Mississippian stone statuary
Encyclopedia
The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts
of polished stone in the shape of human figurine
s made by members of the Mississippian culture
(800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological site
s in the American Midwest and Southeast. Two distinct styles exist; the first is a style of carved flint clay found over a wide geographical area but believed to be from the American Bottom
area and manufactured at the Cahokia
site specifically; the second is a variety of carved and polished locally available stone primarily found in the Tennessee
-Cumberland
region and northern Georgia
(although there are lone outliers of this style in other regions). Early European explorers reported seeing stone and wooden statues in native temples, but the first documented modern discovery was made in 1790 in Kentucky
, and given as a gift to Thomas Jefferson
.
, the Earth/fertility cult
, and an Ancestor cult. The stone statues found seem to represent different aspects from each of these 3 major divisions of Mississippian religious life. The Cahokian-style pieces represent figures from the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex and earth/fertility goddesses. The Tennessee-Cumberland statues seem to represent venerated ancestors (possibly Lucky Hunter and Corn Woman), and a third variety represents Old Woman
or Spider Grandmother
, a creator and fertility goddess. Early European explorers describe stone statues as being kept in mortuary temples
or shrines, frequently on top of platform mound
s. Over the next several hundred years the statues disappeared from history, many of them hidden by Native Americans
to protect their sacred objects. The statues began to surface again during the 18th and 19th centuries as European American farmers began plowing the fertile river valleys of the south and midwest, and later as looters and then archaeologists began to dig into the burial mounds.
and eastern Missouri
, at Spiro
and other Caddoan Mississippian
sites in eastern Oklahoma
and northwestern Louisiana
, and various other sites throughout the American southeast. For many years the statues were thought to have been produced locally at the sites in which they were discovered, but recent scientific analysis (X-ray diffraction
, sequential acid dissolution, and inductively coupled plasma analyses) has shown all of the statues to have been produced from a flint clay only found in the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri
. The particular pipestone used by the artists of Cahokia has a distinctive combination of a lithium
bearing chlorite
, abundant boehmite
(an aluminum oxyhydroxide) and a heavy-metal phosphate
mineral suite. It is believed that the objects were considered to be valuable trade and religious objects, and spread far and wide from their place of production in the American Bottom. Many of the figurines depict mythological characters from the Chiefly Warrior cult
and the Earth/fertility cult
. Most flint clay figurines found outside Cahokia represent male figures from the Chiefly Warrior Cult, as opposed to items found near Cahokia which mostly represent female figures from the Earth/fertility cult.
flowers, vines and fruit. The Underwater Serpent, with its associations with the Underworld, is thought to represent the fertility of the Earth. The second example from the site is the "Keller figurine", which depicts a woman with long straight hair and cranial deformation, wearing a wrap around skirt and kneeling on a platform. The platform is divided by sections and covered with striations that are thought to represent ears of maize
. The women's hands rest on a box like object which may be a basket. A maize stalk rises on the right side of the basket, through the right hand and along the arm and around the back of the figures head. This figurine is also thought to represent the connection of vegetation and fertility, female deities and the Earth. The Keller figurine is 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in height.
plants), which curls up onto the head. The "Willoughby figurine" is also incomplete, with only parts of the head, torso and lower body surviving. The figure, obviously a female from the surviving anatomy of the torso, wears a wrap around skirt and holds plants and woven cane baskets. The presence of the vines and baskets may connect the figure with rites from the Green Corn Ceremony
. The surviving fragments of the "West figurine" show a female with a rattlesnake
coiled around her head as a turban
. Not much else survives of this specimen, although enough of the torso exists to tell the figurine is female.
Archaeologists believe several pipes found at the site may be heirlooms that made their way from Cahokia to Spiro in the late 13th century as the cultural center collapsed. Several large flint clay pipes were found in the "Craig Mound" or "Great Mortuary" mound at Spiro in the 1930s. The "Lucifer pipe" shows a nude man with an over sized head holding a deer head in his left hand and a fringed object of some sort in his right. The pipe has a hole in the back for the insertion of a tube so it could function as a pipe. It is 23 centimetres (9.1 in) tall. Another intriguing find from the Craig Mound is the "Resting Warrior" or "Big Boy pipe". Archaeologist have argued that the figure may represent Red Horn
, a mythic demigod from many Native American
stories. The 26 centimetres (10.2 in) figure sits cross legged, with his hands on his knees. He wears a cape of feathers on his back, similar to actual examples found in the Craig Mound during excavations. He has Long-nosed god maskette
earrings, strings of beads around his neck, and a strange hat with an Ogee motif at its center. The hat may represent real versions made from beaten copper sheets. The hair is done up in a bun on the back of the figures head and a long braid over the left shoulder. The earrings and the braid are the reason many archaeologist identify the figure as Red Horn. The "Conquering Warrior" effigy pipe shows the more brutal and militaristic side of Mississippian culture. The 24 centimetres (9.4 in) figure depicts a warrior in ritual regalia leaning over a crouching victim and either hitting him in the face with a war club or decapitating him. Another effigy pipe from Spiro depicts a crouching man smoking from a frog effigy pipe, and is 20.5 centimetres (8.1 in) tall and 36.5 centimetres (14.4 in) long. While most of the pipes from the Spiro site depict males, the "Figure at mortar" seems to show a female. Although the figure lacks definitive sexual characteristics, the fact that it is grinding maize and details of its costumes suggest it is indeed a representation of a female. The figure is shown kneeling on an oval base and has its hair pulled back behind its ears. The figurine is thematically very close to the Birger and Keller figurines found in the American Bottom. This pipe is on display at the National Museum of the American Indian
in Washington D.C.
sites, most notably the Gahagan
site which had two effigy pipes. Several of these pipes are on display at the Native American gallery of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
in Norman, Oklahoma
.
s on her back and two maize plants sprout from her outstretched hands. The effigy pipe is 18 centimetres (7.1 in) by 18 centimetres (7.1 in) by 14 centimetres (5.5 in). It was found in Desha County, Arkansas
at a site close to the mouth of the Arkansas River
. In July 2003 archaeologists from the Midcontinental Archaeometry Working Group of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
conducted portable infrared mineral analyzer (PIMA) and Hunter color analyses on the figure to determine its origins. Their analysis determined that the pipe was made from a cookeite-boehmite phosphate (CBP) flint clay from Missouri that may have come from a quarry as near to Cahokia as St. Louis County
.
. It measures 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in height by 14.5 centimetres (5.7 in) in length.
.
. It is now part of the Henry Whelpley Collection at the St. Louis Science Center
. The pipe depicts a kneeling male who is slightly leaning forward and in the process of rolling a chunkey
stone with his right hand and holding two chunkey sticks in left. He is wearing large ear spools, has a necklace around his neck with a large bead attached, and an elaborate hat or hair style.
in the summer of 2010. The dig was being done in preparation for a new $670 million Mississippi River
bridge. The figure has long hair which winds down her back and is holding a conch shell. The back of the figurine shows charring from a fire.
s Mound C. He had a trench dug into the conical burial mound, and amongst the discoveries was a large stone effigy pipe in the shape of a kneeling man. It has since become the site’s most famous artifact and is on display in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah
. The pipe, now known as the "Crouching Man pipe" is 20.3 centimetres (8 in) in height.
at the Starr Village and Mound Group site in the Macoupin Creek
Valley sometime late in the nineteenth century. Because of the age of the burial (Early Sand Prairie Phase 1250 CE) and the time of the statues believed manufacture (Stirling Phase 1050 to 1200 CE) it is posited that the figure was a curated heirloom, buried long after its manufacture and in a region not normally associated with Mississippian settlements. It is now in the collection of the Gilcrease Museum
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
.
in Ballard County, Kentucky
.
, the Tennessee River
Valley area around Nashville, Tennessee
and on into western Tennessee
and Kentucky
, and southern Indiana
. Examples of this style are also known from wooden and ceramic versions. The function and symbology of this statuary seems to have been fundamentally different from the Cahokian flint clay pieces. Three different types are identified, a pair with a male and female example and an old woman/fertility goddess. It is theorized that the couple may represent the primordial ancestral couple from which a group claimed descent. Males are often represented without obvious clothing, sitting crosslegged with their hands resting on their knees. Some examples are resting on one leg with the other drawn up before them. Their hair is done up in a bun on the back of the head, and shows qualities in common with other depictions of warriors. The females are usually shown with small breasts, wearing a wrap around skirt, sitting with their legs tucked under them and with their hair pulled back and falling down their backs, sometimes with braids. The third example is very similar to the female of the first examples but has 2 additional characteristics. This figure usually has her hands resting on its projecting stomach and has its sexual organs defined. All of the figures show a general concentration of refinement on the heads and upper torsos, with some even going so far as to barely have the lower body represented at all. The earliest documented piece known to have been found was near the Cumberland River southwest of Lexington, Kentucky
in 1790. An unknown farmer discovered the kneeling figure while plowing. It was obtained by Judge Harry Innes
, the first United States federal judge
in Kentucky
, who made a gift of the statuette to Thomas Jefferson
in July of 1790. This 9.75 inches (24.8 cm) example was the first of five that Jefferson eventually collected and kept on display at Monticello
. Jefferson also owned and displayed in Monticello's entrance hall a male and female pair. They were found in Tennessee on a high bluff overlooking the Cumberland River and in 1799 sent to Jefferson by Morgan Brown, a lieutenant during the Revolutionary War. Although they were sent from Palmyra, Tennessee
, it is unclear if they were found there. Brown informed Jefferson that:
Another of the statues was a "head", approximately 18.4 centimetres (7.2 in) by 15.2 centimetres (6 in), purchased by Captain Stockton in the estate sale after Jeffersons death. One of his descendants sold the head to Dr. William C. Dabney and it eventually was made a gift to the Smithsonian Institution
in 1875. After Jeffersons death and the sale of his home, the other statues passed through several more hands before disappearing from history.
region, mostly within the area between the Tennessee
and Cumberland River
Valleys, with more than fifty currently known. Three of the most productive sites in this area have been the Sellars Site
, the Castalian Springs Mound Site
and the Beasley Mounds Site
, with examples also being found at the Mound Bottom
and a unique cache of ceramic figurines at the Brick Church Pike Mound
sites. The most well known statue from this region is the 47 centimetres (18.5 in) "Sandy" statue, the male half of a pair dug up in 1939 from the Sellars Mound in Wilson County, Tennessee. Now in the Frank H. McClung Museum
in Knoxville
, it has been used on numerous book and magazine covers as well as on a U.S. postage stamp as part of the Art of the American Indians series.
Ten examples of this style of statuary have been found at Etowah
, but the most well known and most spectacular are the pair found in a log tomb in Mound C on January 19, 1954. Based on artifacts found with them the pair are believed to have been manufactured sometime between 1250 to 1375 CE, to have spent a time as ritual objects, and then to have been buried during the late Wilbanks Phase(1325-1375 CE). The statues were damaged when found, thought to have occurred during the hasty burial at a time of warfare or social upheaval. The pair are carved from white marble and painted with red, black and green black pigments. The male is 61 centimetres (24 in) high and the female 55.9 centimetres (22 in). The pair is on display at the Etowah site museum with a diorama depicting its hasty burial.
. One of the best examples is from the Angel Site
in southern Indiana where a fluorite
statue was excavated from Mound F in 1940. Dating of the mound suggests the statue was buried there between 1250 and 1400 CE. Another was discovered in the Tolu Site
in western Kentucky in 1954. The 25 centimetres (9.8 in) fluorite piece is one of the most intricate yet found, and is the only known Tennessee-Cumberland style statue with a beaded forelock. Other finds in the area have been made at the Obion Mounds
and Ware Mounds sites. Outside this region, which all have direct contact via the riverways to the Tennessee-Cumberland region, only two significant finds have been made. A 12 inches (30.5 cm) male figure was found at the Schugtown Mounds Site in Arkansas
in 1933. Two statues were found at the Grand Village of the Natchez
, one in 1820 and the other in excavations in Mound C in 1930. These two pieces are significant because the ethnographic history of the area records the use of stone temple statuary by the Natchez people
, but these are the only known examples to have been found. And although there is no direct riverway connection to the Tennessee-Cumberland region as with most other finds, the area was connected to the Nashville Basin in ancient times by the Natchez Trace
, a pre-European native trade route.
. The other was found in a cave along the Cumberland River in Bell County, Kentucky
in 1869. The statue shows a figure very similar to the stone varieties, albeit with the lower body represented by a rectangular shape instead of legs, with the hands resting on it much like the stone versions. It was carved from yellow pine
and is 61 centimetres (24 in) tall. A unique cache of ceramic figurines was discovered in 1971 at the Brick Church Mound and Village Site
in Nashville
. The figurines were an adult male and adult female pair and two children of each sex, as well as pieces from additional figurines, totaling eleven figurines in all. They are now on display at the Frank H. McClung Museum
of the University of Tennessee
in Knoxville
.
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
of polished stone in the shape of human figurine
Figurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
s made by members of the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
(800 to 1600 CE) and found in archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
s in the American Midwest and Southeast. Two distinct styles exist; the first is a style of carved flint clay found over a wide geographical area but believed to be from the American Bottom
American Bottom
The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, to the Kaskaskia River. It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about , mostly protected from flooding by a levee and drainage canal...
area and manufactured at the Cahokia
Cahokia
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the area of an ancient indigenous city located in the American Bottom floodplain, between East Saint Louis and Collinsville in south-western Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The site included 120 human-built earthwork mounds...
site specifically; the second is a variety of carved and polished locally available stone primarily found in the Tennessee
Tennessee Valley
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to northwest Georgia and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina...
-Cumberland
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
region and northern Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
(although there are lone outliers of this style in other regions). Early European explorers reported seeing stone and wooden statues in native temples, but the first documented modern discovery was made in 1790 in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and given as a gift to Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
.
History
Archaeologists have divided what is known about Mississippian culture religious practices into three major "cult" manifestations. The Chiefly Warrior cultSoutheastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
, the Earth/fertility cult
Earth/fertility cult
The Earth/fertility Mississippian cult was associated with earthen platform mounds.The act of rebuilding the mounds, of adding additional layers of earth over burials, served as a symbol of renewal, which renewed the earthwork as much as human life. The earthen platform served as the earth, a...
, and an Ancestor cult. The stone statues found seem to represent different aspects from each of these 3 major divisions of Mississippian religious life. The Cahokian-style pieces represent figures from the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex and earth/fertility goddesses. The Tennessee-Cumberland statues seem to represent venerated ancestors (possibly Lucky Hunter and Corn Woman), and a third variety represents Old Woman
Old woman
Old woman may refer to:* an old woman* A person who is always complaining about his or her situation.* Old Woman , a divine hag in Irish and Scottish mythology...
or Spider Grandmother
Spider Grandmother
The Spider Grandmother is creator of the world in Native American religions and myths such as that of the Pueblo and Navajo/Dineh peoples. According to mythology, she was responsible for the stars in the sky, she took a web she had spun, laced it with dew, threw it into the sky and the dew became...
, a creator and fertility goddess. Early European explorers describe stone statues as being kept in mortuary temples
Charnel house
A charnel house is a vault or building where human skeletal remains are stored. They are often built near churches for depositing bones that are unearthed while digging graves...
or shrines, frequently on top of platform mound
Platform mound
A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity.-Eastern North America:The indigenous peoples of North America built substructure mounds for well over a thousand years starting in the Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period...
s. Over the next several hundred years the statues disappeared from history, many of them hidden by Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
to protect their sacred objects. The statues began to surface again during the 18th and 19th centuries as European American farmers began plowing the fertile river valleys of the south and midwest, and later as looters and then archaeologists began to dig into the burial mounds.
Cahokia Style
This style of statuary is found at Cahokian sites in western IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and eastern Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, at Spiro
Spiro Mounds
Spiro Mounds is an important pre-Columbian Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site located in present-day eastern Oklahoma in the United States. The site is located seven miles north of Spiro, and is the only prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public...
and other Caddoan Mississippian
Caddoan Mississippian culture
The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana...
sites in eastern Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
and northwestern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and various other sites throughout the American southeast. For many years the statues were thought to have been produced locally at the sites in which they were discovered, but recent scientific analysis (X-ray diffraction
X-ray scattering techniques
X-ray scattering techniques are a family of non-destructive analytical techniques which reveal information about the crystallographic structure, chemical composition, and physical properties of materials and thin films...
, sequential acid dissolution, and inductively coupled plasma analyses) has shown all of the statues to have been produced from a flint clay only found in the vicinity of St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. The particular pipestone used by the artists of Cahokia has a distinctive combination of a lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
bearing chlorite
Chlorite
The chlorite ion is ClO2−. A chlorite is a compound that contains this group,with chlorine in oxidation state +3. Chlorites are also known as salts of chlorous acid.-Oxidation states:...
, abundant boehmite
Boehmite
Boehmite or Böhmite is an aluminium oxide hydroxide mineral, a component of the aluminium ore bauxite. It is dimorphous with diaspore. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic dipyramidal system and is typically massive in habit. It is white with tints of yellow, green, brown or red due to impurities...
(an aluminum oxyhydroxide) and a heavy-metal phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
mineral suite. It is believed that the objects were considered to be valuable trade and religious objects, and spread far and wide from their place of production in the American Bottom. Many of the figurines depict mythological characters from the Chiefly Warrior cult
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture that coincided with their adoption of maize agriculture and chiefdom-level complex social organization from...
and the Earth/fertility cult
Earth/fertility cult
The Earth/fertility Mississippian cult was associated with earthen platform mounds.The act of rebuilding the mounds, of adding additional layers of earth over burials, served as a symbol of renewal, which renewed the earthwork as much as human life. The earthen platform served as the earth, a...
. Most flint clay figurines found outside Cahokia represent male figures from the Chiefly Warrior Cult, as opposed to items found near Cahokia which mostly represent female figures from the Earth/fertility cult.
BBB Motor Site figurines
The BBB Motor Site, a major second tier ceremonial site of Cahokia of the Sterling Phase, has produced two outstanding examples of this style. The first, the "Birger figurine", depicts a kneeling woman wearing a pack on her back and using a hoe to till the back of a feline headed serpent on which she is squatting. The tail of the serpent splits and transforms into gourdGourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
flowers, vines and fruit. The Underwater Serpent, with its associations with the Underworld, is thought to represent the fertility of the Earth. The second example from the site is the "Keller figurine", which depicts a woman with long straight hair and cranial deformation, wearing a wrap around skirt and kneeling on a platform. The platform is divided by sections and covered with striations that are thought to represent ears of maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. The women's hands rest on a box like object which may be a basket. A maize stalk rises on the right side of the basket, through the right hand and along the arm and around the back of the figures head. This figurine is also thought to represent the connection of vegetation and fertility, female deities and the Earth. The Keller figurine is 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in height.
Sponemann Site figurines
The Sponemann Site, another Sterling Phase second tier ceremonial site of Cahokia, has produced three flint clay figurines, although these had been ritually broken or "killed" before burial. The "Sponemann figurine", at 15 centimetres (5.9 in), is only partially recovered. What remains is the head, upper torso and arms of a female with detailed facial features very like those of the Birger figurine. The figure's outstretched arms hold vegetation (possibly maize or sunflowerSunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
plants), which curls up onto the head. The "Willoughby figurine" is also incomplete, with only parts of the head, torso and lower body surviving. The figure, obviously a female from the surviving anatomy of the torso, wears a wrap around skirt and holds plants and woven cane baskets. The presence of the vines and baskets may connect the figure with rites from the Green Corn Ceremony
Green Corn Ceremony
The Green Corn Ceremony is an English term that refers to a general religious and social theme celebrated by a number of American Indian peoples of the Eastern Woodlands and the Southeastern tribes...
. The surviving fragments of the "West figurine" show a female with a rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...
coiled around her head as a turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...
. Not much else survives of this specimen, although enough of the torso exists to tell the figurine is female.
The Spiro pipes
Red Horn (Siouan deity)
Red Horn is a culture hero in Siouan oral traditions, specifically of the Ioway and Hocąk nations. Only in Hocąk literature is he known as "Red Horn" , but among the Ioway and Hocągara both, he is known by one of his variant names, "He Who Wears Faces on His Ears"...
, a mythic demigod from many Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
stories. The 26 centimetres (10.2 in) figure sits cross legged, with his hands on his knees. He wears a cape of feathers on his back, similar to actual examples found in the Craig Mound during excavations. He has Long-nosed god maskette
Long-nosed god maskette
Long-nosed god maskettes are artifacts made from bone, copper and marine shells associated with the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. They are small shield-shaped faces with squared-off foreheads, circular eyes, and large noses of...
earrings, strings of beads around his neck, and a strange hat with an Ogee motif at its center. The hat may represent real versions made from beaten copper sheets. The hair is done up in a bun on the back of the figures head and a long braid over the left shoulder. The earrings and the braid are the reason many archaeologist identify the figure as Red Horn. The "Conquering Warrior" effigy pipe shows the more brutal and militaristic side of Mississippian culture. The 24 centimetres (9.4 in) figure depicts a warrior in ritual regalia leaning over a crouching victim and either hitting him in the face with a war club or decapitating him. Another effigy pipe from Spiro depicts a crouching man smoking from a frog effigy pipe, and is 20.5 centimetres (8.1 in) tall and 36.5 centimetres (14.4 in) long. While most of the pipes from the Spiro site depict males, the "Figure at mortar" seems to show a female. Although the figure lacks definitive sexual characteristics, the fact that it is grinding maize and details of its costumes suggest it is indeed a representation of a female. The figure is shown kneeling on an oval base and has its hair pulled back behind its ears. The figurine is thematically very close to the Birger and Keller figurines found in the American Bottom. This pipe is on display at the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
in Washington D.C.
Gahagan
Similar examples have also been discovered at other Caddoan MississippianCaddoan Mississippian culture
The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a large territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana...
sites, most notably the Gahagan
Gahagan Mounds Site
The Gahagan Mounds Site is an Early Caddoan Mississippian culture archaeological site in Red River Parish, Louisiana. It is located in the Red River Valley...
site which had two effigy pipes. Several of these pipes are on display at the Native American gallery of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Norman, Oklahoma, operated by the University of Oklahoma. It is currently housed in a building on Chautauqua Avenue that opened on May 1, 2000. The museum's exhibits include a Native American gallery and collections of...
in Norman, Oklahoma
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
.
Other examples
Other sites have produced single examples of the Cahokia flint clay statues and pipes, in locations scattered throughout the American South.Desha County, Arkansas
Once known as the "McGehee figure pipe", and now as the "Westbrook Figurine" after its current owner Dr. Kent Westbrook, it depicts a female figure kneeling on her knees with a basket behind her. The figure has sunflowerSunflower
Sunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
s on her back and two maize plants sprout from her outstretched hands. The effigy pipe is 18 centimetres (7.1 in) by 18 centimetres (7.1 in) by 14 centimetres (5.5 in). It was found in Desha County, Arkansas
Desha County, Arkansas
Desha County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,008. The county seat is Arkansas City. Desha County is Arkansas's 40th county, formed on December 12, 1838, and named for Captain Benjamin Desha who fought in the War of...
at a site close to the mouth of the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
. In July 2003 archaeologists from the Midcontinental Archaeometry Working Group of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
conducted portable infrared mineral analyzer (PIMA) and Hunter color analyses on the figure to determine its origins. Their analysis determined that the pipe was made from a cookeite-boehmite phosphate (CBP) flint clay from Missouri that may have come from a quarry as near to Cahokia as St. Louis County
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...
.
East St. Louis
A frog effigy pipe was found in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, IllinoisSt. Clair County, Illinois
St. Clair County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. In 1970, the U.S. Census Bureau placed the mean center of U.S. population in St. Clair County. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 270,056, which is an increase of 5.5% from 256,082 in 2000. Its county seat is...
. It measures 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in height by 14.5 centimetres (5.7 in) in length.
Guy Smith Village site
A 9.5 centimetres (3.7 in) high crouching warrior effigy pipe. The warrior has his head cocked to the right and has a large rectangular shield like shape on his right arm. It was found at the Guy Smith Village site in Jackson County, IllinoisJackson County, Illinois
Jackson County, incorporated January 10, 1816, is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 60,218, which is an increase of 1.0% from 59,612 in 2000...
.
Muskogee County, Oklahoma
The "Chunkey Player" is a 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) high by 5.5 inches (14 cm) wide effigy pipe found in Muskogee County, OklahomaMuskogee County, Oklahoma
Muskogee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2010, the population was 70,990. Its county seat is Muskogee.-Government:...
. It is now part of the Henry Whelpley Collection at the St. Louis Science Center
St. Louis Science Center
The Saint Louis Science Center is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. The Planetarium opened in 1963, and it was expanded and renamed as the Saint Louis Science Center in 1983...
. The pipe depicts a kneeling male who is slightly leaning forward and in the process of rolling a chunkey
Chunkey
Chunkey is a game of Native American origin. It was played by rolling disc shaped stones across the ground and throwing spears at them in an attempt to place the spear as close to the stopped stone as possible...
stone with his right hand and holding two chunkey sticks in left. He is wearing large ear spools, has a necklace around his neck with a large bead attached, and an elaborate hat or hair style.
National City, Illinois
A 6 inches (15.2 cm) in height female figurine was found during a massive archaeological dig at the old National Stock Yards in National City, IllinoisNational City, Illinois
National City, Illinois is a suburb of East St. Louis, Illinois. Incorporated in 1907, it was a company town for the St. Louis National Stockyards Company.National City was annexed by nearby Fairmont City, Illinois not East St...
in the summer of 2010. The dig was being done in preparation for a new $670 million Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
bridge. The figure has long hair which winds down her back and is holding a conch shell. The back of the figurine shows charring from a fire.
Shiloh Indian Mounds site
In 1899 Cornelius Cadle, chairman of the Shiloh Park Commission, excavated Shiloh Indian Mounds SiteShiloh Indian Mounds Site
Shiloh Indian Mounds Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site of the prehistoric indigenous peoples of eastern North America...
s Mound C. He had a trench dug into the conical burial mound, and amongst the discoveries was a large stone effigy pipe in the shape of a kneeling man. It has since become the site’s most famous artifact and is on display in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah
Savannah, Tennessee
Savannah is a city in Hardin County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,917 at the 2000 census and the 2007 population estimate was 7,262. It is the county seat of Hardin County. Savannah hosted the NAIA college football national championship game from 1996-2007. Savannah is home to...
. The pipe, now known as the "Crouching Man pipe" is 20.3 centimetres (8 in) in height.
Starr Village and Mound Group site
The "Macoupin Creek figurine"(formerly the "Piasa Creek Figure pipe") measures 20.3 centimetres (8 in) in height and depicts a shaman kneeling with a gourd rattle in one hand and a snake or snakeskin wrapped around his neck. The figure also has conch shell and bead ear ornaments and a raccoon skin headdress. The pipe was discovered in a stone box graveStone box grave
Stone box graves were a method of burial employed by Native Americans of the Mississippian culture in the American Midwest and Southeast. Their construction was especially common in the Cumberland River Basin around Nashville, Tennessee-Construction:...
at the Starr Village and Mound Group site in the Macoupin Creek
Macoupin Creek
Macoupin Creek is a tributary of the Illinois River, which it joins near the village of Hardin, Illinois.The word macoupin refers to the yellow pond lily , a native plant of the regional wetlands, and a favorite food source of local Indians. It has a large rootstock that was baked in a fire pit...
Valley sometime late in the nineteenth century. Because of the age of the burial (Early Sand Prairie Phase 1250 CE) and the time of the statues believed manufacture (Stirling Phase 1050 to 1200 CE) it is posited that the figure was a curated heirloom, buried long after its manufacture and in a region not normally associated with Mississippian settlements. It is now in the collection of the Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum
Gilcrease Museum is a museum located northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum now houses the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West as well as a growing collection of art and artifacts from Central and South America...
in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
.
Twin Mounds site
A 17.8 centimetres (7 in) kneeling male figure pipe was excavated from the Twin Mounds SiteTwin Mounds Site
The Twin Mounds Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near Barlow in Ballard County, Kentucky, just north of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.-Site:...
in Ballard County, Kentucky
Ballard County, Kentucky
Ballard County is a county located in west of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was created by the Kentucky State Legislature in 1842, and is named for Captain Bland Ballard, a soldier, statesman, and member of the Kentucky General Assembly. He was one of the few Kentucky volunteers to survive the...
.
Tennessee-Cumberland Style
This style of statuary is found in northern GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
Valley area around Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and on into western Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, and southern Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. Examples of this style are also known from wooden and ceramic versions. The function and symbology of this statuary seems to have been fundamentally different from the Cahokian flint clay pieces. Three different types are identified, a pair with a male and female example and an old woman/fertility goddess. It is theorized that the couple may represent the primordial ancestral couple from which a group claimed descent. Males are often represented without obvious clothing, sitting crosslegged with their hands resting on their knees. Some examples are resting on one leg with the other drawn up before them. Their hair is done up in a bun on the back of the head, and shows qualities in common with other depictions of warriors. The females are usually shown with small breasts, wearing a wrap around skirt, sitting with their legs tucked under them and with their hair pulled back and falling down their backs, sometimes with braids. The third example is very similar to the female of the first examples but has 2 additional characteristics. This figure usually has her hands resting on its projecting stomach and has its sexual organs defined. All of the figures show a general concentration of refinement on the heads and upper torsos, with some even going so far as to barely have the lower body represented at all. The earliest documented piece known to have been found was near the Cumberland River southwest of Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
in 1790. An unknown farmer discovered the kneeling figure while plowing. It was obtained by Judge Harry Innes
Harry Innes
Harry Innes was the first United States federal judge in Kentucky.Innes was born in Caroline County, Virginia, the son of the Reverend Robert Innes and Catharine Innes. Innes attended Donald Robertson's school and William and Mary College...
, the first United States federal judge
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, who made a gift of the statuette to Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
in July of 1790. This 9.75 inches (24.8 cm) example was the first of five that Jefferson eventually collected and kept on display at Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
. Jefferson also owned and displayed in Monticello's entrance hall a male and female pair. They were found in Tennessee on a high bluff overlooking the Cumberland River and in 1799 sent to Jefferson by Morgan Brown, a lieutenant during the Revolutionary War. Although they were sent from Palmyra, Tennessee
Palmyra, Tennessee
Palmyra is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along State Route 149 southwest of Clarksville. The town has its own post office with the ZIP Code of 37142. Palmyra has a rich civil war history where MAJ GEN Joseph Wheeler of the Confederate army...
, it is unclear if they were found there. Brown informed Jefferson that:
Another of the statues was a "head", approximately 18.4 centimetres (7.2 in) by 15.2 centimetres (6 in), purchased by Captain Stockton in the estate sale after Jeffersons death. One of his descendants sold the head to Dr. William C. Dabney and it eventually was made a gift to the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in 1875. After Jeffersons death and the sale of his home, the other statues passed through several more hands before disappearing from history.
Middle Tennessee region
The most numerous examples of this style are found in the Middle TennesseeMiddle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....
region, mostly within the area between the Tennessee
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
and Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
Valleys, with more than fifty currently known. Three of the most productive sites in this area have been the Sellars Site
Sellars Indian Mound
Sellars Indian Mound is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located in Wilson County, Tennessee near Lebanon. The mound was the site of a settlement from about 1000 to 1300 CE. Today, the site is a satellite unit of Long Hunter State Park...
, the Castalian Springs Mound Site
Castalian Springs Mound Site
The Castalian Springs Mound Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near the small unincorporated community of Castalian Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee. The site was first excavated in the 1890s and again as recently as the 2005 to 2011 archaeological field school led by...
and the Beasley Mounds Site
Beasley Mounds Site
The Beasley Mounds Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the confluence of Dixon Creek and the Cumberland River near the unincorporated community of Dixon Springs in Smith County, Tennessee. The site was first excavated by amateur archaeologists in the 1890s...
, with examples also being found at the Mound Bottom
Mound Bottom
Mound Bottom is a prehistoric Native American complex in Cheatham County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The complex, which consists of platform and burial mounds, a central plaza, and habitation areas, was built between 950 and 1300 AD, during the Mississippian period.The...
and a unique cache of ceramic figurines at the Brick Church Pike Mound
Brick Church Mound and Village Site
The Brick Church Mound and Village Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located in Nashville in Davidson County, Tennessee. It was excavated in the late nineteenth century by Frederic Ward Putnam...
sites. The most well known statue from this region is the 47 centimetres (18.5 in) "Sandy" statue, the male half of a pair dug up in 1939 from the Sellars Mound in Wilson County, Tennessee. Now in the Frank H. McClung Museum
Frank H. McClung Museum
The Frank H. McClung Museum is a general museum located on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Built in 1963, exhibits focus on natural history, archeology, anthropology, decorative arts, and local history...
in Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, it has been used on numerous book and magazine covers as well as on a U.S. postage stamp as part of the Art of the American Indians series.
Etowah
Etowah Indian Mounds
Etowah Indian Mounds is a archaeological site in Bartow County, Georgia south of Cartersville, in the United States. Built and occupied in three phases, from 1000–1550 CE, the prehistoric site is located on the north shore of the Etowah River. Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site is a designated...
, but the most well known and most spectacular are the pair found in a log tomb in Mound C on January 19, 1954. Based on artifacts found with them the pair are believed to have been manufactured sometime between 1250 to 1375 CE, to have spent a time as ritual objects, and then to have been buried during the late Wilbanks Phase(1325-1375 CE). The statues were damaged when found, thought to have occurred during the hasty burial at a time of warfare or social upheaval. The pair are carved from white marble and painted with red, black and green black pigments. The male is 61 centimetres (24 in) high and the female 55.9 centimetres (22 in). The pair is on display at the Etowah site museum with a diorama depicting its hasty burial.
Significant outliers
Although the frequency of finds of this type drops dramatically outside of the geographical area for which they are named, significant examples have been found in other locations. Several have been found at Kincaid Focus sites along the lower Ohio RiverOhio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. One of the best examples is from the Angel Site
Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds State Historic Site is located on the Ohio River in Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties eight miles southeast of Evansville and just upriver of the confluence of the Green and Ohio rivers. Administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Indiana State Museums...
in southern Indiana where a fluorite
Fluorite
Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...
statue was excavated from Mound F in 1940. Dating of the mound suggests the statue was buried there between 1250 and 1400 CE. Another was discovered in the Tolu Site
Tolu Site
The Tolu Site is a prehistoric archeological site of the Mississippian culture near the unincorporated community of Tolu, Crittenden County, Kentucky, United States. It was built and occupied between 1200-1450 CE. No carbon dating has been performed at the site, but analysis of pottery styles...
in western Kentucky in 1954. The 25 centimetres (9.8 in) fluorite piece is one of the most intricate yet found, and is the only known Tennessee-Cumberland style statue with a beaded forelock. Other finds in the area have been made at the Obion Mounds
Obion Mounds
Obion Mounds , also known as the Work Farm Site, is an archeological site of the Mississippian culture located north of Paris, Henry County, Tennessee, on the north fork of the Obion River. The site is the largest Mississippian site in western Tennessee and was probably inhabited by 1000 to 1100...
and Ware Mounds sites. Outside this region, which all have direct contact via the riverways to the Tennessee-Cumberland region, only two significant finds have been made. A 12 inches (30.5 cm) male figure was found at the Schugtown Mounds Site in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
in 1933. Two statues were found at the Grand Village of the Natchez
Grand Village of the Natchez
Grand Village of the Natchez, also known as the Fatherland Site, is a site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south Natchez, Mississippi. The village complex was constructed starting about 1200 CE by members of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture....
, one in 1820 and the other in excavations in Mound C in 1930. These two pieces are significant because the ethnographic history of the area records the use of stone temple statuary by the Natchez people
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
, but these are the only known examples to have been found. And although there is no direct riverway connection to the Tennessee-Cumberland region as with most other finds, the area was connected to the Nashville Basin in ancient times by the Natchez Trace
Natchez Trace
The Natchez Trace, also known as the "Old Natchez Trace", is a historical path that extends roughly from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi rivers...
, a pre-European native trade route.
Alternate materials
This specific image tradition may have been much more common than is represented in the archaeological record. Many smaller ceramic and stone statues have been found at sites throughout the region. Two very rare large wooden versions have also been found and it is hypothesized that there may have been many more that have not survived burial in the acidic soils of North America. One 32.5 centimetres (12.8 in) tall example is from the Craig Mound at Spiro (which also produced several prime examples of the Cahokia flint clay style), and is now on display at the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. The other was found in a cave along the Cumberland River in Bell County, Kentucky
Bell County, Kentucky
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed August 1, 1867, from parts of Knox and Harlan Counties and augmented from Knox County in 1872. As of 2010 the population was 69,060. Its county seat is Pineville...
in 1869. The statue shows a figure very similar to the stone varieties, albeit with the lower body represented by a rectangular shape instead of legs, with the hands resting on it much like the stone versions. It was carved from yellow pine
Southern Yellow Pine
Southern Yellow Pine doesn't refer to any one species of tree, but rather a group of species which are classified as yellow pine , and are native to the Southern United States. They grow very well in the acidic red clay soil found in most of the region. The varieties include Loblolly, Longleaf,...
and is 61 centimetres (24 in) tall. A unique cache of ceramic figurines was discovered in 1971 at the Brick Church Mound and Village Site
Brick Church Mound and Village Site
The Brick Church Mound and Village Site is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located in Nashville in Davidson County, Tennessee. It was excavated in the late nineteenth century by Frederic Ward Putnam...
in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. The figurines were an adult male and adult female pair and two children of each sex, as well as pieces from additional figurines, totaling eleven figurines in all. They are now on display at the Frank H. McClung Museum
Frank H. McClung Museum
The Frank H. McClung Museum is a general museum located on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Built in 1963, exhibits focus on natural history, archeology, anthropology, decorative arts, and local history...
of the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
in Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
.
See also
- Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
- List of Mississippian sites
External links
- Riches of the Classic Mississippian Civilization-Birger Figurine and connection to Earth Fertility cult
- Archaeology & the Native Peoples of Tennessee:MISSISSIPIAN PERIOD - AD 1,000 to 1,600
- Kincaid Mounds-History
- 900-year-old figurine found during work on new river bridge
- Corn woman effigy pipe from Desha County, Arkansas
