Archaeologist Thaddeus Bissett will present "Uncovering 12,000 Years of History in the Southern Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas" at the next meeting of the Ouachita Chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society.
The presentation will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the board room at Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, 200 Whittington. The ASMSA board room is located in the Administration Building and parking is available behind it and the new CIC building. As per ASMSA policies, visitors will wear masks to protect everyone from COVID. The talk is free and open to the public.
Bissett will discuss the results of recent excavations at three ancient Native American archaeological sites outside of Hot Springs. "Information from these sites, which date from as early as 12,000 years ago to as recently as 700 years ago, adds a new chapter to the story of how ancient Arkansans lived long before the arrival of Europeans to the region," a news release said.
Bissett is a senior archaeologist and project principal investigator at Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions Inc. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2014. His research interests and expertise focus on the cultures of eastern North America before European contact, and over his career, he has directed or participated in archaeological projects in most of the Southern and Midwestern states.
"At present, he is involved in multiple archaeological projects in Oklahoma and Arkansas, but his past work includes the discovery of a pair of previously unknown 4,500-year-old shell rings on the Atlantic coast, and the reinvestigation of 9,000-year-old shell middens in the Tennessee Valley. In his spare time, he is the guitarist in a U2 and Police tribute band, and shares a home in northern Kentucky with his partner and their multiple cats and dogs," the release said.