Hampson Museum State Park

The Hampson Museum State Park in Wilson, Arkansas, U.S.A. exhibits an archeological collection of early American aboriginal artifacts from the Nodena Site. The Nodena Site is an archeological site east of Wilson and northeast of Reverie, Tennessee. [Nodena, Arkansas: USGS Geographic Names Information System]

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.http://visionmena.com/Arkansas%20State%20Parks/hampson_museum.htm Visiomania.com, Hampson Museum] http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/hampsonmuseum/ ArkansasStateParks.com, Hampson Museum]

The museum is named after Dr. James K. Hampson (1877-1956), a local landowner and archaeologist.cite book | title = James Kelly Hampson. 1877-1956 | author = Williams, Steven | year = Apr., 1957 | location= | publisher= American Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 398-400 | id = ]

Nodena village 1400-1650 CE

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.http://visionmena.com/Arkansas%20State%20Parks/hampson_museum.htm Visiomania.com, Hampson Museum] The museum documents the culture of the civilization of the Nodena people, who lived in a 15 acre (60,703 m²) 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.http://visionmena.com/Arkansas%20State%20Parks/hampson_museum.htm Visiomania.com, Hampson Museum] http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/hampsonmuseum/ ArkansasStateParks.com, Hampson Museum]

In 1964 the Nodena Site was declared a National Historic Landmark.cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=108&ResourceType=Site
title=Nodena Site|date=2007-09-26|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service] In 1966 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

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.

Dr. James K. Hampson

The museum is named after Dr. 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.

In 1900 Dr. James K. Hampson documented the discovery of a prehistoric mastodon skeleton 2 mi (3,2 km) south of the Nodena site.cite book | title = The Island 35 Mastodon: Its Bearing on the Age of Archaic Cultures in the East | author = Williams, Steven | year = Apr., 1957 | location= | publisher= American Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 359-372 | id = doi:10.2307/276134]

Prehistoric Mastodon skeleton

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. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6913366.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Greek mastodon find 'spectacular'|date=24 July 2007|accessdate=2007-07-24]

In 1900, archaeologist Dr. 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.

In 1957 the site was reported as destroyed.

ee also

* Wilson, Arkansas
* Reverie, Tennessee
* Nodena Site
* Parkin Archeological State Park
* Island 35 Mastodon

References

External links

* [http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/hampsonmuseum/ Hampson Archaeological Museum State Park]
* [http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/Nodena.html Photographs of stone and shell artifacts and of pottery from the Nodena site]