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June 2005 Excavations
Arkansas’s 42nd Annual Training Program in Archeology will return to the Eaker site June 10-26, 2005 to continue our exploration of Mississippian life along Pemiscot Bayou.
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Most of our planned excavations this summer are designed to gather chronological and structural information about parts of the site that we have not investigated yet, along with another look at earthquake effects. We will not be doing Controlled Surface Collection (CSC) this year because, as we found out last year, the vegetation just gets too far ahead of us in June to make CSC efficient. However, Claudine Payne and Marion Haynes will continue CSC this March and April and would welcome any volunteers who would like to help.
The Eaker site has been described as a large Mississippian town, but we do not have definitive evidence that it is indeed a town. It might be, for example, a series of overlapping occupations from different time periods. We do see sites like that along Pemiscot Bayou. Our 2004 excavations indicated that the occupation in the northeast quadrant is a Middle-period Mississippian one (AD 1200-1400), but previous work by Bob Lafferty and Bob Cande found evidence of Late Mississippian occupation (AD 1350 or1400 to1650) in other parts of the site. Whether this means there are multiple separate occupations or simply a later component elsewhere in the site, we’re not sure. So we will be excavating in several parts of the site to get a better handle on the nature of the settlement through time. We plan excavation in four areas this year.
First, we will return to Area D to learn more about the house revealed in the 2004 excavations. We hope to uncover the walls of the house and determine its shape and size, as well as to collect more information about its construction and the activities going on there.
About 100 meters southwest of Area D, we will open units in Area F. Jami Lockhart’s geophysical investigations in 2004 showed anomalies that may be houses and earthquake effects in this spot. There are some hints from earlier investigations that the vicinity of Area F may be Late Mississippian. So there is the possibility that Area F was occupied at a different time from Areas D and E. Excavations in Area F are designed to gather data on structures, possible earthquake effects, and chronology.
Farther to the south and west is a location, Area G, that may be near the western edge of the site. Area G is about 150 meters south and 150 meters west of Area D. Remote sensing studies done in 1989 show multiple magnetic anomalies that may be houses (including what appears to be a very large one) and earthquake effects. Understanding the timing of this part of the site that is so far from the Bayou will give us clues to whether the site is one big contemporaneous occupation or lots of smaller ones from different times. Jami Lockhart will be carrying out geophysical investigations in April to help us identify the best place for excavation in Area G.
The fourth excavation area will be Area H near the east edge of the site and about 100 meters south of Area D. The 1989 remote sensing data showed anomalies in this location that may be midden occupation. Bob Lafferty and Bob Cande’s controlled surface collection in 1988 recorded relatively high densities of artifacts here. We will be excavating in Area H to gather chronological data and to see if we can identify the east edge of the site.
We hope to see you in June in Blytheville.
