Cavanaugh Mound (3SB3, also known as Etter's Mound, Jones Mound [Newkumet 1940], Site Zeta [Dollar 1958], and
occasionally misspelled Cavenaugh) is a largely intact late prehistoric platform mound on the Arkansas River just east of the Oklahoma border, about 14 km from the Spiro Mounds complex (Figure 1). The site is situated on a high terrace above the Arkansas River as it runs between the Ouachita Mountains to the south and the Ozarks to the north. The Poteau River enters the Arkansas River floodplain just west of Cavanaugh, creating one of the widest stretches of bottomland in the region. The area immediately around Cavanaugh Mound is now a residential neighborhood in the city of Fort Smith, and the mound itself is in a tiny lot with a church to the south, a trailer park to the east (named Indian Mounds Trailer Park), and a row of houses to the west. At about 60 m across and 9 m high, Cavanaugh Mound is one of the largest, if not the largest, prehistoric mound in the region. Very little has been published concerning this site, however, and very little formal archaeological work has been done there.

Figure 1. Shaded relief map of the region surrounding Cavanaugh Mound.
(Click image for larger version.)

This paper is partly intended to call attention to Cavanaugh Mound, and to compile all reports and descriptions of the mound in one publication. The first part of this paper is therefore mostly descriptive. I also offer some tentative interpretations of the site and its possible relationship to the nearby Spiro and Skidgel sites. The size, shape, and stratigraphy of the mound all indicate that it was constructed and used in a manner similar to other Caddoan era platform mounds in the Arkansas River valley. The mound appears to be alone on the landscape, not connected of a group of surrounding mounds and not located within or near a contemporaneous settlement. It overlooks the Poteau/Arkansas River bottoms to the west and was probably visible from both the Spiro and Skidgel sites in prehistoric times.