Little Rock

We will busy this fall with more talk about the importance of bluff shelter sites in the Arkansas Ozarks. If you are in the area, check out one of these talks, or schedule one for your organization by contacting Dr. Jamie Brandon.

09/7/2017: Spring River Gem & Mineral Club in Cherokee Village, AR.

Where: Omaha Center in Cherokee Village
When: 10am

09/12/2017: Kadohadacho Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society, Magnolia AR.

Where: Magnolia Room of the Reynolds Center at Southern Arkansas University
When: 7pm

09/19/2017: Mind Stretchers Meeting, Van Buren, AR.

Where: Ruth Skinner Building on 6th Street across from St. John’s in Van Buren.
When: 6pm

10/07/2017: Walker Shelter Hike, Bella Vista, AR.

Where: Back 40 trail, Bella Vista, AR
When: 9am
Dr. Brandon will lead a 2 mile hike along the Back 40 Loop in Bella Vista to the Walker Shelter. Upon arrival he will give a brief talk about the regional importance of these sites.

11/1/2017: Butler Center “Legacies & Lunch.”

Where: CALS Main Library Darragh Center, 100 Rock St., Little Rock
When: 12 noon

11/08-11/2017: Southeastern Archeological Conference.

At this year’s SEAC in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Jamie Brandon and Lydia Rees have organized a session on the importance of Ozark bluff shelters entitled “Ozark Bluff Shelters: Past, Present and Future Research.” This session will include George Sabo, Gayle Fritz, Elizabeth Horton, Marvin Kay, James Rees, Devon Pettigrew, Natlie Muller and Logan Kistler, Brian Andrews, Jared Pebworth, Jamie Brandon and Lydia Rees. A publication on this symposium (to appear in the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Research series) is planned.

The Arkansas Ozark bluff shelter project was represented at the 75th annual conference of the Arkansas Historical Association in Little Rock. Dr. Jamie Brandon and Lydia Rees co-presented their paper which explored the construction of the “Bluff-dweller Culture” in the 1920s-30s and how, because of intellectual traditional and historical trajectories, this has led to misconceptions of the nature of Ozark prehistory throughout the twentieth century.

When early archeologists, like M. R. Harrington and Samuel Dellinger, deployed the “Bluff-dweller Culture” concept, they were collapsing 9,000 years of history into one cultural entity. The modern timeline of southeastern prehistory had yet to be written when they were working in the 1920s and 1930s so this error is understandable. The problem is that it has taken decades to shed the perceptions set up by this older model. It has led to the idea of a backwards and isolated Ozark prehistory that is not supported by current research. The paper presented at the conference, and which has been submitted for publication aims to counter this older narrative with newer information.

Fall 2017 Bluff Shelter Talks