The Caddo and the Mississippian Cultural Universe: A Symposium

15-Aug-2009-15-Aug-2009

From the 11th to the 16th centuries, native peoples living in the Mississippi River drainage area (most of the mid-continental area of the present U.S.) shared several common cultural traits and practices. Many were still in use when Contact with Europeans occurred. Among these groups were the Caddoan peoples living in the lands around the Arkansas and Red rivers (modern eastern Oklahoma, north and west Arkansas, and northeast Texas). Ongoing research is providing more information about the Caddo and their relationship with other major Mississippian groups, particularly those centered around the major urban areas of Cahokia (Illinois), Spiro (Oklahoma), and Moundville (Alabama). New information will be presented at this informal symposium, where invited speakers will introduce their latest research findings, and then lead discussion among their colleagues.

Expected speakers will include:

Ann Early, State Archeologist of Arkansas
Jeff Girard, Northwest Louisiana Stae University
Scott Hammerstedt, Oklahoma Archeological Survey
John Kelly, Washington University (St. Louis)
Tim Pertulla, Archaeology and Environmental Consultants (Austin, TX)
Dennis Peterson, Spiro Mounds Archeological Park
Amanda Regnier, Oklahoma Archeological Survey
George Sabo, Arkansas Archeological Survey
Mary Beth Trubitt, Arkansas Archeological Survey

Moderator will be Museum board member Carolynn Neal, 
recently retired from the Oklahoma Archeological Survey.

The symposium is free and open to the public, beginning at 10 a.m. and will take place in 
M.J. “Jack” Bell Hall in the Mary H. Herron Community Conference Center.