One of Arkansas's most important historic sites, Plum Bayou Mounds, is less than a half hour's drive from downtown Little Rock. This summer, the Arkansas Archeological Survey will be conducting research, including excavation at Plum Bayou, and you can be part of that work. The work begins in late May, but you can register to be a volunteer archaeologist right now.
Rachael Martin Wiest, the Survey/Society liaison, says Plum Bayou Mounds' history dates back more than a millennium.
Rachael Martin Wiest: Plum Bayou is a mound complex that was built by Native Americans in 650 A.D., and they were there until about 1050 A.D. It is a ceremonial complex, so it is not a site where people actually lived, but it's a ceremonial site where people came together for special occasions — for trade, for feasting, for celebration, and just to organize all the people together at once. It's an amazing spot.
Kellams: And what is really shocking, I think, especially for people who don't live in central Arkansas, is how quickly you can get from downtown Little Rock to Plum Bayou.
Wiest: It takes about 15 or 20 minutes. And a lot of people don't realize that there's this wonderful archaeological site right in their backyard. A lot of people may not know it as Plum Bayou because formerly it was called Toltec Mounds. In 2022, the name was officially changed to Plum Bayou Mounds, because Toltec denotes some connection with Mesoamerican people, and the Plum Bayou culture did not have anything to do with Mesoamerican cultures, so they wanted to correct the record. Now we don't know what the people were actually called, so Plum Bayou is a nickname that was chosen so everyone knows what we're talking about.
Kellams: So that 400-year span, 650 to 1050 — that's a long time ago. But we're still finding things out.
Wiest: Oh yes, we sure are. Martha Ralston was the station archaeologist at Toltec Mounds for a number of years through the '90s, and she did a lot of important research there. The first research was done by the Smithsonian in the late 1800s, and back then it was called Knapp Mounds. So we are coming back to find out more about this culture. We're focusing on the plaza because that's where everyone would have been, where the main people would congregate. We're looking at feasting pits and other features to really get a sense of what was going on there. We may find animal bones to know what people were eating. We may find charred remains of seeds and be able to see what plants people were using. There's a lot of information that we can learn. We are also doing some historical archaeology there as well. There is a 19th century homestead site, and they are going to be looking into that as well.
Kellams: There is a flyer that says "interested in archaeology" because there is this program from May 30 through June 13. There is an image of someone inside a wood-framed box, and they are excavating, and there's a yellow arrow that says "this could be you"?
Wiest: Part of the mission of the Arkansas Archeological Society is to engage the public in studying our cultural resources, because it's a non-renewable resource and we want people to know how the research is done and why it's important. And the best way to do that is to invite you to the dig and let you get your hands dirty and help with the excavation.
Kellams: I saw that and I thought, well, you don't want me because I'm all thumbs and I'm going to screw up more than I'm going to be of value.
Wiest: We teach everyone, so we have an orientation where you learn the basics of what you need to know. And archaeology is more than just excavating. If you would like to be out in the field excavating, you can. You can also work in the lab. You could take a seminar on lithics, which is a fancy word for stone tools and weapons. You could help out with the site survey. You could learn how to use a laser transit. You could do photography — we need to photograph all of our artifacts. There's a whole lot that you can do, and we invite families to come. Anyone from ages 8 and up can attend the training program. And we even have a scholarship program for families. The deadline has passed for this year, but if you're planning on next year, we have the Bragg Family grant, and it helps families of up to five members attend the training program at no cost.
Kellams: The family deadline has passed, but registration to be part of this year's May 30 through June 13 work — that's still to come.
Wiest: Yes. If you register before May 1, you get a $15 discount. And this is the least expensive training program like this in the entire country. Our maximum price with the discount is $55.
Kellams: It's been a couple of years since I've been to Plum Bayou, but what I remember is it's peaceful, it's meditative.
Wiest: It is a gorgeous site and it's right on the water — there's a little oxbow lake there. It's a big field. Excellent sunsets. It's just a wonderful space.
Kellams: Let's say I am interested in excavation. I'm there for a few days between May 30 and June 13. What would it be like for a volunteer excavator?
Wiest: You have supervisors in the field and they will guide you. Usually what we do is we go out in the early morning, and you will have a unit that you will be assigned to. You will have a partner, and they will give you all the techniques. You'll use your little trowel and you'll be scraping away dirt and collecting any artifacts that you find for the survey. You cannot keep any artifacts that you find — they'll be photographed, mapped, recorded and bagged up. Then we take a lunch break, and if you want, you can attend a seminar in the afternoon, you could work in the lab in the afternoon, or you can return to the field.
Rachael Martin Wiest is the Survey/Society liaison with the Arkansas Archeological Society. The deadline for early registration for this summer's work at Plum Bayou Mounds is May 1. Overall registration ends May 11. The work itself runs May 30 through June 13. More information at arkarch.org.
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