The Roland Site (
3 AR 30) 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 a ...
located on Dry Lake, an extinct channel of the
White River in
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 was inhabited intermittently from the beginning of the common era to late prehistoric times, but its most intensive inhabitation was by peoples of the
Plum Bayou culture (650 to 1050 CE), in a time known as the
Late Woodland period
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
.
Description
The
mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
is a buildup of
midden located on a terrace ridge to the northeast of the nearby
Jacks Bay Site. Pottery
sherds
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
collected at the site have enabled archaeologists to determine the different succeeding cultures which have inhabited the site. The site was first occupied briefly about 1 CE by peoples of the
Marksville culture
The Marksville culture was an archaeological culture in the lower Lower Mississippi valley, Yazoo valley, and Tensas valley areas of present-day Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and extended eastward along the Gulf Coast to the Mobile Bay are ...
. It was again occupied by the later peoples of the
Baytown culture
The Baytown culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 300 to 700 CE in the lower Mississippi River Valley, consisting of sites in eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, Louisiana, and western Mississippi. The Baytown Si ...
. This was the first intensive occupation of the site. Its largest and longest occupation was by peoples of the
Plum Bayou/
Coles Creek culture
Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland archaeological culture in the Lower Mississippi valley in the Southeastern Woodlands. It followed the Troyville culture. The period marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population ...
.
It had one last light occupation during the prehistoric period by peoples of the
Mississippian culture. The site was brought to the attention of archaeologists in 1965 when it was slated for use by the US Army Corps of Engineers as fill dirt for a nearby construction project. It was excavated in 1965 and 1966,
[ and 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 ...
in 1975.
See also
* Baytown Site
* Toltec Mounds
Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park (Smithsonian trinomial, 3 LN 42), (formerly known as "Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park") also known as Knapp Mounds, Toltec Mounds site or Toltec Mounds, is an archaeological site from the Woodland ...
*
References
External links
{{National Register of Historic Places
Plum Bayou culture
Geography of Arkansas County, Arkansas
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas County, Arkansas
Mounds in Arkansas
Marksville culture
Coles Creek culture
Baytown culture
Mississippian culture