Archaeology at the Brown site has provided the main source of information about the Osage Indians' daily life in Missouri by showing not only what artifacts were left behind but how they related to one another in the ground. A single projectile point can offer limited information, but projectile points and chert waste concentrated in a small area indicate a hunting camp, while dense debris and evidence of houses indicate a village. Disturbed soil can also reveal former post holes, hearths, roasting pits, and storage pits. Because excavation destroys the part of a site being dug, archaeologists carefully record what they find so the stories of the past are not lost. The site was first visited by archaeologists in 1941 after landowner W.L. Brown, who had collected many artifacts there, recognized its importance and stopped plowing it. Dr. Carl H. Chapman and University of Missouri at Columbia staff began excavations that year, but World War II interrupted the work. In 1962, Chapman led a large-scale excavation of known Osage sites in this part of the state, with about 9,000 square feet excavated at this site. In the center, pits and post holes marked the apparent location of a house, and a large excavation near the western edge revealed pits, hearths, and post holes indicating two houses. One measured 42 feet by 19 feet and the other 45 feet by 22 feet, with two or three center posts, multiple hearths, and numerous storage pits in the house floors. A small excavation in 1983 sought bones and floral material for comparison with other historic Indian sites and revealed much information about the plants and animals used by the Osage Indians in Missouri. The village is a nonrenewable source of information, and removing artifacts both damages the story preserved there and is against the law.