Pritam Chowdhury
Archeologist/Anthropologist/Historian
Welcome to my home on Project Past!
I am currently enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in the Anthropology Department at University of Arkansas with specializations in Archeology and Cultural Resource Management. In Fall 2007 I was awarded the Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Scholars Fellowship for completion of my Doctoral work at the University of Arkansas.
I hold a Masters of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas, with focuses in archeology and cultural anthropology. I am proficient in all phases of prehistoric and historical archaeological fieldwork, and can perform numerous laboratory methods within these disciplines. I can further write site reports, analyze data, work with spreadsheets and databases, and help in the interpretation of material cultural etc. My anthropological skills also include ethnographic fieldwork, museum studies, ethnohistory, and other research and writing.
I also hold my Bachelor of Arts in History with Distinction from Hendrix College. I further am skilled in historiography, historical research, and writing with primary and secondary sources, and have studied numerous periods of local and global history and prehistory.
Current Research
My current research interests include: Caddo archeology, Pre-Caddo cultures, Woodland to Mississippi period transitions, historical-processualism, historical ecology, and archeology in social context.
Working in collaboration with the Arkansas Archeological Survey, I am currently developing a dissertation topic based largely on data recovered from the Ferguson Site(3HE63), a Haley Phase Caddo mound site in Hempstead County, southwest Arkansas. TheFerguson Site is
the most completely excavated Late Caddo ceremonial center in Arkansas. This site was first recorded by the Arkansas Archeological Survey in 1971 and was the focus of salvage excavations and with the Arkansas Archeological Society's annual digs in 1972, 1973, and 1974. In the course of the fieldwork conducted at this site, two Caddo mounds, a Fourche Maline midden 40-60 cm deep, a small Caddo and Fourche Maline cemetery area, and underlying early Archaic and Dalton components were discriminated at this archaeologically varied 2-acre site. No final report has yet been produced from the data recovered at Ferguson.
Recent Fieldwork
2008 Archeologist, Arkansas Archeological Survey
The Jones Mill Site: I assisted the Principal Investigator and other Survey Staff in logistical operations and field work associated with the Society's annual 'summer dig' and training program at the Jones Mill Site (3HS28), near Malvern, Arkansas. This site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and may have served as a home base during Middle and late Archaic periods for local hunter-gatherers who worked novaculite from nearby quarries. The excavation was important for studying Archaic-period lifeways in the middle Ouachita River valley and for documenting the role that novaculite tool production played within local and regional contexts.
2006-2007 Archeological Field Technician, Pan-American Consultants
Crystal Bridges: Phase I archeological shovel test survey in Bentonville, Arkansas, site of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The 100-acre project area included numerous state site revisits, and resulted in the exposure of numerous newly recorded historic and prehistoric sites.
Osage Spring: Phase III excavation in Rogers, Arkansas, at Osage Spring (3BE495), a multi-component Paleo-Indian to historic archeological site in Benton County, AR.
2005-2006 Archeologist II--Assistant Archeologist, SPEARS Inc
Ozark-St. Francis National Forest: Phase I archeological survey, conducted between December of 2005 and March 2006. The transects included twelve proposed seismic corridors in Pope, Johnson, Caroll, Van Buren, and Franklin Counties, Arkansas, within the USDA Ozark-St. Francis National Forest. My job duties other than field work (shovel test transect survey), also included doing background research at the Arkansas Archeological Survey, of all known sites within the project area, and completing new site and site revisit forms for state review.
2004-2005 Cultural Resource Specialist, Burns and McDonell
Copperhead Site and Frog Bayou Shelter: I worked primarily as a field archeologist on two Phase III late Archaic to middle Woodland Period sites, outside Mountainburg, Arkansas. This project was funded by the city of Fort Smith to mitigate cultural resources from multiple prehistoric and historical archeological sites that are to be submerged by water, following the flooding of the project area on the land between Lake Ft. Smith and Lake Shepard Springs by 2007. In addition to excavation, I did lab work, maintained FSN and photo logs, and worked as interim Principal Investigator for parts of the Summer 2005. Further, I was a co-author of: Management Summary of Data Recovery at Frog Bayou Shelter, 3CW946, for Lake Fort Smith Water Supply Project, Crawford County, Arkansas.
2000 Archeological Field Assistant, Arkansas Archeological Survey
Van Winkle's Hollow: Field and lab work at 19th century Historic/Industrial archeology NW Arkansas, Phases I, II, and III, including excavations on Feature 9, slave quarters/freemens cabin.
Photo Gallery
A few pictures from my academic and professional life.
Contact
Arkansas Archeological Survey
245 N. Hatch Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72704
Department of Anthropology,
Old Main 330
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
pchowdh_uark.edu
pritam37_gmail.com
News
Based at Petit Jean State Park please come join us on June 12-28 for the Arkansas Archeological Society's 2009 Training and Certification Program . During this year's summer dig, we will conduct excavations at the internationally renowned Carden Bottomsite!I will be teaching the Basic Site Survey class June 15-20. Fun will be had by all!!!
Based at Petit Jean State Park please come join us on June 12-28 for the Arkansas Archeological Society's 2009 Training and Certification Program . During this year's summer dig, we will conduct excavations at the internationally renowned Carden Bottomsite!
I will be teaching the Basic Site Survey class June 15-20.
Fun will be had by all!!!
affiliations
University of Arkansas--Department of Anthropology
AAS Research Station--Southern Arkansas University
Project Past
Van Winkle's Mill Project
Southeastern Archaeological Conference
World Archaeological Congress
Remembering Ferguson