The St. Francis River of northeastern Arkansas meanders slowly between the great Mississippi River on the east and Crowley’s Ridge to the west. Part of the Mississippi Delta, it was among the last parts of the South to be tamed and settled. Five hundred years earlier the Mississippian culture thrived in the resource-rich swamps and cypress forests of the delta, building great mounds and producing wonderful works of art.
In 1879-80, Edwin Curtiss came to this wilderness to dig at seven mound sites and collect artifacts for the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Today, archaeologists consider his work to be the first scientific excavations in the state. His extensive notes and artifacts are preserved at the museum today. John House, an archaeologist with the Arkansas Archaeological Survey and noted Mississippian scholar, has produced this splendid little book that describes the Curtiss expedition and the collections it produced. It is richly illustrated with 45 color photos of Curtiss’s pottery collection, some of his sketch maps, and photos of the sites. Sadly, many of the sites in the region have been destroyed by modern agriculture and looting, but Gifts of the Great River preserves the story of the first expedition to one of America’s richest archaeological districts.
