The ongoing research at the Spiro Mounds will be a topic of discussion yet again at an archeological talk held on the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith campus.

 

Dr. George Sabo III, director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, will present “Renewing the World: New Research at the Spiro Ceremonial Center” at 7 p.m. March 18 in the Reynolds Room of the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center.

 

Sabo’s presentation summarizes the research being performed at the site while outlining plans for a new collaborative effort between the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey and the Caddo and Wichita Indian nations.

 

“Ongoing studies of museum collections from the Spiro Ceremonial Center are generating exciting new interpretations of American Indian religious beliefs and rituals in the centuries just before contact with Europeans,” Sabo said. “The application of state-of-the-art archeo-geophysical prospecting technologies enables us to expand our newly emerging understandings even further.” 

 

Tim Mulvihill, UAFS research station archeologist, said Sabo’s presentation will be informative for attendees. 

 

“I’m really looking forward to Dr. Sabo’s presentation on the latest research at Spiro Mounds,” he said. “This whole project has been a cooperative research project between the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Archeological Survey and the Arkansas Archeological Survey, including the research station at UAFS.”

 

Dr. Ray Wallace, the UAFS provost who invited Sabo to speak at the University, agreed.

 

“We are very excited about this talk, especially since we are working to develop our course offerings in this academic area,” he said.

 

Sabo joined the Arkansas Archeological Survey and Anthropology Department in 1979, having previously worked in Canada on a dissertation on Inuit adaptations to the ecological impacts of climate change. He became the director of the AAS in 2013. Sabo’s current research focuses on 15th through 18th century art, ritual and social interaction in the central Arkansas River Valley.

 

This is the second time since November that a presentation on the Spiro Mounds has been given on UAFS campus. Previously, archeologist Jim Rees detailed the possible depiction of membrane drums in shell art recovered from the Spiro Mounds in a November presentation. 

 

March is also Arkansas Archeological Month, an annual celebration honoring Arkansas’ cultural history of which Sabo’s presentation is a part. Exhibits, lectures, demonstrations, tours, open houses, workshops and other activities are scheduled throughout the state at museums, historic sites, state parks, libraries and colleges.

 

For more information, contact Mulvihill by telephone at 479-788-7812 or by email at tim.mulvihill@uafs.edu.