The Utz Site in central Missouri is a major Native American archaeological village area on bluffs above the Missouri River, covering about 200 acres north of Marshall and south of Miami. Occupied by the Missouri tribe from about the 15th century into the late 18th century, it was one of the region’s largest early Contact villages and was probably the tribe’s principal settlement when Europeans first arrived. Earlier inhabitants are identified archaeologically as Oneota. French explorers recorded the settlement, including Père Marquette’s 1673 map, and evidence suggests the village was abandoned around 1728. Its significance led to formal study beginning in the 1940s and National Historic Landmark status in 1964.