The Lawhorn Site

by John Moselage

Figure 43. Burial 36 Showing the Usual Supine, Extended Position of Burials at the Lawhorn Site
(Note that the lower legs are crossed, an unusual position)

Figure 44. Soil Profiles above and near Burial 36

Figure 45. Pottery Bowl Inverted Over the Shoulder of Burial 37

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The location of the Lawhorn site is in the St. Francis River valley in an area that has had little archaeological investigation. Using the subdivision of the Alluvial Valley (Phillips, et. al., 1951, Fig. 1) the Lawhorn site comes within the Malden Plain, and lies between Crowley’s Ridge and the Little River Lowland. The Cairo Lowland lies to the north and east and is separated from the Malden Plain by the Morehouse Lowland. All except the Morehouse Lowland were described, at least in part, by Williams (1956). The Malden Plain area is less well known than the other areas described by Williams. To the south of the Malden Plain is the Lower St. Francis Basis which was discussed by Griffin in Archaeology of Eastern United States (1952).

The site is relatively small and seemed to have no more than two components represented. The materials that were obtained from the site in the preliminary testing did appear to be somewhat unusual yet not intrusive in the St. Francis valley area. One reason that the site was picked for excavation is that it is relatively small in size making it possible for more aspects of the site to be investigated within a relatively short time. The excavation of the site was, in part, an experiment to determine whether or not a group of serious amateur archaeologists could produce information that would be of value to the field of archaeology and professional and amateur archaeologists alike on the necessary basis of working on weekends and during vacation time. There were no funds for the excavation other than those provided by the group of men interested in carrying out this experiment, and, as is usual in such endeavors, though many worked on the project, a small nucleus of four did most of the work. There were 8 to 10 persons who worked as much as a year on the project. In spite of the changing crews and the difficulties under which the different groups worked, a rather full sample of the entire site was obtained. The total time spent covered a period of four years in the field and two years of laboratory work. The work from start to finish was under the direction of one individual, the writer, and thus there was always an organization and a continuity to it.

The methodology followed in the excavation is that of accepted hand methods of archaeology ([Fig. 46]) controlled by making a map of the site and excavating within a grid system and with depths provided by a farmer’s level transit. All notes and excavation procedures were checked with professional archaeologists and when some new problem arose a professional archaeologist was contacted for advise or consultation before the excavations progressed further. Since time was always at a premium this consultation was many times by telephone and quite often several long distance phone calls were necessary before some phase of the work could be carried to a conclusion. Furthermore, the site was ninety miles from the base station of those working on the project which meant a round tip of 180 miles on each weekend or other excursion to the site.