identified as one of the rarest pre-contact Native American artifacts ever brought to the University of Arkansas Museum.
An ancient seed bag, believed to be several hundred, if not thousands, of years old, was officially donated on May 5 to the University of Arkansas Museum by a southwest Missouri family. Archaeologists describe it as one of the best-preserved organic artifacts ever to emerge from the region.
'It was just really exciting to see because, like I'd mentioned earlier, those kinds of organic remains are very, very rare,' Mel Zabecki, Arkansas state archaeologist, said. 'I was surprised and just excited to see something new and very, very well preserved. It was just beautifully preserved, it looked like it was made yesterday.'
The ancient seed bag was originally discovered in the Missouri Ozarks near a bluff shelf—small natural caves in rock formations, in the 1960s by a Dry Hollow resident, Andy Juel.
The rare artifact had been preserved in a glass jar for over six decades and was passed down to his granddaughter, Jess Mayberry, before being donated to the museum.
In an email, Mayberry wrote, 'I adored this bag growing up, and when I noticed the seeds starting to fall out, I feared that we weren't doing our best to preserve it. And if we didn't act, we could lose it.'
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Mayberry wanted to donate the bag to the University of Arkansas Museum, even though it was found in Missouri, 'due to its heavy research in fibers, native artifacts, and the fact the bag was found closer to its campus and the shelters in which the university has study.'
'I've only been here at the survey for 10 years, and even people that have been here for 35 years say, 'Wow, that is the nicest thing that's come through,'' Zabecki said.
According to Mayberry's husband, Matt Hoemann, the woven bag still contained ancient seeds and several stone tools, and is believed to be a rare example of pre-contact Native American craftsmanship.
Experts say it likely came from a period when bluff shelters were actively used by Indigenous communities in the Ozarks, potentially placing its age anywhere between 500 and 2,000 years.
According to Zabecki, bluff shelters provide the ideal dry and stable conditions needed to preserve delicate organic materials that would normally decay in the region's humid climate.
After comparing it to records and artifacts stored at the museum, researchers believe the Missouri bag could be culturally connected to the Osage tribe.
Although the bag has been donated to the museum, Zabecki explains that it is being held temporarily while the museum works to contact the Osage tribe to determine how they would like to proceed with the artifact.
'It feels as if I return something that was lost,' Mayberry wrote. 'Although I always enjoyed looking at the bag in the glass jar, it is nothing compared to the feeling I get knowing I return something that could piece together some history or complete a story.'
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