With National Science Foundation support, Dr. John House and his colleagues will analyze archaeological materials collected at the site of Kuykendall Brake which is located in central Arkansas. Excavations conducted between 1990-1994 revealed a large buried structure which lacked habitational debris. This suggests it served a religious rather than domestic function. It appears to have been deliberately burned and contained a burial feature with an estimated 17 individuals, a large deposit of charred beans and maize, ceramic vessels and other objects. Preliminary analysis indicates that it dates to approximately 1500 AD. With NSF funds, the research team will analyze the additional botanical remains which were widespread in the soil matrix, obtain radiocarbon dates from the charred beams and analyze the skeletal material. This will allow careful dating of the site and reconstruction of both diet and environment. The skeletal analysis will provide information on the health and nutritional status of the inhabitants. Scientists wish to understand the impact which European colonization had on the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World. It is both interesting and vexing that the data collected by archaeologists does not match will with the descriptions of early explorers and other ethnographic data. This suggests that extremely rapid and major change occurred early in the contact period. Anthropologists wish to understand the processes involved in culture change and the early contact period provides an excellent context for such studies. The Kuykendall Brake site it important because it dates to just prior to the earliest contact and has the potential to shed light on a little understood aspect of cultural adaptation.
