Exhibit Celebrates Arkansas History and Diversity

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new exhibit of artifacts on loan from the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the University of Arkansas Museum and the University of Arkansas Libraries celebrates the diverse cultural and natural resources of the state.

Aaron T. Lingelbach, curator of the exhibit titled “Celebrating Arkansas’ Diversity Through Its Unique Heritage,” created the exhibit in honor of Arkansas Heritage Month in May. Lingelbach included both historical and modern artifacts to “demonstrate the diverse natural and cultural resources of Arkansas, and how these are reliant on the environment around them.” He hopes that viewers of the exhibit will become more aware “that our natural and cultural heritage is being constantly threatened by construction and natural forces.”  

The exhibit is divided into six physiographic regions of Arkansas: the Ozark plateau, the Ouachita mountains, the Arkansas river valley, the west Gulf Coastal plain, and the Mississippi alluvial plain, also known as the Arkansas delta region. Within each region, representative artifacts showcase its geologic, zoologic and cultural heritage. For instance, the section identified as the Ozarks region contains bluff shelter artifacts such as bone awls, atlatl dark points, and earthenware bowls; Caddo engraved bowls, a ground grooved axe head, and stone hammer; and large mineral specimens of septaria, smithsonite and even a cross section of the Fayetteville meteorite. Lest we forget the Razorbacks, there is also a fossilized jaw of a peccary, a native species of pig whose range runs from Arkansas through the Southwest and down to South America.

The Ouachita region features fossilized mammoth tusk and teeth; large quartz crystals, wavelite, and orange calcite; and an English black powder flask and Spanish reales from the colonial period. The Mississippi alluvial region includes Quapaw effigy vessels of a fish and turtle, fine projectile points of stone and crystal, calcified oceanic shells and minerals including an unusual selenite rose.

The exhibit also contains a section featuring books and albums by Arkansas authors, songwriters, performers and politicians. This section pays tribute to the blues, jazz and the rockabilly sound that is the music of Arkansas, and famous Arkansans such as Bill Clinton and Maya Angelou.

Lingelbach concludes, “If people know what’s at stake, they might be more likely to protect the nonrenewable resources that make Arkansas a special place.”

“Celebrating Arkansas’ Diversity Through Its Unique Heritage” will be on display in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library on the University of Arkansas campus through July and may be viewed all hours the library is open. For a list of hours, visit http://libinfo.uark.edu/hours/default.asp or call 479-575-4104.