Review by Choice Review
An excellent treatment of early archaeological exploration of aboriginal mounds in Arkansas. Earthen mounds were an important topic of concern to 19th-century antiquarians. What was the origin of such mounds scattered across the southeastern US? Were they, as many speculated, the products of an extinct group of people--the Mound Builders--or were they constructed by ancestors of native aboriginal groups? In the 1880s, the Smithsonian Institution launched a large-scale effort to answer this question, sending hordes of scientists across the country, most of whom used local informants to locate the mounds and local field workers to excavate them. Arkansas contained its fair share of mounds and became the focus of work conducted by the natural historian Edward Palmer. Jeter and his colleagues--all experts in southeastern US prehistory--sifted through reams of notes, photographs, and journals to compile an impressive historical work that documents Palmer's research and places it in the larger perspective of contemporary projects that were being conducted across the Southeast. The book contains splendid illustrations, ranging from detailed regional maps to 20 line drawings by H.J. Lewis, a self-educated black who accompanied Palmer for two months. This thoroughly researched volume is highly recommended to anyone--at any level--who is interested in the archaeology of the southeast.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
