Hampson Archeological Museum State Park | |
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Location | Wilson, Mississippi, Arkansas Delta, Arkansas, United States |
Coordinates | 35°34′13″N 90°2′25″W / 35.57028°N 90.04028°W |
Area | 5 acres (2.0 ha)[1] |
Established | 1961[1] |
Named for | James K. Hampson |
Governing body | Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism |
Website | [1] |
Hampson Archeological Museum State Park is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) Arkansas state park in Mississippi County, Arkansas in the United States. The museum contains a collection of archeological artifacts from the Nodena site, which is a former Native American village on the Mississippi River between 1400 and 1650.[2][3] James K. Hampson began excavating the site in the 1920s, a museum was built in 1946 and the Arkansas General Assembly officially accepted the collection of artifacts from the Hampson family on March 30, 1957.[1] The park first opened in 1961 as Hampson Museum State Park and has since been renamed.
Around 1400-1650 CE an aboriginal palisaded village existed in the Nodena area on a meander bend of the Mississippi River. Artifacts from this site are on display in the Hampson Museum State Park.[4][5]
The museum is named after James K. Hampson, a local landowner and archaeologist.[6]
Main article: Nodena site |
About 5 mi (8 km) east of Wilson, at the Nodena site, archeological artifacts from an aboriginal village of the Nodena people dated 1400-1650 CE were found in the first half of the 20th century.
A collection of these artifacts is on display at the Hampson Museum State Park.[4][5] The museum documents the culture of the civilization of the Nodena people, who lived in a 15-acre (6.1 ha) palisaded village on a horseshoe bend of the Mississippi River in the Wilson, Arkansas area. Cultivation of crops, hunting, social life, religion and politics of that ancient civilization are topics of the exhibition.[4][5]
In 1964 the Nodena site was declared a National Historic Landmark.[7] In 1966 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[8]
The Parkin Indian Mound is the site of another Indian village contemporary with the Nodena people, located in Parkin, Arkansas, about 30 mi (50 km) southwest of Wilson.
Main article: James K. Hampson |
The museum is named after James K. Hampson (1877-1956), owner of the Hampson Plantation on which the Nodena site is located, and archaeologist to excavate and preserve the artifacts from the Nodena site.[5][6]
In 1900 James K. Hampson documented the discovery of a prehistoric mastodon skeleton 2 mi (3.2 km) south of the Nodena site.[9]
Main article: Island 35 Mastodon |
Mastodons are members of the prehistoric, extinct genus Mammut, they resemble modern elephants. Native to North America they are said to have lived on the North American continent from almost 4 million years ago until their eventual disappearance about 10,000 years ago.[10]
In 1900, archaeologist James K. Hampson documented the find of skeletal remains of a mastodon on Island No. 35 of the Mississippi River, 2 mi (3.2 km) south of the Nodena site and 23 mi (37 km) south of Blytheville, Arkansas.[9]
In 1957 the site was reported as destroyed.[9] Fossilized bones from the find are on display at the Hampson Museum State Park.
The museum was closed in 2017 to move into a new building on the Wilson city square. It is scheduled to reopen some time in the summer of 2018. Call 870-655-8622 for further information.