SOUTHEAST—For the second year, the Archaeological Conservancy partnered with the Chickasaw Nation and Mississippi State University’s Cobb Institute of Archaeology to host MSU’s field school at the Conservancy’s Lyon’s Bluff site near Starkville, Mississippi. Under the direction of Dr. Tony Boudreaux, the program worked alongside the Chickasaw Explorers, an educational initiative led by the Nation that brings high school and college students to Chickasaw homeland cultural sites to work with archaeologists documenting artifacts and features.
Lyon’s Bluff, a mound site dating from about 1300 to the early 1600s and acquired by the Conservancy in 2010, was the focus of this summer’s work. Field school participants and the Explorers, guided by Dr. Brad Lieb, archaeologist for the Chickasaw Nation, conducted a controlled surface collection and excavated sections of a palisade.
The site also welcomed youth from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, who toured the excavations, shared lunch, and joined a spirited game of stickball. The June events showcased how preservation, research, and collaboration can bring the region’s history to life.
Pictured: Members of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma joined the Chickasaw Explorers in a spirited game of stickball. Photo by Jessica Fleming Crawford / TAC
