Lear, Jeter published in “Arkansas Archaeology”

NATCHITOCHES – Phyllis Lear, an art history professor at Northwestern State University, and Dr. Marvin D. Jeter, Arkansas Archeology Survey Emeritus, co-authored a paper on Poverty Point Objects (PPOs) from Lake Enterprise Mound in Arkansas, which has been published in “The Arkansas Archeologist” Volume 57.

Jeter conducted excavations at Lake Enterprise Mound, a small prehistoric American mound (c. 1200 BC) located in the southeast corner of Arkansas from 1991 through 1997. His excavations revealed a Poverty Point cultural component within the mound.

Jeter attended a Louisiana Archaeology Conference in 2006 where Lear gave a presentation on PPOs excavated in Louisiana. At the close of Lear’s presentation, Dr. Jeter suggested she take a look at the PPOs from Lake Enterprise Mound.

All of the excavated materials from Jeter’s excavations are housed at the University of Arkansas, Monticello.

With funding from the NSU Donald Derby fellowship Lear received in 2016, she took a trip to UA Monticello and gathered data on Lake Enterprise PPOs.

Because of the numerous questions Lear had regarding Lake Enterprise Mound excavations, Jeter suggested they co-author a paper – Jeter would cover details of the excavation and Lear would research and report on the PPOs.

The paper analyzes the shapes, decorations, measurements, and placement of the whole, PPOs excavated by Jeter. The analysis also compares the PPOs from Lake Enterprise Mound to PPOs from Poverty Point sites in Louisiana, including the preeminent site located in northeastern Louisiana.

“The goal of this research is to determine whether or not the distinctive shapes and decorative patterns of PPOs are distributed across the cultural geography in some type of pattern,” Lear said.  “This could, hopefully, shed light on how the ancient people of Poverty Point organized themselves within their worldview and possibly through time.”

A copy of the Lear-Jeter paper can be found in the reserve section of Watson Library listed as:  Lear, Phyllis M and Marvin D. Jeter. The Arkansas Archaeologist, Volume 57. 2019. A Stylistic Analysis of Poverty Point Objects from the Lake Enterprise Mound site, Southeast Arkansas. 21-46.