Spiro Mounds
Encyclopedia
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. The prehistoric Spiro people thrived and created a strong religious center and political system. The site was eventually abandoned after several hundred years of occupation, although it is still unclear why. The Great Mortuary at the site was looted in the 1930s. Many of the looted artifacts were eventually tracked down, although many others were destroyed by the looters, who used dynamite
on the mound to gain access to its contents. The mounds site has been significant to North American archaeology since the 1930s, especially in the defining of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, the site is under the protection of the Oklahoma Historical Society
and open to the public.
, which arose and spread along the lower Mississippi River
and its tributaries between the 9th century and 16th century CE
. Cahokia
, a major chiefdom that built a six-mile-square city, arose east of St. Louis in present-day Illinois. Mississippian culture extended along the Ohio River and into the southeast, and the trading network ranged from the Great Lakes
to the Gulf Coast and into the southeastern mountains.
The Spiro area includes twelve mounds and 150 acres of land. As in other Mississippian-culture towns, the people built a number of large, complex earthworks
. These included earthen mound
s surrounding a large, planned and leveled central plaza
, where important religious rituals, the politically and culturally significant game of chunkey
, and other important community activities were carried out. The population lived in a village that bordered the plaza. In addition, archaeologists have found more than twenty other related village sites within five miles of the main town. Other village sites linked to Spiro through culture and trade have been found up to a 100 miles (160.9 km) away.
Spiro has been the site of human activity for at least 8000 years, but was became a major settlement from 800 to 1450 CE. The cultivation of maize
allowed accumulation of crop surpluses and the gathering of more dense populations. It was the headquarters town of a regional chiefdom
, whose powerful leaders directed the building of eleven platform mound
s and one burial mound in an 80 acre (0.3237488 km²) area on the south bank of the Arkansas River
. The heart of the site is a group of nine mounds surrounding an oval plaza. These mounds elevated the homes of important leaders or formed the foundations for religious structures that focused the attention of the community. Brown Mound, the largest platform mound, is located on the eastern side of the plaza. It had an earthen ramp that gave access to the summit from the north side. Here, atop Brown Mound and the other mounds, the town's inhabitants carried out complex rituals, centered especially on the deaths and burials of Spiro's powerful rulers.
Archaeologists have shown that Spiro had a large resident population until about 1250 CE. After that, most of the population moved to other towns nearby. Spiro continued to be used as a regional ceremonial center and burial ground until about 1450 CE. Its ceremonial and mortuary functions continued and seem to have grown after the main population moved away.
, and copper. The conditions in this hollow space were so favorable that objects made of perishable materials such as basketry
, woven fabric of vegetal and animal fibers, lace, fur, and feathers were preserved inside it. Such objects have traditionally been created by women in historic tribes. Also found inside were several examples of Mississippian stone statuary
made from Missouri flint clay and Mill Creek chert
biface
s, all thought to have originally come from the Cahokia
site in Illinois
.
The "Great Mortuary," as archaeologists called this hollow chamber, appears to have begun as a burial structure for Spiro's rulers. It was created as a circle of sacred cedar posts sunk in the ground and angled together at the top like a tipi
. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, and it never collapsed. Some scholars believe that minerals percolating through the mound hardened the chamber's log walls, making them resistant to decay and shielding the perishable artifacts inside from direct contact with the earth. No other Mississippian mound has been found with such a hollow space inside it and with such spectacular preservation of artifacts. Craig Mound has been called "an American King Tut's Tomb
."
Artifact hunters looted Craig Mound between 1933 and 1935, tunneling into the mound and breaking through the Great Mortuary's log wall. They found many human burials, together with their associated grave goods. The looters discarded the human remains and the fragile artifacts made of cloth, basketry, and feathers, traditionally made by women of the culture. Most of these rare and historically priceless objects disintegrated before scholars could reach the site. The looters dynamited the burial chamber when they were finished and quickly sold the commercially valuable artifacts, made of stone, pottery, and conch shell, to collectors in the United States and overseas. Most of these valuable objects are probably lost, but some have been recovered and documented by scholars.
Archaeologists from the University of Oklahoma excavated parts of the site between 1936 and 1941. The Oklahoma Historical Society established the "Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center opened in 1978.
Spiro Mounds people participated in what archaeologists call the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
(SECC), a network of ceremonial centers sharing the Mississippian culture and similar spiritual beliefs, cosmology, ritual practices
, and cult objects. The SECC was a vast trading network that brought exotic materials for making ritual objects from all across North America. These included colored flint
from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes
, conch (or lightning whelk
) shells from the Gulf Coast, and mica
from the Carolinas. Other Mississippian centers also traded in these prized resources, but Spiro was apparently the only one that acquired obsidian
from Mexico. Using these valued materials, Mississippian artists created exquisite works of art reflecting their cultural identity
and their complex spiritual beliefs.
When artifact hunters broke into Craig Mound, they found many beautifully crafted ritual artifacts, including stone effigy pipes
, polished stone maces, finely made flint knives and arrowpoints, polished chunkey
stones, copper effigy axes, repoussé
copper plates, mica effigy cut outs, elaborately engraved conch shell ornaments, pearl bead necklaces, stone earspools, wood carvings inlaid with shell, and specially made mortuary pottery. The conch
shells were fashioned into gorget
s and drinking cups engraved
with intricate designs representing costumed men, real and mythical animals, and geometric motifs, all of which had profound symbolic significance. Spiro Mounds' ceremonial objects are among the finest examples of pre-Columbian
art in North America.
Later, archaeologists identified artifacts at Spiro that appeared to have come from other powerful Mississippian towns far from present-day Oklahoma that also participated in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. These include Cahokia in Illinois, Etowah
and Ocmulgee
in Georgia
, and Moundville
in Alabama
. In economic terms, Spiro seems to have been a gateway town that funneled valuable resources from the Great Plains
and other western regions to the main Mississippian ceremonial centers farther east. In return, it received valuable goods back from those other centers. Spiro's location on the Arkansas River
, one of the Mississippi's
principal tributaries, gave it access to the Mississippian heartland hundreds of miles away.
Spiro and other Mississippian towns clearly looked to the great city of Cahokia
, in what is now southern Illinois, as a cultural model to be emulated. Located about 400 miles northeast of Spiro near the confluence of the Mississippi
and Missouri
Rivers, Cahokia was the largest and most impressive of all the Mississippian towns. Mineralogical
analysis of some of the most beautiful stone effigy pipes found at Spiro, including the famous "Grizzly Man" or "Kneeling Rattler" pipe, have shown they came from Cahokia, based on the material from which they were made. Cahokia also influenced the styles of the artifacts made at Spiro. Archaeologists have identified four distinct styles: the Braden Style characteristic of artifacts brought from Cahokia
; and the Craig A, B, and C styles, which are local derivatives of the Braden Style.
Antonio Waring and Preston Holder
first defined the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the 1940s, according to a series of distinct cultural traits. Since the late 1980s, archaeologists have adopted a new classification scheme based on their greatly improved understanding of Mississippian cultural development. The new scheme divides the SECC into five periods, or horizons, each defined by the appearance of new ritual objects and cultural motifs connected with new developments in politics and long-distance trade. Archaeologists have determined that Spiro was at the peak of its cultural importance in the 13th century and 14th century CE
Archaeologists have tried in recent years to interpret the meaning of the ritual artifacts and artistic imagery found at Spiro and other Mississippian sites. While reaching firm conclusions about the meanings of works of art made centuries ago by people of an extinct culture is difficult, archaeologists have made some compelling interpretations by comparing Mississippian artistic imagery with the myth
s, religious rituals, art, and iconography
of historic Native American
groups.
One of the most prominent symbols at Spiro is the "Birdman," a winged human figure representing a warrior or chunkey player. Chunkey
was a game played in the Mississippian period, but also in historic times by Cherokee
, Choctaw
, Chickasaw
, and other Southeastern tribes. Men played the game by rolling a stone disk for a considerable distance and then hurling spears as close as they could to the point where the stone stopped. The players placed heavy bets on the game — sometimes all their possessions — and some committed suicide
when they lost. The Birdman seems to be a supernatural being connected with the Upper World, the sky, and the male virtues of warfare and high-stakes competition. Archaeologists believe it may be related to Red Horn, a mythic culture hero
among the historic Winnebago
and other Siouan
tribes. Red Horn was often identified as a bright star in the sky.
Another Spiro icon
is the "Great Serpent," a being said to inhabit the Under World, the spiritual domain on the opposite side of the Mississippian universe. The Great Serpent is portrayed in Mississippian art with a serpent's body but also with wings or horns. Similar beings were the subject of myth in historic times among the Micmac, Huron, Kickapoo, Cherokee
, Muscogee Creek, Caddo
, and other Native American tribes. The spiritual beings of the Under World were thought to be in constant opposition to those in the Upper World. Men had to fear these beings, according to Native American mythology, but they could also gain great power from them in certain circumstances.
Mississippian art also features the cedar tree or striped-center-pole motifs which archaeologists have interpreted as the axis mundi, the point at which the three parts of the Mississippian spiritual universe come together — the Upper World, the Under World, and the Middle World where humans dwell. The cedar tree or the striped-center-pole is often found on engraved conch shell gorget
s, with human or animal figures positioned on either side. The concept of an axis mundi
— the point where different cosmic domains converge — is found in many cultures around the world. It is frequently represented as a tree (including the Tree of Life
), since trees pass through the surface of the earth to link the subsurface and the sky. The fact that the Great Mortuary at Spiro was built with cedar (or cedar elm) posts suggests that the burial chamber was meant to be a point of departure from one spiritual domain to another, as cedar was a sacred wood.
Archaeologists found that one of the conch shell cups from Craig Mound had a black residue in the bottom. This suggests that the Spiro people may have practiced a version of the Black Drink Ceremony
, a purification ritual performed in historic times by Southeastern tribes. Participants drank a tea made from the Yaupon Holly from conch shell cups. The Black Drink Ceremony was performed by men only, and the participants of the highest rank in society drank first, followed in turn by those of lesser rank. The men often drank until they vomited this powerful caffeine-rich brew for spiritual cleansing and renewal.
The slow decline of Spiro as a population and ceremonial center may have been due to the exhaustion of local resources, forcing its inhabitants to move elsewhere in search of better soil and timber. Spiro may also have lost its position as a trade center due to population movements or shifts in major trade routes to other locations. A possibility is that the people of Spiro came to depend less on agriculture for subsistence and more upon bison
for their livelihood. Bison populations on the southern Great Plains
are believed to have increased after 1250. The inhabitants of Spiro and other cultures in Oklahoma may have found bison-hunting more productive than agriculture and adapted their culture accordingly. A hunting society would have been more mobile, less hierarchical, and less likely to undertake major construction projects than the settled farmers of Spiro’s golden age.
Most authorities agree that the people of Spiro were Caddoan, but their descendants in historic times are difficult to identify. Archaeologists speculate that the Caddo Confederacy, Wichita, Kichai, or non-Caddoan Tunica
are their descendants. However, the cultures of all these peoples when encountered by the Spanish and French in the 16th and 17th centuries were substantially different from that of Spiro.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the US Federal government and archaeologists as the cultural descendents of the builders of Spiro Mounds.
Hernando de Soto led an expedition into what is now the Southeastern United States in the 1540s, he encountered a Native American group known as the Caddo
. Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai
, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages.
At the time of de Soto's visit, the Caddo controlled a large territory. It included what is now Eastern Oklahoma
, Western Arkansas
, Northeast Texas
, and Northwest Louisiana
. Archaeologists have thought that the Caddo and related peoples had been living in the region for centuries and that they had their own local variant of Mississippian culture.
Recent excavations have revealed within that region more cultural diversity than scholars had expected. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. Scholars still classify the Mississippian sites found in the entire Caddo area, including Spiro Mounds, as "Caddoan Mississipian
".
The Caddoan Mississippian region contained many towns in addition to Spiro, including the Battle Mound Site
. Scholars have determined that Battle Mound, lying along the Great Bend of the Red River
in Southwest Arkansas, was a larger site than Spiro. Little excavation has been done there to date. The Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They also lacked the wooden palisade
fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoans may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a somewhat lower level of social stratification
.
The Spiro people were probably speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages
. The Caddoan languages once had a broad geographic distribution, but many are now extinct. The modern languages in the Caddoan family include Caddo
and Pawnee. Both are now spoken mainly by elderly people.
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Caddoan Mississippian culture
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...
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,...
located in present-day 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...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The site is located seven miles north of Spiro
Spiro, Oklahoma
Spiro is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,227 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Spiro is located at ....
, and is the only prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public. The prehistoric Spiro people thrived and created a strong religious center and political system. The site was eventually abandoned after several hundred years of occupation, although it is still unclear why. The Great Mortuary at the site was looted in the 1930s. Many of the looted artifacts were eventually tracked down, although many others were destroyed by the looters, who used dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
on the mound to gain access to its contents. The mounds site has been significant to North American archaeology since the 1930s, especially in the defining of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
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...
. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, the site is under the protection of the Oklahoma Historical Society
Oklahoma Historical Society
The Oklahoma Historical Society is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma....
and open to the public.
Mounds and plaza area
Spiro is the western-most known outpost of the Mississippian cultureMississippian 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....
, which arose and spread along the lower 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...
and its tributaries between the 9th century and 16th century CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. 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...
, a major chiefdom that built a six-mile-square city, arose east of St. Louis in present-day Illinois. Mississippian culture extended along the Ohio River and into the southeast, and the trading network ranged from the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to the Gulf Coast and into the southeastern mountains.
The Spiro area includes twelve mounds and 150 acres of land. As in other Mississippian-culture towns, the people built a number of large, complex earthworks
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
. These included earthen mound
Mound
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...
s surrounding a large, planned and leveled central plaza
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
, where important religious rituals, the politically and culturally significant game of 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...
, and other important community activities were carried out. The population lived in a village that bordered the plaza. In addition, archaeologists have found more than twenty other related village sites within five miles of the main town. Other village sites linked to Spiro through culture and trade have been found up to a 100 miles (160.9 km) away.
Spiro has been the site of human activity for at least 8000 years, but was became a major settlement from 800 to 1450 CE. The cultivation 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...
allowed accumulation of crop surpluses and the gathering of more dense populations. It was the headquarters town of a regional chiefdom
Chiefdom
A chiefdom is a political economy that organizes regional populations through a hierarchy of the chief.In anthropological theory, one model of human social development rooted in ideas of cultural evolution describes a chiefdom as a form of social organization more complex than a tribe or a band...
, whose powerful leaders directed the building of eleven 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 and one burial mound in an 80 acre (0.3237488 km²) area on the south bank 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...
. The heart of the site is a group of nine mounds surrounding an oval plaza. These mounds elevated the homes of important leaders or formed the foundations for religious structures that focused the attention of the community. Brown Mound, the largest platform mound, is located on the eastern side of the plaza. It had an earthen ramp that gave access to the summit from the north side. Here, atop Brown Mound and the other mounds, the town's inhabitants carried out complex rituals, centered especially on the deaths and burials of Spiro's powerful rulers.
Archaeologists have shown that Spiro had a large resident population until about 1250 CE. After that, most of the population moved to other towns nearby. Spiro continued to be used as a regional ceremonial center and burial ground until about 1450 CE. Its ceremonial and mortuary functions continued and seem to have grown after the main population moved away.
The Great Mortuary
Craig Mound – also called "The Spiro Mound" – is the second-largest mound on the site and the only burial mound. It is located about 1500 feet (457.2 m) southeast of the plaza. A cavity created within the mound, about 10 feet (3 m) high and 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, allowed for almost perfect preservation of fragile artifacts made of wood, conch shellLightning whelk
The lightning whelk, scientific name Busycon contrarium, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell...
, and copper. The conditions in this hollow space were so favorable that objects made of perishable materials such as basketry
Basket weaving
Basket weaving is the process of weaving unspun vegetable fibres into a basket or other similar form. People and artists who weave baskets are called basketmakers and basket weavers.Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials•anything that will bend and form a shape...
, woven fabric of vegetal and animal fibers, lace, fur, and feathers were preserved inside it. Such objects have traditionally been created by women in historic tribes. Also found inside were several examples of Mississippian stone statuary
Mississippian stone statuary
The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...
made from Missouri flint clay and Mill Creek chert
Mill Creek chert
Mill Creek chert is a type of chert found in Southern Illinois and heavily exploited by members of the Mississippian culture . Artifacts made from this material are found in archeological sites throughout the American Midwest and Southeast. It is named for a village and stream near the quarrys,...
biface
Biface
In archaeology, a biface is a two-sided stone tool and is used as a multi purposes knife, manufactured through a process of lithic reduction, that displays flake scars on both sides. A profile view of the final product tends to exhibit a lenticular shape...
s, all thought to have originally come from 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 in Illinois
Illinois
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,...
.
The "Great Mortuary," as archaeologists called this hollow chamber, appears to have begun as a burial structure for Spiro's rulers. It was created as a circle of sacred cedar posts sunk in the ground and angled together at the top like a tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...
. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, and it never collapsed. Some scholars believe that minerals percolating through the mound hardened the chamber's log walls, making them resistant to decay and shielding the perishable artifacts inside from direct contact with the earth. No other Mississippian mound has been found with such a hollow space inside it and with such spectacular preservation of artifacts. Craig Mound has been called "an American King Tut's Tomb
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
."
Artifact hunters looted Craig Mound between 1933 and 1935, tunneling into the mound and breaking through the Great Mortuary's log wall. They found many human burials, together with their associated grave goods. The looters discarded the human remains and the fragile artifacts made of cloth, basketry, and feathers, traditionally made by women of the culture. Most of these rare and historically priceless objects disintegrated before scholars could reach the site. The looters dynamited the burial chamber when they were finished and quickly sold the commercially valuable artifacts, made of stone, pottery, and conch shell, to collectors in the United States and overseas. Most of these valuable objects are probably lost, but some have been recovered and documented by scholars.
Archaeologists from the University of Oklahoma excavated parts of the site between 1936 and 1941. The Oklahoma Historical Society established the "Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center opened in 1978.
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
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...
(SECC), a network of ceremonial centers sharing the Mississippian culture and similar spiritual beliefs, cosmology, ritual practices
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
, and cult objects. The SECC was a vast trading network that brought exotic materials for making ritual objects from all across North America. These included colored flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
, conch (or lightning whelk
Lightning whelk
The lightning whelk, scientific name Busycon contrarium, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell...
) shells from the Gulf Coast, and mica
Mica
The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...
from the Carolinas. Other Mississippian centers also traded in these prized resources, but Spiro was apparently the only one that acquired obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
from Mexico. Using these valued materials, Mississippian artists created exquisite works of art reflecting their cultural identity
Cultural identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
and their complex spiritual beliefs.
When artifact hunters broke into Craig Mound, they found many beautifully crafted ritual artifacts, including stone effigy pipes
Mississippian stone statuary
The Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...
, polished stone maces, finely made flint knives and arrowpoints, polished 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...
stones, copper effigy axes, repoussé
Repoussé and chasing
Repoussé or repoussage is a metalworking technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief. There are few techniques that offer such diversity of expression while still being relatively economical...
copper plates, mica effigy cut outs, elaborately engraved conch shell ornaments, pearl bead necklaces, stone earspools, wood carvings inlaid with shell, and specially made mortuary pottery. The conch
Lightning whelk
The lightning whelk, scientific name Busycon contrarium, is an edible species of very large predatory sea snail or whelk, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the busycon whelks. This species has a left-handed or sinistral shell...
shells were fashioned into gorget
Shell gorget
A shell gorget is a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated ....
s and drinking cups engraved
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
with intricate designs representing costumed men, real and mythical animals, and geometric motifs, all of which had profound symbolic significance. Spiro Mounds' ceremonial objects are among the finest examples of pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
art in North America.
Later, archaeologists identified artifacts at Spiro that appeared to have come from other powerful Mississippian towns far from present-day Oklahoma that also participated in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. These include Cahokia in Illinois, 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...
and Ocmulgee
Ocmulgee National Monument
Ocmulgee National Monument preserves traces of over ten millennia of Southeastern Native American culture, including major earthworks built more than 1,000 years ago by Mississippian culture peoples: the Great Temple and other ceremonial mounds, a burial mound, and defensive trenches...
in 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...
, and Moundville
Moundville Archaeological Site
Moundville Archaeological Site, also known as the Moundville Archaeological Park, is a Mississippian site on the Black Warrior River in Hale County, near the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama...
in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. In economic terms, Spiro seems to have been a gateway town that funneled valuable resources from the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
and other western regions to the main Mississippian ceremonial centers farther east. In return, it received valuable goods back from those other centers. Spiro's location on 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...
, one of the Mississippi's
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...
principal tributaries, gave it access to the Mississippian heartland hundreds of miles away.
Spiro and other Mississippian towns clearly looked to the great city of 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...
, in what is now southern Illinois, as a cultural model to be emulated. Located about 400 miles northeast of Spiro near the confluence of the Mississippi
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...
and Missouri
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
Rivers, Cahokia was the largest and most impressive of all the Mississippian towns. Mineralogical
Mineralogy
Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...
analysis of some of the most beautiful stone effigy pipes found at Spiro, including the famous "Grizzly Man" or "Kneeling Rattler" pipe, have shown they came from Cahokia, based on the material from which they were made. Cahokia also influenced the styles of the artifacts made at Spiro. Archaeologists have identified four distinct styles: the Braden Style characteristic of artifacts brought from 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...
; and the Craig A, B, and C styles, which are local derivatives of the Braden Style.
Antonio Waring and Preston Holder
Preston Holder
Preston Holder was an American archaeologist and photographer.In 1930 he entered the University of California, Berkeley, to study anthropology. While there he met photographer Willard Van Dyke after writing an assignment about his photographs...
first defined the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the 1940s, according to a series of distinct cultural traits. Since the late 1980s, archaeologists have adopted a new classification scheme based on their greatly improved understanding of Mississippian cultural development. The new scheme divides the SECC into five periods, or horizons, each defined by the appearance of new ritual objects and cultural motifs connected with new developments in politics and long-distance trade. Archaeologists have determined that Spiro was at the peak of its cultural importance in the 13th century and 14th century CE
Mississippian iconography
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
s, religious rituals, art, and iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
of historic 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...
groups.
One of the most prominent symbols at Spiro is the "Birdman," a winged human figure representing a warrior or chunkey player. 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...
was a game played in the Mississippian period, but also in historic times by Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Chickasaw
Chickasaw
The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...
, and other Southeastern tribes. Men played the game by rolling a stone disk for a considerable distance and then hurling spears as close as they could to the point where the stone stopped. The players placed heavy bets on the game — sometimes all their possessions — and some committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
when they lost. The Birdman seems to be a supernatural being connected with the Upper World, the sky, and the male virtues of warfare and high-stakes competition. Archaeologists believe it may be related to Red Horn, a mythic culture hero
Culture hero
A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group who changes the world through invention or discovery...
among the historic Winnebago
Ho-Chunk
The Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
and other Siouan
Siouan languages
The Western Siouan languages, also called Siouan proper or simply Siouan, are a Native American language family of North America, and the second largest indigenous language family in North America, after Algonquian...
tribes. Red Horn was often identified as a bright star in the sky.
Another Spiro icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
is the "Great Serpent," a being said to inhabit the Under World, the spiritual domain on the opposite side of the Mississippian universe. The Great Serpent is portrayed in Mississippian art with a serpent's body but also with wings or horns. Similar beings were the subject of myth in historic times among the Micmac, Huron, Kickapoo, Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
, Muscogee Creek, Caddo
Caddo
The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
, and other Native American tribes. The spiritual beings of the Under World were thought to be in constant opposition to those in the Upper World. Men had to fear these beings, according to Native American mythology, but they could also gain great power from them in certain circumstances.
Mississippian art also features the cedar tree or striped-center-pole motifs which archaeologists have interpreted as the axis mundi, the point at which the three parts of the Mississippian spiritual universe come together — the Upper World, the Under World, and the Middle World where humans dwell. The cedar tree or the striped-center-pole is often found on engraved conch shell gorget
Shell gorget
A shell gorget is a Native American art form of polished, carved shell pendants worn around the neck. The gorgets are frequently engraved, and are sometimes highlighted with pigments, or fenestrated ....
s, with human or animal figures positioned on either side. The concept of an axis mundi
Axis mundi
The axis mundi , in religion or mythology, is the world center and/or the connection between heaven and Earth. As the celestial pole and geographic pole, it expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four compass directions meet...
— the point where different cosmic domains converge — is found in many cultures around the world. It is frequently represented as a tree (including the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
), since trees pass through the surface of the earth to link the subsurface and the sky. The fact that the Great Mortuary at Spiro was built with cedar (or cedar elm) posts suggests that the burial chamber was meant to be a point of departure from one spiritual domain to another, as cedar was a sacred wood.
Archaeologists found that one of the conch shell cups from Craig Mound had a black residue in the bottom. This suggests that the Spiro people may have practiced a version of the Black Drink Ceremony
Black drink
Black drink was the name given by colonists to a ritual beverage called Asi, brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern United States...
, a purification ritual performed in historic times by Southeastern tribes. Participants drank a tea made from the Yaupon Holly from conch shell cups. The Black Drink Ceremony was performed by men only, and the participants of the highest rank in society drank first, followed in turn by those of lesser rank. The men often drank until they vomited this powerful caffeine-rich brew for spiritual cleansing and renewal.
Decline
Spiro’s decline as a population center began about 1250, although it continued to be a ceremonial and mortuary center until 1450. The mound area was abandoned about 1450, although nearby communities persisted until 1600. The cultures following in the wake of Spiro, however, were less complex and hierarchical.The slow decline of Spiro as a population and ceremonial center may have been due to the exhaustion of local resources, forcing its inhabitants to move elsewhere in search of better soil and timber. Spiro may also have lost its position as a trade center due to population movements or shifts in major trade routes to other locations. A possibility is that the people of Spiro came to depend less on agriculture for subsistence and more upon bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
for their livelihood. Bison populations on the southern Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
are believed to have increased after 1250. The inhabitants of Spiro and other cultures in Oklahoma may have found bison-hunting more productive than agriculture and adapted their culture accordingly. A hunting society would have been more mobile, less hierarchical, and less likely to undertake major construction projects than the settled farmers of Spiro’s golden age.
Most authorities agree that the people of Spiro were Caddoan, but their descendants in historic times are difficult to identify. Archaeologists speculate that the Caddo Confederacy, Wichita, Kichai, or non-Caddoan Tunica
Tunica people
The Tunica people were a group of linguistically and culturally related Native American tribes in the Mississippi River Valley, which include the Tunica ; the Yazoo; the Koroa ; and possibly the Tioux...
are their descendants. However, the cultures of all these peoples when encountered by the Spanish and French in the 16th and 17th centuries were substantially different from that of Spiro.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to...
, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the US Federal government and archaeologists as the cultural descendents of the builders of Spiro Mounds.
Caddoan Mississippians
When the Spanish conquistadorConquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
Hernando de Soto led an expedition into what is now the Southeastern United States in the 1540s, he encountered a Native American group known as the Caddo
Caddo
The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
. Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai
Hasinai
The Hasinai Confederacy was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans located between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas...
, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages.
At the time of de Soto's visit, the Caddo controlled a large territory. It included what is now 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...
, Western 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...
, Northeast Texas
East Texas
East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
, and Northwest 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...
. Archaeologists have thought that the Caddo and related peoples had been living in the region for centuries and that they had their own local variant of Mississippian culture.
Recent excavations have revealed within that region more cultural diversity than scholars had expected. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. Scholars still classify the Mississippian sites found in the entire Caddo area, including Spiro Mounds, as "Caddoan Mississipian
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...
".
The Caddoan Mississippian region contained many towns in addition to Spiro, including the Battle Mound Site
Battle Mound Site
The Battle Mound Site is an archaeological site in Lafayette County, Arkansas in the Great Bend region of the Red River basin. The majority of the mound was built from 1200-1400 CE. The site has the largest mound of the Caddoan Mississippian culture , and measures approximately 670 feet in length,...
. Scholars have determined that Battle Mound, lying along the Great Bend of the Red River
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
in Southwest Arkansas, was a larger site than Spiro. Little excavation has been done there to date. The Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They also lacked the wooden palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoans may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a somewhat lower level of social stratification
Social stratification
In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...
.
The Spiro people were probably speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages
Caddoan languages
The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken by Native Americans in parts of the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota south to Oklahoma.-Family division:...
. The Caddoan languages once had a broad geographic distribution, but many are now extinct. The modern languages in the Caddoan family include Caddo
Caddo
The Caddo Nation is a confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes, who traditionally inhabited much of what is now East Texas, northern Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. Today the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a cohesive tribe with its capital at Binger, Oklahoma...
and Pawnee. Both are now spoken mainly by elderly people.
See also
- Southeastern Ceremonial ComplexSoutheastern Ceremonial ComplexThe 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...
- Mississippian stone statuaryMississippian stone statuaryThe Mississippian stone statuary are artifacts of polished stone in the shape of human figurines made by members of the Mississippian culture and found in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast...
- List of Mississippian sites
Further reading
- Brown, James Allison & Alice Brues. The Spiro Ceremonial Center: The Archaeology of Arkansas Valley Caddoan Culture in Eastern Oklahoma, Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1996.
- Hamilton, Henry, Jean Tyree Hamilton, & Eleanor Chapman. Spiro Mound Copper, Columbia, MO: Missouri Archaeological Society, 1974.
- Hudson, Charles M. (ed.). Black Drink: A Native American Tea, Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004.
- La Vere, David. Looting Spiro Mounds: An American King Tut's Tomb, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
- Merriam, Larry & Christopher Meriam. The Spiro Mound, A Photo Essay: Photographs from the Collection of Dr. Robert E. Bell, Oklahoma City: Merriam Station Books, 2004.
- Pauketat, Timothy R.Timothy PauketatDr. Timothy R. Pauketat is an “American Bottom” Mississippian-era archaeologist and professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He is best known for his investigations at and involving the World Heritage site of Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis, MO.-Academic...
The Ascent of Chiefs: Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in Native North America, Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama, 1994. - Pauketat, Timothy R. Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians, London: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Pauketat, Timothy R. and Thomas E. Emerson (eds.). Cahokia: Domination and Ideology in the Mississippian World, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 1997.
- Phillips, Philip & James Allison Brown. Pre-Columbian Shell Engravings from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma, Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press, 1984.
- Reilly, F. Kent and James F. Garber (eds.). Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2007.
- Townsend, Richard F. Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South, Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago, 2004.
External links
- Spiro Mounds Archaeological Park
- Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center on TravelOK.com Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma
- Arkansas Antiquities
- Spiro and the Arkansas Basin
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture
- Oklahoma Archeological Survey
- Southernhistory.com
- Spiromound.com
- Destruction of Craig Mound
- Spiro Mounds Bibliography
- Caddoan Mississippian Culture
- “Towns and Temples of the Mississippian Culture (animation video)
- Spiro Mounds on Oklahoma Historical Society