Central Mississippi Valley Archeological Society presents 'The Toltec Mounds Site' March 11 for Arkansas Archeology Month

March 4, 2010 -- The Central Mississippi Valley Archeological Society (CMVAS) will present a special Arkansas Archeology Month presentation, “The Toltec Mounds Site: An Ancient Ceremonial Center in Central Arkansas” on Thursday, March 11, 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. Jane Anne Blakney-Bailey, station archaeologist for the Arkansas Archeological Survey, Toltec Mounds State Park. Dr. Blakney-Bailey will also discuss the two-week training program for 2010.

Between A.D. 650 and 1050, the Toltec Mounds site was one of the most important ceremonial centers in the southeastern United States. At its political peak, the site displayed 18 mounds and a mile-long earthen embankment that surrounded three-fourths of the site.These earthen monuments, one mound as tall as 50 feet, were constructed by people of the Plum Bayou culture, most of who lived along the waterways of central and east-central Arkansas. The site is believed to have been permanently occupied by a small group of elite political and religious leaders and was probably visited by the outlying population on special astronomical observances such as the solstices and equinoxes.

This Arkansas Archeological Society Training Program, an annual two-week training program, will be conducted at Toltec Mounds this June. The locations of the excavations will be determined by recent archeological and geophysical research, which have yielded tantalizing clues about the whereabouts of ancient structures at this important ceremonial center.

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

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