In April 1948, Dr. Alex D. Krieger of the University of Texas at Austin obtained a research grant from the Viking Fund (now a part of the Wenner-Gren Foundation) to conduct excavations at the Battle Mound site (3LA1) in Lafayette County, Arkansas (Krieger 1949). The goal of the fieldwork was to make a contour map of the mound and surrounding features as well as dig several trenches "in a number of places around the mound to find the slope of the original mound" and also "to try to find the village level before the mound was constructed" (Howard 1948).         Over the course of the 1948 summer excavations, various personnel from several states were involved through various capacities. Although Krieger is often referenced as the excavator during this project, he only visited the site once. Otherwise, Mr. Lynn E. Howard maintained the role of on-site field director and conducted the actual excavations. While the Howard excavation notes have been reviewed and summarized (see McKinnon 2009), a full analysis of the 1948 Howard excavation remains unfinished.

References Cited: Howard, Lynn H. 1948 Battle Mound Daily Log Notes. Notes on file, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Krieger, Alex D. 1949 Viking Fund Grant for Battle Mound Excavations, Lafayette County, Arkansas: A Report of Activities and Expenditures as of January 31, 1949. Manuscript on file, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, Arkansas. McKinnon, Duncan M. 2009 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). rev. 11/09