New radiocarbon dates for the Greenbrier site,a sixteenth century town on the White River,Independence County,Arkansas

Abstract

This article describes preliminary results of ongoing research at the Greenbrier site (3IN1), a late Mississippian town site now located on privately owned land in the Middle White River Valley in Independence County, Arkansas. In 1999 and 2000 the Arkansas Archeological Society and Arkansas Archeological Survey excavated part of a roughly 9-m ² burned structure (House 1) initially interpreted as a dwelling. Ceramic sherds from this house and four radiocarbon dates from the site, ranging from AD 1400–1600 (calibrated), indicate that Greenbrier is contemporary with Late Mississippian sites in the eastern Lowlands along the St Francis and Mississippi Rivers. Prestige goods suggest that Greenbrier was part of the wider Mississippian sociopolitical economy and was likely a node along a major trade route. Results from instrumental neutron activation analyses suggest that potters at Greenbrier used local clay sources; however, a chemically equivalent local source has yet to be identified. From December 2019 to October 2021 a gradiometer survey of approximately 30 percent of the estimated site area identified traces of a double-walled ditch and/or palisade that appears to have been expanded at least once. Images from the gradiometer survey show over 123 anomalies that are plausibly interpreted as dwellings, in addition to a central square plaza, and two separate double ditches and/or walls. Spatial patterning of dwellings and wall-like anomalies suggests that the late Mississippian town expanded to accommodate growth of the community. Excavation of House 1 in 2023–24 revealed a central hearth and platform surrounded by posts. Radiocarbon dates on charred plants recovered in recent excavations precisely date the burning of the structure to the mid-sixteenth century and suggest the destruction of the house may be attributable to the De Soto expedition that passed through this area in 1541.