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  Menard-Hodges Mounds Location within Arkansas today | |
| Alternative name | Osotouy |
|---|---|
| Location | Nady, Arkansas,  USA |
| Region | Arkansas County, Arkansas |
| Coordinates | 34°0′13.93″N91°15′15.17″W / 34.0038694°N 91.2542139°W /34.0038694; -91.2542139 |
| History | |
| Cultures | Mississippian culture,Quapaw |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | James A. Ford |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural styles | platform mounds |
| Architectural details | Number of monuments: 2 |
Menard–Hodges site | |
| NRHP reference No. | 85003542 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 31, 1985[1] |
| Designated NHL | April 11, 1989[2] |
TheMenard–Hodges site (3AR4) (also known asMenard-Hodges Mounds andOsotouy), is anarchaeological site inArkansas County, Arkansas. It includes two largeplatform mounds as well as several house mounds. It is thetype site for the Menard phase, aprotohistoricMississippian culture group.
The Menard Mound was named for Frank Menard, on whose farm the mound was discovered.[3]
The site is considered as a possible candidate for the Province ofAnilco encountered by theHernando de Soto Entrada in 1540.[4] It was contemporaneous with theParkin site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location of the province ofCasqui,[5][6] and theNodena site, believed by many archaeologists to be the location of the province ofPacaha.[5][6]
The site is also considered to be the location of the protohistoricQuapaw village ofOsotouy (orOssoteoue) first encountered by French explorers in the late 17th century.[7][8] The Quapaw at the time had four villages, Kappa, Ossoteoue, Touriman, and Tonginga. Kappa was reported to have been on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River and the other three located on the western bank in or near present-dayDesha County, Arkansas.[9] The location was excavated byJames A. Ford in 1958. The excavations included burials, with graves in extended, flexed, and secondary interments scattered throughout the site and oriented in many different directions.[10] The site has yielded evidence of occupation as early as theBaytown Period (300-700 CE), all the way to the European contact period in the 16th century. The most unusual formation at the site is Mound A, which is conical in shape, and was built in two stages. Ceramics found at the site are consistent with native occupation at the timeHenri de Tonti established the first French outpost west of the Mississippi at theArkansas Post in 1686.[8][11]
The site was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1985, and declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1989.[2][1] In 1997 theNational Park Service acquired a tract of 360 acres (150 ha) which encompasses the site of the mound complex and the site believed to be that of Tonti's 1686 outpost. It is now administered as part of theArkansas Post National Memorial, whose main site is 5 miles (8.0 km) (but 25 miles (40 km) by road) from the mound site.[12]
| Middle Mississippian |
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| South Appalachian Mississippian |
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| Fort Walton culture | |||||||||||
| Pensacola culture | |||||||||||
| Plaquemine Mississippian | |||||||||||
| Caddoan Mississippian | |||||||||||
| Upper Mississippian cultures |
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| Culture |
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