WRI Morrilton Research Station

The WRI research station is located on the campus of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain. The Institute was established in 2005 as an educational and conference center of the University of Arkansas System. “The Rockefeller Institute’s mission is to develop diverse programs that nurture ideas, policies and activities to make life better in Arkansas.” The WRI research station of the Survey is responsible for archeological resources in 11 counties of mountainous west-central Arkansas, including the southern fringe of the Ozarks (the Boston Mountains) and a large portion of the Ouachitas. The two mountain ranges incorporate varied upland and river valley environments and are separated by the Arkansas River corridor. Examples of important archeological resources in the station area range from rock shelters and rock art sites—including Indian Rock House in Van Buren County and numerous pictographs and petroglyphs at Petit Jean State Park in Conway County that are listed on the National Register—to finely made prehistoric ceramics from Carden Bottoms in Yell County—to the early 19th century town of Cadron in Faulkner County, also on the National Register of Historic Places.

Emily Beahm (PhD, University of Georgia, 2013) joined the Survey as an assistant at the WRI research station beginning September 1, 2013 and became station archeologist in September 2015. Her major fields of interest are archeology of the eastern United States, Mississippian culture, ceramics, regional settlement patterns, social interaction, style, and iconography. Before coming to the Survey, she worked primarily in Tennessee and Georgia, with experience in directing major field projects, college teaching, and archival research.

Ashley Hansen (BA, University of Central Arkansas, 2023) will be joining station this summer as WRI Research Assistant. Her undergraduate research focused on the archeological landscapes of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Arkansas and how these landscapes are remembered and interacted with today. After earning her BA, she worked as a seasonal interpreter for Arkansas State Parks, where she further developed her passions for public outreach and the pre-colonial history of Arkansas. She believes that if Arkansans understand their state's past, they can be more empowered to love and care for the land on which they live.

Riley Chronister is a student at Arkansas Tech University set to graduate with his Anthropology and Geography degree in May, 2026. He became the WRI Research Station Project Assistant in April, 2024. His research interests include subsistence patterns and food ways of Historic Southeastern farmsteads. His most recent project was the faunal analysis from a historic midden at the Chism House. He is looking forward to learning more about Arkansas Archeology under the supervision of Dr. Emily Beahm.

Larry Porter passed away peacefully at home on October 12, 2021 after a brief illness. Larry had just retired as station assistant at the WRI Research Station and was a long-time member of the Arkansas Archeological Society.

• Remembering Larry Porter

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