Eaker Site | |
Overview of the site | |
Nearest city | Blytheville, Arkansas |
---|---|
Coordinates | 35°57′48″N89°56′4″W / 35.96333°N 89.93444°W Coordinates: 35°57′48″N89°56′4″W / 35.96333°N 89.93444°W |
Area | 80 acres (32 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 91001048 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 25, 1992 [1] |
Designated NHL | June 19, 1996 [2] |
The Eaker Site (3MS105) is an archaeological site on Eaker Air Force Base near Blytheville, Arkansas that was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996. [2] [3] The site is the largest and most intact Late Mississippian Nodena Phase village site within the Central Mississippi Valley, [4] with archaeological evidence indicating a palisaded village some 50 acres (20 ha) in size, with hundreds of structures. The site's major period of occupation was 1350–1450 CE, although evidence of occupation dates back to 600 CE. The site is also hypothesized to have been occupied by the Quapaw prior to a migration further south, after which they made contact with Europeans in the late 17th century. [3]
The Eaker Site is located in northeastern Arkansas, overlooking Pemiscot Bayou, a tributary of the St. Francis River. It is an area that saw little development before 1900, when agricultural endeavors resulted in the drainage of local swamps. The property was acquired by the United States Air Force in 1942, and has been part of Eaker Air Force Base since then. [3]
The site was first recorded in 1973, although its location was incorrectly given, and was not corrected until 1978, when an amateur archaeologist collected samples from the site. Preliminary surveys were made in 1980 and 1982 by state archaeologists, and in 1988 a full investigation established the boundaries of the 80-acre (32 ha) site. This work yielded more than 100 projectile points and over 2,000 pottery fragments. A portion of the site has since been surveyed using a magnetometer, identifying a significant number of subsurface features of interest, including as many as 400 house sites. Excavations have yielded evidence of refuse middens, houses, toolmaking workshops, and human remains. [3]
The most significant damage to the site took place shortly after the Air Force occupation in 1942, when a portion of a platform mound was apparently used as fill for one of the airfield runways. A mound-like feature in the northeast of the site is believed to represent the surviving element of this structure. [3]
According to the archaeological finds, the site appears to have been occupied several times between about 600 CE and 1500 CE. The pottery finds are similar in distribution to those found at the Nodena Site, and the Nodena period (1350–1450 CE) is when this site appears to have been occupied to its greatest extent. This occupation included a large village, occupying about 50 acres (20 ha) of the site, which was surrounded by a wooden palisade and ditch. The southern 30 acres (12 ha) have evidence of Late Woodland Period occupation. [3]
The site is significant for its size, which should enable archaeologists to uncover substantial evidence about the society which occupied it, including information such as social stratification (as indicated by differing burial practices, and the arrangement of structures in the village), and trading patterns with surrounding communities. It may also yield valuable information about agricultural practices, given its location in a place favorable for such uses. [3]
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996. [2] [1]
Wickliffe Mounds is a prehistoric, Mississippian culture archaeological site located in Ballard County, Kentucky, just outside the town of Wickliffe, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Archaeological investigations have linked the site with others along the Ohio River in Illinois and Kentucky as part of the Angel Phase of Mississippian culture. Wickliffe Mounds is controlled by the State Parks Service, which operates a museum at the site for interpretation of the ancient community. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is also a Kentucky Archeological Landmark and State Historic Site.
Moundville Archaeological Site, also known as the Moundville Archaeological Park, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site on the Black Warrior River in Hale County, near the modern city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Extensive archaeological investigation has shown that the site was the political and ceremonial center of a regionally organized Mississippian culture chiefdom polity between the 11th and 16th centuries. The archaeological park portion of the site is administered by the University of Alabama Museums and encompasses 185 acres (75 ha), consisting of 29 platform mounds around a rectangular plaza.
Shiloh Indian Mounds Site (40HR7) is an archaeological site of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture. It is located beside the Tennessee River on the grounds of the Shiloh National Military Park, in Hardin County of southwestern Tennessee. A National Historic Landmark, it is one of the largest Woodland era sites in the southeastern United States.
The Southwold Earthworks is the remains of a pre-contact village site of the Neutral people, occupied about AD 1450 to 1550. The entrance to the site is located on Iona Road, approximately three kilometres south of Iona Ontario, Canada. A double oval ring of raised earthworks surrounds the remains of the village.
Town Creek Indian Mound is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site located near present-day Mount Gilead, Montgomery County, North Carolina, in the United States. The site, whose main features are a platform mound with a surrounding village and wooden defensive palisade, was built by the Pee Dee, a South Appalachian Mississippian culture people that developed in the region as early as 980 CE. They thrived in the Pee Dee River region of North and South Carolina during the Pre-Columbian era. The Town Creek site was an important ceremonial site occupied from about 1150—1400 CE. It was abandoned for unknown reasons. It is the only ceremonial mound and village center of the Pee Dee located within North Carolina.
The Nodena Site is an archeological site east of Wilson, Arkansas and northeast of Reverie, Tennessee in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. Around 1400–1650 CE an aboriginal palisaded village existed in the Nodena area on a meander bend of the Mississippi River. The Nodena site was discovered and first documented by Dr. James K. Hampson, archaeologist and owner of the plantation on which the Nodena site is located. Artifacts from this site are on display in the Hampson Museum State Park in Wilson, Arkansas. The Nodena Site is the type site for the Nodena Phase, believed by many archaeologists to be the province of Pacaha visited by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1542.
The Menard-Hodges Site (3AR4), is an archaeological site in Arkansas County, Arkansas. It includes two large platform mounds as well as several house mounds. It is the type site for the Menard phase, a protohistoric Mississippian culture group.
Parkin Archeological State Park, also known as Parkin Indian Mound, is an archeological site and state park in Parkin, Cross County, Arkansas. Around 1350–1650 CE an aboriginal palisaded village existed at the site, at the confluence of the St. Francis and Tyronza rivers. Artifacts from this site are on display at the site museum. The Parkin Site is the type site for the Parkin phase, an expression of the Mississippian culture from the Late Mississippian period. Many archeologists believe it to be part of the province of Casqui, documented as visited by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1542. Archeological artifacts from the village of the Parkin people are dated to 1400–1650 CE.
Hampson Archeological Museum State Park is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) Arkansas state park in Mississippi County, Arkansas in the United States. The museum contains a collection of archeological artifacts from the Nodena Site, which is a former Native American village on the Mississippi River between 1400 and 1650. James K. Hampson began excavating the site in the 1920s, a museum was built in 1946 and the Arkansas General Assembly officially accepted the collection of artifacts from the Hampson family on March 30, 1957. The park first opened in 1961 as Hampson Museum State Park and has since been renamed.
James Kelly Hampson was the archaeologist to excavate and preserve the artifacts from the Nodena Site and owner of the Hampson Plantation in Wilson, Arkansas.
The Kincaid Mounds Historic Site c. 1050–1400 CE, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the southern tip of present-day U.S. state of Illinois, along the Ohio River. Kincaid Mounds has been notable for both its significant role in native North American prehistory and for the central role the site has played in the development of modern archaeological techniques. The site had at least 11 substructure platform mounds, and 8 other monuments.
The Winterville Site is a major archaeological site in unincorporated Washington County, Mississippi, north of Greenville and along the river. It consists of major earthwork monuments, including more than twelve large platform mounds and cleared and filled plazas. It is the type site for the Winterville Phase of the Lower Yazoo Basin region of the Plaquemine Mississippian culture. Protected as a state park, it has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Towosahgy State Historic Site (23MI2), also known as Beckwith's Fort Archeological Site, is a large Mississippian archaeological site with a Woodland period Baytown culture component located in Mississippi County, Missouri. It is believed to have been inhabited from c. 400-1350. The site is maintained by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a state historic site. The name Towosahgy is an Osage word which means "old town." It is not known if members of the historic Osage, who dominated a large area of present-day Missouri at the beginning of encounter with European colonizers, occupied the site. The site was acquired by the Missouri state park system in 1967 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as NRIS number 69000113,
The C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa is located on and exhibits excavated materials of the Mississippian culture archaeological site known as Chucalissa which means "abandoned house" in Choctaw. The site is located adjacent to the T. O. Fuller State Park within the city of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Chucalissa was designated National Historic Landmark in 1994 due to its importance as one of the best-preserved and major prehistoric settlement sites in the region.
The Murphy Mound Archeological Site, is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Bootheel region of the U.S. state of Missouri. Located southwest of Caruthersville in Pemiscot County, Missouri the site was occupied by peoples of the Late Mississippian period, centuries before European colonization of the area.
The Campbell Archeological Site (23PM5), is an archaeological site in Southeastern Missouri occupied by the Late Mississippian Period Nodena Phase from 1350 to 1541 CE. The site features a large platform mound and village area, as well as several cemeteries. The site was excavated by amateur archaeologist Leo O. Anderson and Professor Carl Chapman from 1954 to 1968 and subsequently published the first material on the site in 1955. The site has yielded the largest number of Spanish artifacts of any prehistoric site in Southeastern Missouri. Finds at the site included glass chevron beads, a Clarksdale bell, iron knife fragments and part of a brass book binder. It was added to the NRHP on July 24, 1974 as NRIS number 74001086.
The Ashworth Archaeological Site is a significant archaeological site in the extreme southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. Located near the confluence of the Ohio and Wabash Rivers, it lies near several similar archaeological sites. It was first examined by archaeologists in the middle of the twentieth century and found to be the site of a relatively recent Native American village, and it has been designated a historic site because of its archaeological value.
The Nodena Phase is an archaeological phase in eastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri of the Late Mississippian culture which dates from about 1400–1650 CE. The Nodena Phase is known from a collection of villages along the Mississippi River between the Missouri Bootheel and Wapanocca Lake. They practiced extensive maize agriculture and artificial cranial deformation and were members of a continent wide trade and religious network known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, which brought chert, whelk shells, and other exotic goods to the area.
The Lamar Mounds and Village Site (9BI2) is an important archaeological site on the banks of the Ocmulgee River in Bibb County, Georgia, several miles to the southeast of the Ocmulgee Mound Site. Both mound sites are part of the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park, a national park and historic district created in 1936 and run by the U.S. National Park Service. Historians and archaeologists have theorized that the site is the location of the main village of the Ichisi encountered by the Hernando de Soto expedition in 1539.
The Spanish Fort Site (22-SH-500) is an archaeological site in the Delta region of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of three major earthwork sites in the far southern portion of the Yazoo River valley, and it has been designated a historic site because of its archaeological value. Despite its name, the site was not built by the Spanish, and its original purpose is believed to have been ceremonial, not martial.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eaker Site . |