Clay Sherrod

Rocks of Prehistory: the Gumlog Creek Rockshelter Clay Sherrod

Among the most unusual of all Arkansas rock shelters - homes for our aboriginal residents - is the Gumlog Creek Rockshelter. Occupied for thousands of years, this site demonstrates prehistoric ethnology from the end of the last ice age to the time of first contact by European explorers. The Arkansas River Valley Indian Rock Art Project began for the author in 1980. It resulted in the cataloging of nearly 700 rock shelters throughout Arkansas which demonstrate some form of aboriginal rock art and/or evidence of prehistoric occupation. Analysis of its artifacts reveal a very long span of occupation, from Archaic through Woodland Periods of cultural influence. This association suggests that the glyphs of these shelters were contemporaneous. In addition, the impressive shelter atop Carrion Crow Mountain in Arkansas, along Gumlog Creek, a feeder creek into the Arkansas River, is associated to one of the most unusual and intricate rock carvings in North America, the Gumlog Creek Petroglyph.