(Due to the peculiarity of the local geology, there are hundreds of "bluff shelters" in northwest Arkansas. These are rock overhangs that provided enough shelter for people to live under them, at least temporarily, while on hunting or gathering trips. Some of them also provided enough shelter to keep the deep deposits of trash that people left behind perfectly dry--mummified actually--so that all kinds of perishable items that one almost never sees on archeological sites, from corn cobs to baskets and grass sandals, were preserved. Most of the items shown here are probably representative of the perishable items found in the tool kits of people of the Woodland and Mississippian eras throughout Arkansas. Thus, we must picture these people as having sickles of bone and wood, bags woven of vegetable fibers, woven grass sandals, split cane baskets and mats, baby carriers woven of wood and split cane, and string or cord woven from grass.)
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