The Mississippian Emergence

4. The Zebree Siter: An Emerged Early Mississippian Experession in Northeast Arkansas

Phyllis Morse and Dan R Morse Chapter 4 The Zebree Site An Emerged Early Mississippian Expression in Northeast Arkansas The Zebree site is located in Mississippi County, Arkansas within the boundaries of the Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It is on an area of relatively high ground near the western edge of Big Lake itself, close to the Missouri state line (Fig. 11). The site is located on an old surface of an earlier braided Mississippi River stage. Typical lowland topography, including some prairie soils, the recent levee soils of Little River, and a large shallow lake, form the immediate environment. The site, numbered 3MS20, was one of the first sites mapped by the Arkansas State University research station after the founding of the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 1967. Four seasons of excavation were subsequently conducted at the Zebree site, each with different research goals (Thble 7; Anderson 1979). Three archaeological sites in the wildlife refuge were tested by the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 1968 (Morse 1968) because a drainage ditch was being planned through the refuge. Dan Morse and a crew of two placed two test pits in an area of old potholes at Zebree. Three separate components were recognized at the site, showing occupation during Late Woodland, early period Mississippian and middle period Mississippian times. Early period Mississippian was previously unidentified in Arkansas and was recognized as highly significant. This component was stratigraphically distinct from the Late Woodland and middle period Mississippian components. The discovery of significant stratified deposits at Zebree led to the funding by the National Park Service (Contract No. 14-10-7:911-21) of a major excavation at the site in 1969 (Morse 1975). Large contiguous areas of the site were dug in order to collect data on house patterns and community plans. Adequate and representative samples of artifacts from all three components were sought. Zooarchaeological samples were collected and identified. Hypotheses as diverse as the manufacture and function of the Zebree microlith industry , the date of the formation of Big Lake, and the nature and cause of cultural change to a Mississippian way oflife were developed using data from this excavation . In particular, it was evident that the early period Mississippian Big Lake phase could not have developed from the preceding Late Woodland Dunklin phase (Morse 1977). Cultural processes including migration were examined to account for this development. Final construction plans for a ditch to prevent the silting of Big Lake made funding available for one more field season at the Zebree site (Morse and Morse 1980). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Arkansas Archeological Survey cooperated to mitigate the destruction of the Zebree site (Contract No. DACW 66-76-C-0006). The previous excavations provided sufficient information for detailed data recovery strategies such as a 1 percent stratified systematic unaligned sample of I-meter random squares, backhoe transects at judiciously chosen areas, and large area block excavations (Anderson 1976). Specialists hired to assist in recovering their own data in the field included an ethnobotanist , zooarchaeologist, and ceramic technologist. 51 52 Morse and Morse Fig. II. The location ofthe Zebree site within the eastern lowlands ofthe central Mississippi Valley. N 1 All samples were waterscreened. using mesh sizes from 1I16 to 1I4 inch. Flotation samples were automatically taken from each level and feature. Interaction between the nearby processing laboratory and field personnel was encouraged to maximize the range of samples recovered . A computer-generated map of the site was made of the different occupations using the randomsquare data. The botanical and zoological samples were studied to find both similarities and differences in diet of the three major prehistoric components. nee-ring o 75 I MeIers coring and cores taken from the lake beds were both used to increase environmental data (Bowers 1976. King 1980). The historic nineteenth- and twentiethcentury components were also studied (P. Morse 1980a. 1980b). Two peer reviewers were flown in to review the excavations and make suggestions about data recovery (Smith 1976; Peebles 1976). A final report to the Corps was accepted in 1980 (Morse and Morse 1980). An unexpected opportunity to add to the already re- The Zebree Site, Northeast Arkansas 53 Table 7. Excavation Research Strategies at the Zebree Site Area Excavated in Year Type 0/Excavation Research Goal Square Meters 1968 Test pits To assess significance of site 11 1969 Intuitive block unit To collect as much diverse data as pos- 180...