Menard-Hodges Site

Menard-Hodges Site
Nearest city Watson, Arkansas
Coordinates 34°0′13.93″N 91°15′15.17″W / 34.0038694°N 91.2542139°W / 34.0038694; -91.2542139Coordinates: 34°0′13.93″N 91°15′15.17″W / 34.0038694°N 91.2542139°W / 34.0038694; -91.2542139
NRHP Reference # 85003542
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 31, 1985[1]
Designated NHL April 11, 1989[2]
The proposed Hernando de Soto route thru Arkansas

The Menard-Hodges Site (also known as Menard-Hodges Mounds (3AR4)), is an archaeological site in Arkansas County, Arkansas. It includes two large mounds as well as several house mounds. It is the type site for the Menard phase, a protohistoric Mississippian culture group. It is considered as a possible candidate for the Province of Anilco encountered by the Hernando de Soto Entrada in 1540.[3] It was contemporaneous with the Parkin site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location Casqui,[4][5] and the Nodena Site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location of Pacaha.[4][5]

The site was excavated by James A. Ford in 1958. The excavations included burials, with graves in extended, flexed, and secondary interments scattered throughout the site and oriented in many different directions.[6] The site has yielded evidence of occupation as early as the Baytown Period (300-700 CE), all the way to the European contact period in the 16th century. The most unusual formation at the site is Mound A, which is conical in shape, and was built in two stages. Ceramics found at the site are consistent with native occupation at the time Henri de Tonti established the first French outpost nearby in 1686.[7]

The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.[2][1] In 1997 the National Park Service acquired a tract of 360 acres (150 ha) which encompasses the site of the mound complex and the site believed to be that of Tonti's 1686 outpost. It is now administered as part of the Arkansas Post National Memorial, whose main site is 5 miles (8.0 km) (but 25 miles (40 km) by road) from the mound site.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "Menard-Hodges Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-26.
  3. ↑ Hudson, Charles M. (1997). Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. University of Georgia Press. p. 337.
  4. 1 2 Hudson, Charles M. (1997). Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun. University of Georgia Press.
  5. 1 2 Phyllis Morse (1981). Parkin. Arkansas Archaeological Survey. ISSN 0882-5491. OCLC 7540091.
  6. ↑ "UA-WRI-French Colonial Arkansas". Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  7. ↑ "Summary description of Menard-Hodges Site". Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
  8. ↑ "The Weathervane, Volume 2, Number 2 (2006)". National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
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