Toltec Mounds park explores stairway plan
Posted on Monday, October 8, 2007
Visitors to Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park would be able to view the ancient American Indian complex from one of its highest points under a proposal being considered by the park superintendent.
“When you stand up on top [of Mound B ], you sort of get it,” Superintendent James Wilborn said, referring to the mound that rises 39 feet from the ground. “This is pretty impressive. You gain a new appreciation for the construction of the mound. If we can protect the site and give visitors the opportunity to do that, why not pursue it ?”
Some opponents of the proposal can think of a number of reasons.
Ann Early, archaeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, is among the skeptics, noting that few in her discipline would accept any idea to make the mounds more accessible to the public. She fears that placing stairs on a mound would detract from the site’s appearance, threaten its archaeological value, risk damage to the mound or the artifacts remaining inside it and constitute an unwarranted breach of what some American Indians still consider sacred ground.
“If you were to survey archaeologists, Indians and preservationists today, a vast majority would see this as a difficult proposition,” Early said.
Carrie Wilson, cultural resources director for the Quapaw Tribe, agrees.
“The Quapaws declared that a sacred site years ago,” she said. “It’s something the tribe just does not want. People, when they walk the trails, can feel the sense of sacred” without having to climb a mound.
Wilborn said he recognizes a stairway on one of Toltec’s signature mounds would change what people see when they first enter the park, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Little Rock in Lonoke County. But he contends the construction could help protect the mound from erosion and would leave undisturbed any artifacts it might hold.
“If we were to put stairwells dug into the mound, it would be a misrepresentation,” he said. “We want to make sure people know it’s a stairwell state parks put in. We look at safety, maintenance [and ] what type of structure matches the site.”
Mound B itself already has undergone some repair and reconstruction.
“We won’t be building into an undisturbed site,” he said.
If a stairway is built, the process could take a year or two, including construction, Wilborn said.
“We are still talking and planning. Nothing is set in stone at this point.”
Wilborn is studying sites in other states that use stairways to allow park visitors access to the tops of mounds. They include Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site in Georgia, the Moundville Archaeological Park in Alabama and the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois. Wilborn also envisions a platform so people wouldn’t actually step onto the mound itself.
Wilborn said he plans to discuss the proposal with the National Park Service because Toltec is a National Historic Landmark. The park service likely will solicit public comment on the proposal, Wilborn said.
“The park service would evaluate all comments before making a decision,” he said. “We would listen to all parties involved, the Native Americans, the [Arkansas Archeological ] Survey and the general public. We want to hear from the people that want it and the people that don’t want it.”
Each year, about 35, 000 people visit Toltec, part of the Arkansas parks system since 1975.
The mounds themselves, or what’s left of four distinct ones, go back to the ninth century, built one basket of clay at a time by people known as the Plumb Bayou Culture. From A. D. 600 to A. D. 1150, they lived in permanent villages, farmed, gathered, fished and hunted. The man-made mounds served as the religious or social center of the community, with perhaps priests or other leaders living on top of them, according to park literature.
The mounds, which once numbered 17, were surrounded by an embankment several feet high and more than 5, 000 feet long. Inside the embankment, the mounds were positioned based on the alignment of significant solar periods. For instance, on the longest day of the year, looking from Mound H, the sun sets behind Mound B. On the shortest day of the year, if viewed from Mound H, the sun sets behind Mound S. During the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun sets behind Mound A.
Tony Perrin, a regional supervisor for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, encouraged Wilborn to consider building a stairway to the top of Mound B when Wilborn took the Toltec post in May 2006. Perrin himself often uses vacations to visit other state parks, where he’s seen the stairways employed.
At Town Creek Indian Mound in Mount Gilead, N. C., visitors can walk up a ramp leading to the top of a 15-foot mound that’s been partially rebuilt, said Rich Thompson, manager for the site.
Thompson said the ramp isn’t unusual for a mound.
“There was evidence of a ramp” in the original mound, Thompson said. “It’s not as steep as the original to make it safe” to walk up and down.
Early and Wilson said that placing stairways on mounds were popular in past decades before their negative consequences became apparent.
“I know enough about other developments and other sites to be very concerned about the potential negative consequences to such a construction,” Early said.
Wilson noted that officials in Mississippi have removed a stairway from a mound.
“They were very proud they had finally removed the steps,” she said. “The stairs were damaging the mound.”
Still, Wilborn and Perrin maintain that if the necessary safeguards are taken, visitors will gain a keener appreciation of the ancient man-made wonders that remain shrouded in mystery.
Visiting the top of a mound will “make a bigger impact,” Wilborn said. “It’ll be one of those ‘ah-ah’ moments. You can’t get that anywhere else.”
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