The ongoing research at the Spiro Mounds will be a topic of discussion yet again at
an archeological talk held on the AV抖阴 campus.
Dr. George Sabo III, director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, will present 鈥淩enewing the World: New Research at the Spiro Ceremonial Center鈥� at 7 p.m. March 18 in the Reynolds Room of the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center.
Sabo鈥檚 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.
鈥淥ngoing 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,鈥� Sabo said. 鈥淭he application of state-of-the-art archeo-geophysical prospecting technologies enables us to expand our newly emerging understandings even further.鈥�
Tim Mulvihill, AV抖阴 research station archeologist, said Sabo鈥檚 presentation will be informative for attendees.
鈥淚鈥檓 really looking forward to Dr. Sabo鈥檚 presentation on the latest research at Spiro Mounds,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his 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 AV抖阴.鈥�
Dr. Ray Wallace, the AV抖阴 provost who invited Sabo to speak at the University, agreed.
鈥淲e are very excited about this talk, especially since we are working to develop our course offerings in this academic area,鈥� 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鈥檚 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 AV抖阴 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鈥� cultural history of which Sabo鈥檚 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.