Village region inhabited 10,000 years ago

Editor’s Note: This article is reprinted from the February 1966 issue of the Village Vista.

Human habitation of the Ozarks region in which Bella Vista Village is located is nothing new. In fact, scientists have found evidence beneath the great limestone bluffs that leads them to believe men hunted and fished hereabouts 10,000 years ago.

This evidence is in the form of stone projectile points – not arrowheads, as similar objects are commonly called, but points for spears, or darts, which were propelled by use of the atlatl (throwing stick). The bow and arrow came many centuries later.

Successors to these earliest inhabitants lived beneath the bluffs until around 1,500 A.D.

The Indians are referred to as “bluff dwellers” or “rock shelter people.” The first scientific investigation of their homes and the artifacts they left behind was made in the early 1920’s, but M.R. Harrington of the Museum of the American Indians, New York City.

Harrington and a fellow archaeologist spent several months exploring the upper White River country of Northwest Arkansas. Later research has turned up considerable additional information about bluff dweller tools, food, skills, etc. Such research is not completed. Much digging, searching, and study remains to be done.

The Vista is indebted to several sources for information on the bluff dwellers. These include Dr. Charles R. McGimsey, director of the University of Arkansas museum at Fayetteville; the Ozarks Mountaineer, published at Branson, Mo., and Steve Miller, artist in residence at the School of the Ozarks, at Point Lookout near Branson.

Mr. Miller’s concept of bluff dweller life, as it might have been around 450 A.D., appears in a reproduction of his painting that accompanies this article. He based his subject matter on scientific opinion, and on artifacts that are on display in the University of Arkansas Museum.

The man is bringing in a wild turkey he has killed. He holds his stone-pointed weapons in his right hand, and he wears loincloth and sandals such as have been found in bluff shelters. The woman is grinding grain which she takes from woven baskets she has made from grass. Her robe is of turkey down. A small fire burns, at the left of the painting.

Thanks to the fact that overhanging rock formed a water tight roof over bluff shelters, dry conditions that undoubtedly attracted the primitive peoples have prevailed until the present. Thus, grains of maize, bones of turkey and deer and of humans, too, as well as pieces of basketry and even wooden implements have been preserved.

Archaeological “detectives” learn much from evidence of this kind that helps them describe life as it existed centuries ago. Much of the archaeological research, incidentally, is done by amateurs who make a hobby of such activity. They contribute a great deal of time and effort in furthering the work.

Vista readers interested in knowing more about such activity might direct their inquiries to the Arkansas Archaeological Society, U. of A. Museum, Fayetteville, Ark.

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Thanks to Xyta Lucas, Co-President, Bella Vista Historical Society, for bringing this article to our attention. For more information about the history of Bella Vista, visit the Bella Vista Historical Museum at 1885 Bella Vista Way (Highway 71 & Kingsland). Regular hours are Thursday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information contact the museum at 479-8552335 or visit its website at bellavistamuseum.org.

Courtesy photo Mr. Miller’s concept of bluff dweller life, as it might have been around 450 A.D., appears in a reproduction of his painting that accompanies this article. He based his subject matter on scientific opinion, and on artifacts that are on display in the University of Arkansas Museum.