Duncan McKinnon successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation yesterday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. McKinnon’s dissertation, entitled “Battle Mound: Exploring Space, Place, and History of a Red River Caddo Community in Southwest Arkansas,” is the product of a seven year collaboration between Duncan and the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Southern Arkansas Research Station. McKinnon focused his project on Battle Mound, an important Caddo mound site in Lafayette County. He marshaled historical archeological data–excavations on Battle Mound from the 1940s and 1980s–and a large amount of geophysical data to explore settlement patterns and help fill in gaps in our understanding of Caddo culture history.
Duncan McKinnon at Battle Mound.
McKinnon’s committee was chaired by Dr. Ken Kvamme (University of Arkansas) and included Drs. Jamie Brandon (AAS-SAU), George Sabo (AAS-UAF) and Jami Lockhart (AAS-CSP)…his field work involved many members of the AAS staff, Arkansas Archeological Society volunteers and graduate students from the University of Arkansas.
McKinnon is currently an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
Congratulations, Dr. McKinnon!
