The Menard–Hodges site ( 3AR4) (also known as Menard-Hodges Mounds and Osotouy), is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

Arkansas County, Arkansas Arkansas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,019. Located in the Arkansas Delta, the county has two county seats, DeWitt and Stuttgart. The first of the state's 75 present- ...

. It includes two large

platform mounds Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

as well as several house mounds. It is the

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron Age ...

for the Menard phase, a

protohistoric Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, in ...

Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...

group. The Menard Mound was named for Frank Menard, on whose farm the mound was discovered.

Description

The site is considered as a possible candidate for the Province of Anilco encountered by the

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

Entrada in 1540. It was contemporaneous with the Parkin site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location of the province of

Casqui Casqui was a Native American polity visited in 1541 by the Hernando de Soto expedition. This group inhabited fortified villages in eastern Arkansas. The tribe takes its name from the chieftain Casqui, who ruled the tribe from its primary village ...

, and the Nodena site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location of the province of

Pacaha Pacaha was a Native American polity encountered in 1541 by the Hernando de Soto expedition. This group inhabited fortified villages in what is today the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The tribe takes its name from the chieft ...

. The site is also considered to be the location of the protohistoric

Quapaw The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Ohi ...

village of ''Osotouy'' (or ''Ossoteoue'') first encountered by French explorers in the late 17th century. The Quapaw at the time had four villages, Kappa, Ossoteoue, Touriman, and Tonginga. Kappa was reported to have been on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River and the other three located on the western bank in or near present-day

Desha County, Arkansas Desha County ( ) is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Arkansas, with its eastern border the Mississippi River. At the 2010 census, the population was 13,008. It ranks 56th of Arkansas's 75 counties in terms of populat ...

. The location was excavated by James A. Ford in 1958. The excavations included burials, with graves in extended, flexed, and secondary interments scattered throughout the site and oriented in many different directions. The site has yielded evidence of occupation as early as the Baytown Period (300-700 CE), all the way to the European contact period in the 16th century. The most unusual formation at the site is Mound A, which is conical in shape, and was built in two stages. Ceramics found at the site are consistent with native occupation at the time

Henri de Tonti Henri de Tonti (''né'' Enrico Tonti; – September 1704), also spelled Henri de Tonty, was an Italian-born French military officer, explorer, and ''voyageur'' who assisted René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, with North American explora ...

established the first French outpost west of the Mississippi at the Arkansas Post in 1686. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1985, and declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1989. In 1997 the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

acquired a tract of which encompasses the site of the mound complex and the site believed to be that of Tonti's 1686 outpost. It is now administered as part of the

Arkansas Post National Memorial The Arkansas Post (french: Poste de Arkansea) (Spanish: ''Puesto de Arkansas''), formally the Arkansas Post National Memorial, was the first European settlement in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and present-day U.S. state of Arkansas. In 168 ...

, whose main site is (but by road) from the mound site.

References

� {{authority control Archaeological type sites Middle Mississippian culture National Historic Landmarks in Arkansas Geography of Arkansas County, Arkansas Former populated places in Arkansas Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas National Park Service areas in Arkansas Protected areas of Arkansas County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas County, Arkansas Mounds in Arkansas Arkansas Post

Description

See also

References