The Battle Mound site (3LA1) is a premier Middle and Late Caddo (ca. A.D. 1200-1680) mound site located in the Great Bend region of the Red River basin in Lafayette County, Arkansas. The site is on the broad alluvial floodplain of the river, with the current channel located about 1.5 km to the west. The Great Bend region of the Red River is ecologically diverse, with agriculturally productive alluvial soil deposits, a diverse ecology, and navigable waterways. This is a region that has also changed dramatically throughout time owing to various dynamic and destructive river processes (see Guccione 1984, 2008), along with a history of intensive agricultural use. High river activity and sediment deposition are characteristic of this part of the Red River valley, which is composed of numerous channel scars, oxbow lakes, and back swamps.

The Battle Mound site (and the surrounding area) is a place that is significant to the Caddo people, removed from this area in the 19th century, and to archaeologists, both of whom are interested in documenting and developing a broader understanding of the occupational history of the Caddo Indians in the Great Bend region. To the Caddo people, the Battle Mound site represents a tangible piece of the landscape that serves to reconnect them with their past (Perttula et al. 2008:99-101). To archaeologists, the Battle Mound site represents the largest extant mound in the entire Caddo archaeological area and one of the largest in the southeastern United States (Perttula 1992:118; Schambach 1982:7).         Continuing research by Duncan P. McKinnon (with much help from many individuals) is seeking to explore the cultural and natural history at the Battle Mound site. Current investigations include the use of archaeogephysical methods to explore the subsurface and identify areas of cultural occupation (see McKinnon 2008, 2009a, 2009b; McKinnon and Brandon 2009), archaeo-historical investigations that seek to extract and synthesise data associated with historical excavations at and around the site (see McKinnon 2009c), and geomorphology and flood history research to better understand the relationship of the Battle Mound site to the surrounding dynamic Red River landform processes (see McKinnon 2009d).

References Cited: Guccione, Margaret J. 1984 Variations of the Red River Channel in Southwest Arkansas. In Cedar Grove: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of a Late Caddo Farmstead in the Red River Valley, edited by Neal L. Trubowitz, pp. 17-25. Research Series No. 23. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville. 2008 Impact of the alluvial style on the geoarcheology of stream valleys. Geomorphology 101:378-401. McKinnon, Duncan P. 2009a Exploring Settlement Patterning at a Premier Caddo Mound Site in the Red River Great Bend Region. Southeastern Archaeology, 28(2): 248-258. 2009b Continuing the Research: Archaeogeophysical Investigations at the Battle Mound Site (3LA1) in Lafayette County, Arkansas. Manuscript on file, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas. (article submitted to Southeastern Archaeology, in review) 2009c Summer 1948: A Summary of the Krieger Excavations at Battle Mound (3LA1), a Premier Caddo Mound Site in the Red River Great Bend Region. Manuscript on file, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas. (article submitted to Arkansas Archaeologist, in review). 2009d Geomorphology and Flood History of the Red River Floodplain and its Relationship to the Battle Mound Site (3LA1). Manuscript on file, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas. 2008 An Archaeogeophysical Analysis of Central Caddo Settlement Patterning at Battle Mound (3LA1). Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. McKinnon, Duncan P. and Jamie C. Brandon 2009 A Report From the Field: Archaeogeophysical Results from Battle Mound (3LA1). Field Notes: Newsletter of the Arkansas Archeological Society, 348: 9-12. Perttula, Timothy K., Dayna Bowker Lee, and Robert Cast 2008 The First People of the Red River: The Caddo Before and After Freeman and Custis. In Freeman and Custis Red River Expedition of 1806: Two Hundred Years Later, edited by Laurence M. Hardy, pp. 81-110. Bulletin No. 14 of the Museum of Life Sciences. Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana. Schambach, Frank F. 1982 The Archeology of the Great Bend Region in Arkansas. In Contributions to the Archeology of the Great Bend Region, edited by Frank F. Schambach and Frank Rackerby, pp. 1-11. Research Series No. 22. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville. rev. 11/09