The archeology of rock art at the Narrows Rock Shelter, Crawford County, Arkansas

A contract between the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests and the Arkansas Archeological Survey resulted in the 1995 Archeology Week excavations at The Narrows, a rock art site in Crawford County, Arkansas. The work was conducted to assess past looting activities and to identify any remaining intact cultural deposits. Areas of undisturbed midden, rich in botanical, fauna, stone tool, and ceramic material, were discovered. One feature, interpreted as a dump of refuse from cleaned-out hearths within the shelter, was identified. It contained a large amount of fire-cracked rock, charred nutshell, and burned bone. Radiocarbon dating indicates refuse in Feature 1 ranged in age from A.D. 1195-1495 (2 sigma, 95% probability); the most likely date for the episode that created Feature 1 is around A.D. 1435. Our most exciting discovery consisted of pigment-stained stone fragments, abrading tools, and hematite, an assemblage we linked to rock art production at the site. A date for creation of the rock art was established by association with these artifacts. The rock art was produced in the course of fall/winter occupation by people related in material culture to those of the Arkansas River Valley during the Spiro and perhaps later Fort Coffee phases.