Greathouse Springs, Arkansas: Structure and Social Organization of an Archaic Base Camp in the Ozarks

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper discusses recent investigations at a hunter-gatherer base camp in northwest Arkansas. Excavations at the Greathouse Springs site (3WA569), near Fayetteville in Washington County produced unusual remains of Archaic structures. Included are two elongated rectangular structures, interpreted as communal cookhouses, and at least four smaller circular structures, interpreted as sleeping huts. These were defined by their hardpacked earth and crushed stone floors and stone-lined posts. Other features are raised platforms with hearths and angled posts. Archaic base camps in the nw Arkansas Ozarks were regularly spaced at approximately 25-mile intervals, each with a surrounding cluster of satellite sites. Greathouse Springs provides some of the first detailed evidence of the internal structure and social organization of these base camps.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40345.0