PHOTO — Mound at Parkin Archeological State Park.
Robert J. Scott of the Arkansas Archeological Survey will present “Ongoing Work and Plans for Future Research at Parkin Archeological State Park” at the May meeting of the Ouachita Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society. This talk will be held on Tuesday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in the Hugo Room in the CIC Building at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, 200 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs. The event is free and open to the public.
Scott became the new Station Archeologist at the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s Parkin Research Station at Parkin Archeological State Park in January 2024. The park preserves and interprets a Mississippian period mound center and palisaded town that was occupied from at least AD 1000 through 1541. Parkin is believed to be the Native town of Casqui that was described by Spanish chroniclers of that expedition.
In this talk, Scott will discuss recent activities at the Parkin Research Station and outline plans for future research.
Scott received his B.A. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2000), his M.A. from the University of Alabama (2004), and his PhD from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2018). He previously worked for the Illinois State Museum, for the Center for Archaeological Investigations at SIUC, for Panamerican Consultants, Inc., and for the Arkansas Archeological Survey.
Scott has conducted archeological excavations in Illinois, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas, and has extensive experience in the laboratory analysis of Native American ceramics, lithics, and faunal remains from sites across eastern Arkansas. His research interests include the Late Prehistoric and Early Contact periods in the Mississippi River Valley, the archeology of colonial-era Native Americans, the Late Woodland to Mississippian transition in northeast Arkansas, diaspora and Cahokia’s influence on regional communities in eastern and southeastern Arkansas, and applied zooarcheology with a specialization in mollusk analysis.
The Arkansas Archeological Survey’s research station at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia holds regular Archaeology Lab Days. Students and members of the public are invited to come by the research station in Proctor Hall on Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to learn more about archaeology in Arkansas. For more information, contact Clay Newton at 870-230-5463.