Arkansas Archeological Society

Curious about what was found at Plum Bayou Mounds Training Program?? Paige Ford will present at the Annual Meeting September 25-27. Hotel rooms group rate deadline is August 26. Don't miss your chance to register at a discount. See ya next month! Get a sneak peek at announcement with link in comments.

In the interesting to read department, the New York Times published an article on 2500 year old earthworks in South America found using lidar. Link to article in the comments

The Arkansas Archeological Society Annual Meeting is September 25-27th in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Scholarships available for student attendees, application deadline August 15th. Keynote Speaker is Dr. Kary Stackelback, Oklahoma State Archeologist with Brenda Nails-Alford. Registration link in comments. Find all the details on our website!

State Archeologist, Mel Zabecki and I had a fantastic time at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History OZARK 250 Block Party in Springdale on Saturday. Mel taught folks about identifying animal bones and I told people all about the Society. It was an awesome, well run community event. The Arkansas mascots LOVED Mel!!! I wish we could do this every year. Thanks to the Shiloh Museum staff and Teen Action Support Network volunteers for taking such good care of us during the event.

You BELONG here! If you couldn't make it to Plum Bayou for the 2026 Training Program we've already begun planning our 2027 Training Program. Follow us to stay up to date on all the news! If you would like to hear more about archeological research in Arkansas attend our Annual Meeting in Fort Smith September 25-27th. Find out all the details in the link in comments. No membership required to attend! The keynote address is free and open to the public. Come find out why our members keep coming back.

We wrapped up another Training Program in Archeology on Saturday. It was a very special program this year. Surprising things were discovered in the excavation (more later so follow us) we had 100 fabulous volunteers and so many hours in seminars, lab, and the field. Many entities work together for this program to succeed. Thank you to the Arkansas Archeological Survey for providing the staff, funding, and infrastructure to make the program possble, Arkansas Archeological Society Board members and membership at large who donate their time, money, expertise and labor, to the Society Arkansas State Parks, the entire staff at Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park, Plantation Agriculture State Park staff, Army Corp of Engineers and Camp hosts at Willow Beach Campground, All Soul’s Church, and the community of Scott, AR. Stay tuned to find out where we will conduct the 2027 Training Program.

We’re starting week 2 of the Training Program strong! The bus is still completely full. Archeology requires fortitude and these folks possess it in droves. We have 53 volunteers. Historical Archaeology seminar is excavating an old home site while the rest of the folks attend Excavation and Lab seminars or work on pre-contact units. Stay tuned to find out about the curious thing that happened on the dig!

First week of Training Program 2026 is in the books! It’s been an incredible week of record participation-the school bus is FULL! Week 1 seminars are over and folks will be putting what they learned to work in the field and lab. Public Day Open House is tomorrow 9-1 for a behind the scenes look and activities. Come see us, join the Society and prep to register for 2027. This is the best group of folks you could ever meet. Now I understand why people return every year for decades. Truly a special program.

We’re here at Plum Bayou and the crew is setting it up under the direction of Dr. Paige Ford. Come out for a visit and see archeology in action!

We're getting ready for everyone at Plum Bayou! Visitors will be welcome to get close to the excavation areas through these kinds of marked paths. Archeologists will be there to tell you about what is being excavated in that area of the site. Work starts on Saturday!!