Multiphase salt making at Nakuukuwidish/Holman Springs, a Caddo and settler salt-making site in Sevier County, Arkansas

Colonial/settler saltworks, particularly in rural or border settings, are less frequently studied archaeologically and historically than are larger-scale, industrialized saltworks. Using historical and archival information in conjunction with field observations at a small-scale saltworks in southwest Arkansas can draw out the importance of sites like Nakuukuwidish/Holman Springs (3SV29) for understanding the structure and development of consumption habits, economic arrangements, and supply chains for American settlers in the nineteenth century. The site has three phases of occupation spanning six centuries. In this report, we develop frameworks for continuing research on small-scale salt manufacturing in nineteenth-century America and its comparison with Indigenous practices.