Recent Achievements of Arkansas Archeological Survey's Rock Art Research

Over the last dozen years, the Arkansas Archeological Survey has carried out a concentrated program of research on the prehistoric American Indian rock art of the state. These efforts continue to bring Arkansas's rich archeological record into focus.

The Arkansas Archeological Survey is a research unit of the UA System whose mission is to study and conserve the heritage of the state. George Sabo, recently appointed as the Archeological Survey's new director, has guided this rock art research, which has been partially supported by grants from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Outcomes of the research have included a general audience book published by the Archeological Survey, an educational website, a museum exhibit at Arkansas Tech University, conference presentations, journal articles and book chapters, and a scholarly book manuscript now in preparation.

Sabo and survey archeologists Jerry E. Hilliard, and Jami J. Lockhart contributed a chapter to Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves, a new volume published by the University of Colorado Press. The book was developed from a session on "Caves and Sacred Spaces" at the 69^th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in 2004. The article in Sacred Darkness uses GIS data and environmental similarity models in a landscape archeology approach to examine the "The Ritual Use of Caves and Rockshelters in Ozark Prehistory."

Several members of the rock art research team participated in the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations Congress at Albuquerque, N.M., in May.

Leslie Walker, research assistant and a doctoral candidate in the university's department of anthropology, served as co-chair and moderator of a paper session "Ceramics and Rock Art: Relationships, Connections and Confluences." During the session, she presented a paper springing from her own dissertation research, "Reincorporating Rock Art and Other Portable Art Objects with a Geography of Style: A Case from the Arkansas River Valley." Walker's abstract for this paper states:

"The iconography found on ceramic vessels, engraved shell and other art objects from the Pre-Columbian Southeastern U.S. is well documented. Many of the motifs found on these objects bear a great deal of similarity to motifs found in rock art across the region. However, until recently, the two artistic media have been studied independently of one another. An examination of the rock art, art objects and archaeological materials of the Arkansas River Valley provides an opportunity to reincorporate the two through a careful examination of "style" in a geographic and temporal context."

Sabo, Hilliard and Leslie Walker also participated in a session sponsored by the Eastern States Rock Art Research Association and chaired by Carol Diaz-Granados (Washington University, St. Louis) and Jan Simek (University of Tennessee, Knoxville).

Hilliard, Sabo and Walker presented "Creating the Center: An Incremental Petroglyph Tableau in Arkansas." In this paper, the authors say:

"Where the White River leaves the eastern Ozark escarpment to continue its southward course toward the Mississippi Valley, pre-Columbian American Indians decorated a horizontal sandstone exposure with an extensive array of petroglyphs. The petroglyphs were added in sets, extending from a primary assemblage consisting of a large, engraved square within an interior cross-in-circle motif. We interpret the assemblage as a "world center" tableau that was created incrementally as a product of local Greenbrier phase (ca AD 1450-1650) ritual performances."

Sabo, Hilliard, and Walker also presented "Tlaloc in Arkansas," a discussion of a rare instance of a specific Mesoamerican theme in Arkansas rock art:

Pre-Columbian American Indians decorated the exposed surfaces of a sandstone outcrop located in the Arkansas River Valley near the modern town of Russellville, Arkansas, with an intriguing array of pictographs. Among the images is a depiction of a mask, partly obscured by lichen, that exhibits the tell-tale eyes and other characteristics of the Mesoamerican rain god Tlaloc. This paper examines evidence of interaction with Southwestern Indians as an explanation for this occurrence of Tlaloc in Arkansas.

Finally, with the help of Sabo and Ann Early, state archeologist, Arkansas rock art received national attention this month in Archaeology Magazine, the quarterly publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. Rock House Cave at Petit Jean State Park, which contains more than 100 painted pictographs, was featured in "Off The Grid," a column that promotes archeological heritage tourism.