23PM5Campbell Site

LocationPemiscot County, Missouri

Time Period and Culture

AD 1350-1541 Late Mississippian Period

Nodena Phase

-Villages in southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas

-Extensive maize agriculture

-Pottery

-Spanish artifacts

Background Site was partially excavated by amateur

archaeologist Leo O. Anderson and Professor Carl Chapman from 1954-1968

At least 14 other Late Mississippian sites have been discovered along or near the Pemiscot bayou. Some sites are just a mile or two away from Campbell.

The village was probably no bigger than 40 acres and most likely around 5 acres big based on the distribution of surface artifacts found.

FeaturesMound

Louis Houck in his 1908 book “A History of Missouri” claimed the mound was 150 ft long, 75ft wide, and 15 feet high.

Chapman and Anderson talked to a local who told them that the mound was much smaller length and width wise, and was only 10 feet high.

FeaturesCemetery

218 Skeletons were excavated by Anderson

Many were found in burial pits

Skeletons were found in clusters, possibly family burials

ArtifactsSpanish Artifacts

Anderson found an iron knife blade and glass beads in two of the burials.

Most of the Spanish items from the site were found by relic hunters in the 1970s. Several Chevron beads and Clarksdale bells were found.

ArtifactsSignificance of Spanish objects

More Spanish artifacts were found at the Campbell site than any other site in the region.

The villagers from this site could have possibly had contact with Hernando de Soto, the Spanish explorer who arrived in the region around 1541.

Since burials were found with Spanish objects, this proves that people were still being buried there up until at least the 1540s

ArtifactsLithic

186 triangular Madison points

147 Nodena points

1 Scallorn point

115 “snub-nose” scrapers

All of these tools are indicative of the

Late Mississippian period

ArtifactsPottery

254 ceramic vessels were recovered by Anderson. Thousands of vessels were found at the site which are in private collections. Most of the burials on the site were associated with vessels.

A wide array of forms including jars, bowls, and bottles have been found.

ArtifactsPottery

Sherds of almost every type of Late Mississippian pottery were found at Campbell, including Nodena red-and-white, Parkin punctated, Ranch incised, and Vernon Paul appliqued.

ArtifactsPottery

Campbell punctated, Campbell incised, and Campbell appliqued were three new styles of decoration found at the site and named by Anderson and Chapman. These three types are great Late Mississippian markers and are only found in Pemiscot county, extreme northern Arkansas, and extreme western Tennessee.

ArtifactsPottery

24 head pots have been found at Campbell.

ArtifactsSignificance of Pottery

Very skilled in ceramic manufacture

Ceramics were important to them since they were found associated with burials. Also because of the abundance of elaborately decorated vessels.

The animal effigy bowls and head pots show that ceramics may have been used for ceremonial and religious purposes, not just for utilitarian purposes.

Conclusion Campbell is an excellent example of a Late

Mississippian period village.

It is a significant site because more Spanish artifacts were found there than any site in the region.

It is also significant because of the number of elaborately made ceramic vessels that have been found at the site.

References cited

Chapman, Carl H. and Leo O. Anderson 1955 The Campbell Site: A Late Mississippi town site and cemetery in Southeast Missouri. Missouri Archaeologist 17(2-3).

O’Brien, Michael J. and W. Raymond Wood 1998 The Prehistory of Missouri. University of Missouri press, Columbia.

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/Campbell.html