Central Mississippi Valley Archeological Society presents 'Archeology of the Downstream People' April 22

March 25, 2010 -- The Central Mississippi Valley Archeological Society (CMVAS) will present a lecture, “Archeology of the Downstream People,” on Thursday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in the ASU Museum's Room 182. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The lecture will be presented by Dr. John House, station archaeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Known to the French as the "Arkansas" Indians, the Quapaws refer to themselves as the O-Gah-Pah, the Downstream People. For more than 60 years, archeologists have searched for the sites of the early Quapaws along the lower Arkansas River. Discovered in 1998, the Wallace Bottom site appears to be the location of the late 1600s Quapaw village of Osotouy and the early 1700s French settlement at Arkansas Post. Dr. John House will provide an update on his research at Wallace Bottom and display examples of pottery, arrow points, and cultural objects of the early Quapaw people. Dr. House's presentation will focus on the oldest professionally investigated and very rare contact sites recorded in all of Arkansas. Now located on U.S. Fish and Wildlife land, the site is protected forever.

For additional information, contact Dr. Julie Morrow, ASU station archaeologist, at 870-972-2071.

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