The Baytown Site (
3 MO 1) is a
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
Native American archaeological site located on the
White River at Indian Bay, in
Monroe County, Arkansas
Monroe County is located in the Arkansas Delta in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The county is named for James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States. Created as Arkansas's 20th county on November 2, 1829, Monroe County is home to two inc ...
. It was first inhabited by peoples of the
Baytown culture
The Baytown culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 300 to 700 CE in the lower Mississippi River Valley, consisting of sites in eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, Louisiana, and western Mississippi. The Baytown Si ...
(300 to 700 CE) and later briefly by peoples of the
Plum Bayou culture (650 to 1050 CE),
in a time known as the
Late Woodland period
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
. It is considered the
type site
In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...
of the Baytown culture.
The site was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on May 13, 1976, as NRIS number 76000440.
[
]
Description
The site consisted of nine platform mounds
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system or ...
arranged around an open plaza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
. The two tallest mounds were and in height, with others standing at in height or less.
See also
*
* Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
References
{{NRHP
Baytown culture
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Geography of Monroe County, Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Arkansas