Blog Posts & News | Arkansas Archeological Survey

AAS-SAU Holiday Open House, Potluck & Talk

AAS-SAU Research Station Archeologist, Dr. Jamie Brandon will be our speaker on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, 7pm

When: Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 5-8 pm

Where: Rooms 103 & 104 of the Bruce Center on the SAU Campus, Magnolia, AR

‘Tis the season! Time for our annual holiday open house, potluck and talk. The Southern Arkansas University Research Station of the Arkansas Archeological Survey (AAS-SAU) will be open to all visitors starting at 5pm on Tuesday, December 10—the Research Station is located in the Bruce Center, Room 103…on the bottom floor of the Bruce Center building (for directions & map to the AAS-SAU see our website).

OPEN HOUSE, AAS-SAU Research Station, BRUCE CENTER 103, 5pm: Come see behind of the scenes of archeological research. We will have artifacts from our recent work at Washington and Dooley’s Ferry on display as well as plenty of prehistoric artifacts to look at. The open house will run from 5pm until 6:30pm
Potluck Supper, BRUCE CENTER 104, 6:30pm: Following the open house we will have a potluck supper in room 104 of the Bruce Center (the classroom adjoining the AAS-SAU Research Station)—bring a dish and enjoy the food!
TALK, “Bear Grease in the Bear State” by Dr. Jamie C. Brandon, BRUCE CENTER 104, 7pm: Our own Dr. Jamie Brandon will continue our year-long iconography theme (sort of) by talking about an important icon in Arkansas history—the bear. In early Arkansas, the bear trade was so important that until 1923, we were unofficially known as “The Bear State””…and the animal was a big part of our image nationally. In 2008-2009, Dr. Brandon excavated a bear grease pomade jar from the home of Grandison Royston in Historic Washington State Park and this has led him to examine the iconography of bears in the early history of the state. He will talk about the bear as an icon, our national image, and what this pomade jar might mean.

Come check out the Research Station, cool artifacts, good food, and a great talk—Tuesday, December 10, 5:00pm in room 103 & 104 on the bottom floor of the Bruce Center on the campus of Southern Arkansas University

Dr. Duncan McKinnon to talk about iconography, landscape and pottery in Southwest Arkansas

When: November 12, 2013, 7pm

Where: The Magnolia Room, second floor of the Reynolds Center on the SAU Campus, Magnolia, AR

The program for the November meeting of the Kadohadacho Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society will feature Dr. Duncan McKinnon. Duncan is no stranger to us in southwest Arkansas; he began working with the Kadohadacho Chapter back in 2007 when he was conducting a remote sensing survey for his MA thesis on Battle Mound in Lafayette County. Duncan has continued to work with us through his Ph.D. dissertation—synthesizing historical excavations and new high-tech remote sensing data at the Battle Mound site. Moreover, in 2010 Duncan taught an Honors College seminar at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia entitled “Myths, Symbolism and Moundbuilders” (ANTH 4133). Dr. McKinnon is now a newly-minted Ph.D. and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Additionally, he joined the PBS series Time Team America—a cross between a documentary and reality TV program following a team of archeologists as they work on sites around the country. Duncan joined the program for its second season (airing this spring). You can find out more about Time Team America at their website: http://www.pbs.org/opb/timeteam/

…and you can see a great Time Team America interview with Duncan here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2324847352/

Our November speaker, Dr. Duncan McKinnon. Come hear him on Tuesday, November 12, 7:00pm in the Magnolia Room on the second floor of the Reynolds Center on the campus of Southern Arkansas University

Dr. McKinnon will be our third speaker in our iconography-themed season and he will be talking about a couple of projects that he has been undertaking examining iconography, landscape and pottery in southwest Arkansas.

Come learn about Dr. McKinnon’s explorations of Native American iconography, landscape and pottery here in our own region on Tuesday, November 12th at 7:00pm in the Magnolia Room on the second floor of the Reynolds Center on the campus of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, AR.

Dr. George Lankford to Talk about Native American Iconography, Myths & Archeology

When: October 8, 2013, 7pm

Where: The Magnolia Room, second floor of the Reynolds Center on the SAU Campus, Magnolia, AR

Dr. George Lankford, Professor Emeritus at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, where he served as endowed professor and chair of Social Sciences.

The program for the October meeting of the Kadohadacho Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society will feature Dr. George Lankford, who will be talking to us about his work with iconography and reconstructing lost myths used by prehistoric Native Americans. Dr. Lankford is an excellent speaker and always a favorite with the AAS Chapters around the state.

All students of the past bump into what seem to be impenetrable walls and are left looking longingly beyond the barrier for the lore that seems hopelessly lost. Dr. Lankford’s work shows us that all that information is not necessarily lost. It may just need a different approach—perhaps multidisciplinary, perhaps a new method, or maybe just with a new hypothesis for testing. Lankford does just this in attempting to understand the mythic stories behind the masses of raw data (artifacts and iconography) left behind by prehistoric Native American groups. It is not an easy process, but it is engaging, and any puzzle-solver will find this sort of detective work worth the effort.

Lankford is a Professor Emeritus at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, where he served as endowed professor and chair of Social Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in folklore from the University of Indiana, but has long been working at the intersection of many disciplines—including folklore, anthropology, history and religion. Dr. Langford has authored numerous books and articles, including Native American Legends (Southeastern Legends: Tales from the Natchez, Caddo, Biloxi, Chickasaw, and Other Nations (1987), Bearing Witness: Memories of Arkansas Slavery (2006), Looking For Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology and Iconography (2008) and Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (2007) His current research interests are in prehistoric iconography, ethnoastronomy, Native American myth interpretation and local antebellum history. In his 30 years as a college professor, he taught anthropology, religion, local history (Ozarks) and mythology.

Come learn about Dr. Lankford’s explorations of Native American iconography, myth and archeology on Tuesday, October 8th at 7:00pm in the Magnolia Room on the second floor of the Reynolds Center on the campus of Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, AR.

September 27-29, Annual State-wide Meeting of the Arkansas Archeological Society

This year the state-wide annual meeting of the Arkansas Archeological Society will be held for the first time in Conway—centrally located off I-40 about 30 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Conway, home to three colleges, is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state with over 50,000 residents. A local attraction is Cadron Settlement Park, where Cherokees on the Trail of Tears stopped along the way. A recreated blockhouse and exhibit panels are on display at this Corps of Engineers property, which you may wish to visit before or after the meeting.

The meeting will sport all the usual fun—interesting papers (including papers by both Drs. Brandon and Drexler of the AAS-SAU Research Station), a banquet, a keynote presentation (from our new director, Dr. George Sabo), the ARF auction, business meeting and awards—all of which are further described on the Arkansas Archeological Society meeting website.

Dr. Brandon will be giving a paper on an artifact recovered from his work at Historic Washington State Park entitled “Bear Grease Pomade in the Bear State: Class, Consumerism, and Colonialism at the Royston House in Historic Washington State Park, Arkansas,” while Dr. Drexler will be giving a paper entitled “Archeology of the King of Battle: Approaches to the Study of Battlefield Ammunition in the Field of Archeology.” Dr. Duncan McKinnon (now with UCA) will be giving a talk related to his work in southwestern Arkansas entitled “Distribution of Design: The Rayed Circle Motif as a Case Study in an Ongoing Analysis of Caddo Iconography in Arkansas” and Dr. Jodi Barnes (AAS-UAM) will be giving a talk on the recent work at Camp Monticello with which the AAS-SAU Research Station has been assisting.

Upcoming Talk About Iconography–What Can We Tell From Prehistoric Rock Art?

When: September 10, 2013, 7pm

Where: The Magnolia Room, second floor of the Reynolds Center on the SAU Campus, Magnolia, AR

Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, art historian and Associate Professor of Art at UCA in Conway, AR.

Our first program of the 2013 fall Kadohadacho Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society speaker series will be given by Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, art historian and Associate Professor of Art at UCA in Conway, AR…The presentation is entitled “Understanding Ancient Art through the Lens of Living Traditions.”

How can the living arts of the Brazilian Amazon inform the iconographic interpretation of some of the oldest art in the Americas? From Petit Jean Mountain to the Brazilian Highlands we find rock art that calls to mind the forms we see in traditional American Indian masking and featherwork. This presentation will explore some of the lessons we can learn about interpreting prehistoric iconography by studying the significance and use of living art traditions. Sensitive attention to indigenous attitudes about art and ritual can significantly inform our approach to the enigmatic prehistoric imagery we find in rockshelters from Arkansas to the Amazon.

Dr. Morales was born and educated in Virginia. In 2002, he received his Ph.D. in pre-Columbian art history from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. His research focuses on the prehistoric rock art and the living indigenous arts of Brazil. Additional research interests include the pre-Columbian art of the Caribbean, the prehistoric American Southwest, and contemporary art criticism and theory.

This is just the first in a series of lectures throughout Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 that will explore the iconography and archeology theme.

Iconography: The 2013-2014 Kadohadacho Speaker Series

The 2013-2014 Kadohadacho Speaker Series will have a theme this year—iconography! Iconography is the study of the imagery or symbolism in art and images and all of our speakers for Spring 2013 and Fall of 2014 will address various aspects of how archeologists and art historians attempt to get at past cultures through the images that they leave behind.

Our first speaker will be Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, Associate Professor of Art History with the Department of Art at the University of Central Arkansas. Dr. Morales will be talking about the iconography of Northeast Brazilian rock paintings with ties into interpreting petroglyphs on Petit Jean Mountain—taking indigenous attitudes into consideration in the interpretation of very old rock art.

Following that, in October we will play host to Dr. George Lankford, professor emeritus of anthropology and religion from Lyons College. Dr. Lankford is the author of many articles, book chapters and books about iconography in the Southeastern US—including Visualizing the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World (2011), Looking for Lost Lore: Studies in Folklore, Ethnology, and Iconography (2008), Reachable Stars: Patterns in the Ethnoastronomy of Eastern North America (2007), and many, many more. Dr. Lankford will be reprising his keynote address to the 2012 State-wide Arkansas Archeological Society Meeting on meaning on iconography.

In November we have Dr. Duncan McKinnon. Many of you will remember Dr. McKinnon from his Kadohadacho Chapter talks on Battle Mound, or from the honors course he taught on Native American iconography (entitled “Myths and Mound Builders”) here at SAU. Dr. McKinnon is now teaching anthropology at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and he returns to talk about iconography in landscapes and pottery right here in south Arkansas.

Our final Fall speaker will be our own Dr. Jamie Brandon who will talk about some historic iconography—the image of the bear in early Arkansas history—and what it might mean (using artifacts excavated from Historic Washington State Park).

In the Spring we will have more talks about prehistoric iconography in Arkansas and the southeastern United States. The first two are from Arkansas Archeological Society members. Don Higgins, avid recorder of rock art on Petit Jean Mountain, will talk to us about the centenary of Petit Jean rock art study in February, while in March, James Rees, Vice-President of the Arkansas Archeological Society, will talk to us about the intersection for archeomusicology and iconography.

We will wrap up with our April speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Horton, AAS Research Station Archeologist at Toltec Mounds State Park. Dr. Horton will be talking about the iconography used in Native American basketry.

We are very excited about having a theme to this year’s lectures—and we hope that you are too. More information on each of the speakers will be forthcoming in each of the newsletters. We hope to see you at one of our talks this year.

Kadohadacho Speakers, 2013-2014

• September 10—Dr. Reinaldo “Dito” Morales, Art Historian at UCA in Conway, will talk about interpreting rock art.

• October 8—Dr. George Lankford, professor emeritus from Lyons College, will talk about Southeastern Native American iconography.

• November 12—Dr. Duncan McKinnon, anthropologist at UCA in Conway, will talk about iconography on landscapes and pottery here in southwest Arkansas.

• December 10—Our own Dr. Jamie Brandon will talk about bears and historic iconography in Arkansas…and we’ll have the annual AAS-SAU Research Station Open House and Holiday Potluck.

• February 11—Don Higgins, Arkansas Archeological Society member and avid rock art researcher, will talk about 100 years of studying rock art on Petit Jean Mountain.

• March 11—James Rees, Vice-President of the Arkansas Archeological Society and archeomusicologist, will talk about iconography and music in the southeastern US.

• April 8—Dr. Elizabeth Horton, AAS-Toltec Station Archeologist, will talk about iconography in Native American basketry.

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