Victoria Reichard (Hot Springs National Park) will present “Archeologists Assemble! Archeology in an Emergency Response Situation” at the March meeting of the Ouachita Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society.
This talk will be held on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. in the Board Room at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, 200 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. This event is part of Arkansas Archeology Month, held every March to encourage appreciation and preservation of Arkansas’s archeological resources. The event is free and open to the public.
Last month, an intense storm ripped through Pea Ridge National Military Park. Straight line winds broke or uprooted thousands of trees across the landscape, forcing the park to close in the aftermath. The National Park Service assigned a formal incident number for the cleanup and emergency response measures were triggered. Reichard was sent to the park to assist with that cleanup effort.
This presentation will discuss an archeologist’s role in an emergency response, both generally and in this specific incident, as well as what she found over the course of that project.
Reichard is the Park Archeologist for Hot Springs National Park where she is responsible for identifying, recording, and protecting the park’s numerous archeological sites. She holds bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and archeology from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Wheaton College. She has worked on a variety of archeological projects in sixteen states domestically and abroad in Israel, Ecuador, Belize, and Kiribati (Gilbert Islands). When she is not working, she enjoys hiking, antiquing, and spending time with her husband Joe and their two dogs.
The Arkansas Archeological Survey’s research station at Henderson State University, 1042 Haddock St., Arkadelphia, holds regular Archeology Lab Days on Thursdays. Students and members of the public are invited to come by the research station on Thursdays between 9 am and 4:30 pm to learn more about archeology in Arkansas. For more information, contact Mary Beth Trubitt (870-230-5510).