The earliest inhabitants of Northwest Arkansas were Native Americans. The first Indians, who were hunters and gathers, arrived in our region approximately 13,500 years ago. Over the next 12,000 years, new groups of Native Americans would come to this region, all of them adapting their lifestyles to the unique geography of Northwest Arkansas. The Indian cultures became more sedentary and more dependent on the natural resources of this area to sustain their ever growing civilizations. One of those resources, in particular, was the protective overhangs along cliff faces known as bluff shelters.
The bluffs along the White River became home to a nomadic group of Indians who felt that the dry environment of the bluffs was an ideal place for Indians to live, work, store food, and bury their dead. These bluffs also protected artifacts such as baskets and clothing. Pioneer settler John W. Bland, of Larue, is credited with being the first to identify the basketry and other objects found in the bluff shelters as being of Indian origin. In 1872, he found a basket made of split cane, a needle or awl of bone, and, according to some reports, a moccasin made of woven grass. The bluff shelter where Bland found these items became known as Indian Bluff.
Fifty years after Bland’s discovery the first trained archeologist explored the bluff shelters along the White River. Mark Harrington excavated at the bluff shelters in Northwest Arkansas in 1922 and 1923, hiring local residents to help in the work. He published an article on his findings in 1924, but it was not until 1960 that his book-length study The Ozark Bluff-Dwellers was published. A decade later, Professor Sam Dellinger, curator of the University Museum at the University of Arkansas, and his field crews excavated over 80 shelters and caves in the Arkansas Ozarks.
Through studying the artifacts collected by Harrington and Dellinger, more recent archeologists have reached some new conclusions. The “bluff dweller” concept Harrington developed implied that Ozark Indians led a primitive, isolated lifestyle – that they were prehistoric “hillbillies” of sorts. This concept and the very term “bluff dweller” has fallen out of favor among scholars as new research has challenged these ideas. Archeologists now know that Ozark shelters and caves were used in many different ways by Indians from 12,000 years ago, throughout prehistory, and up through historic times.
The bluffs along the White River became home to a nomadic group of Indians who felt that the dry environment of the bluffs was an ideal place for Indians to live, work, store food, and bury their dead. These bluffs also protected artifacts such as baskets and clothing. Pioneer settler John W. Bland, of Larue, is credited with being the first to identify the basketry and other objects found in the bluff shelters as being of Indian origin. In 1872, he found a basket made of split cane, a needle or awl of bone, and, according to some reports, a moccasin made of woven grass. The bluff shelter where Bland found these items became known as Indian Bluff.
Fifty years after Bland’s discovery the first trained archeologist explored the bluff shelters along the White River. Mark Harrington excavated at the bluff shelters in Northwest Arkansas in 1922 and 1923, hiring local residents to help in the work. He published an article on his findings in 1924, but it was not until 1960 that his book-length study The Ozark Bluff-Dwellers was published. A decade later, Professor Sam Dellinger, curator of the University Museum at the University of Arkansas, and his field crews excavated over 80 shelters and caves in the Arkansas Ozarks.
Through studying the artifacts collected by Harrington and Dellinger, more recent archeologists have reached some new conclusions. The “bluff dweller” concept Harrington developed implied that Ozark Indians led a primitive, isolated lifestyle – that they were prehistoric “hillbillies” of sorts. This concept and the very term “bluff dweller” has fallen out of favor among scholars as new research has challenged these ideas. Archeologists now know that Ozark shelters and caves were used in many different ways by Indians from 12,000 years ago, throughout prehistory, and up through historic times.
