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Life at Parkin

 

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Archeologists still have many questions about the everyday life of people living at the Parkin site. We do know that the site was surrounded by a moat and a log palisade wall for protection. Agricultural fields for growing corn, beans, and other crops were located outside the moat.

 

The houses were probably similar to the Mississippian structure pictured here. The Mississippians lived in solidly constructed one room houses. The roof was thatched and the walls were covered with mats of grass or cane twigs that were plastered with clay. This is called "wattle and daub" construction. The thick wall posts were set deep in the ground, like fence posts. When a Mississippian house fell into decay or burned, the wall posts would leave a clear pattern of dark stained "post molds" in the ground. Archeologists can find these "post mold patterns" hundreds of years after all other traces of the houses have disappeared. From post mold patterns, we know Mississippian houses were quite spacious, with wall dimensions between 20x20 and 20x30 feet. (Courtesy Arkansas Archeological Survey).

 

We know what type of art was being done by the people in the village because head effigy vessels similar to the one shown here have been found at the Parkin site. "Headpots," as they are called by collectors, represent the apogee of the Mississippian potter's art. No two are alike in facial features or ornament so it seems that they were portraits in clay of particular people, perhaps made when they died. The lines on the face of this person probably represent the tattooing that was so important to the Mississippians and other Southeastern Indians. According to early European observers, who did not appreciate the beauty of tattooing, most Souteastern Indians "disfigured" their faces and their bodies with elaborate tattooing. (Photograph courtesy Arkansas Archeological Survey).


 

 

 

 

 

Head effigy vessels from Parkin and other sites in northeast Arkansas provide information about the physical appearance of the original Parkin residents. (Courtesy Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism).