No-dig site offers clues to Hot Springs history

The Associated Press

HOT SPRINGS — Stone tools and earthen ovens of the Archaic period have been replaced with machines and electric stoves, and where a racetrack once stood, a golf course now covers the land.

Professional and amateur archeologists have spent weeks unlocking clues below the surface that link the present-day Hot Springs area to a colorful past.

“The history of this area is really important to the people here and we want to record the pieces of history that still remain before the area is totally developed and the information is gone forever,” said Tim Mulvihill, station archaeologist with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Mulvihill spearheaded a site survey at Essex Park Golf Course in Hot Springs, where members of the Arkansas Archaeological Society and archaeology students at Henderson State University collected data and looked for features of the Essex racetrack that once stood there.

Some of Mulvihill’s crew is also spending time with Dr. Mary Beth Trubitt, a professor of archeology at Henderson State University, excavating an ancient American Indian site at Jones Mill in Malvern that could hold artifacts from the Archaic period between 4,000-1,000 B.C.

Mulvihill said his group will survey the golf course as it is and won’t disrupt the land by digging.

“They’ll learn how to record the data that’s on the surface and map what we know about the land at this time,” he said.

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s station assistant archeologist Jerry Hilliard said it’s important to record the data before it’s gone.

“The site has been preserved and you can still see some ruins, like the oval shape left by the track,” he said. “Most importantly, we want the society members to learn how to use basic and more sophisticated surveying instruments.”

Among the amateur surveyors was Illinois resident Jean Dunkerley, who has attended the training program for 26 years.

“Arkansas has a reputation for having one of the best archaeological programs in the nation and it’s good for amateurs,” she said. “The state’s good about teaching simple rules, like don’t stand on the edge of a pit and let 100 years of history crumble, and how to handle basic excavations.”

This is the 45th annual training program and nearly 75 people from Arkansas and surrounding states are working under the guidance of 15 professional archeologists to dig up parts of the state’s history.

The research sites change every few years, and Trubitt said the Hot Springs area was ideal because of its position between the mountains and the Ouachita River. The group uncovered items like spear points and broken American Indian tools.

Any artifacts recovered during the dig at Jones Mill will become property of the state of Arkansas and the findings will be recorded by the Arkansas Archaeological Survey’s Henderson State University Research Station in Arkadelphia for future use.

Trubitt said Henderson State archeology students will receive credit for participating in the dig.

“We did remote sensing of the area before we came here, so we could see what things might be underneath the ground,” she said. “We’ll dig down about three feet or as far down as we can find artifacts and features left by the (American) Indians of the Archaic period, and we’ll use the information we find to tell us what the Archaic people who lived here did 6,000 years ago.

“This is also a good chance for students to learn about excavation, mapping and artifact identification. Field school is a first step, along with an undergraduate degree, toward entering the field of archeology. You can read all the books in the world, but it’s important to see firsthand what this career is like and if it’s a good for you.”

For more information see Monday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.