Topic ID #11260 - posted 5/6/2011 5:26 PM
StarRider
Recently toured the mound complex, located just outside Greenville, MS. Winterville has been the focus of several seasons of investigation, led by Ed Jackson of USM, and sponsored by the National Geographic Society. They have had some good findings regarding the chronology of construction of the mounds, and dating of the occupation there. The site is described as having 23 mounds in early accounts, of these 11 remain. A huge amount of earth was moved to construct the earthworks, more than meets the eye-the mounds sit atop an apron of soil that in some places is a couple of feet deep, covering dozens of acres. While most of the site is contained in the park, a significant portion remains on private property, and is protected by the landowners.
Some have contended that the people that gave DeSoto's expedition so much grief in the area were the occupiers of the village at Winterville, but it appears from these latest excavations that the complex was most likely abandoned at that time. The work revealed evidence of ritual feasting at the mounds, with feasts consisting of one or just a couple of food sources for each feast; i.e. one pit excavated contained the remains of over 1000 squirrels, apparently consumed at one time. Another feast consisted of over a dozen deer. At least one feasting event took place probably after the site had been abandoned.
Mound "A". This mound is approximately 55 feet tall at present.
View across the Delta from atop the mound.
Mound "B". This mound is outside of the park.
Some of the smaller mounds. The alignment of them can be seen in the photo.
Some pieces contained in the museum. Many of these pieces weren't found at this site, nice stuff anyway.
Winterville Mounds
StarRider
Recently toured the mound complex, located just outside Greenville, MS. Winterville has been the focus of several seasons of investigation, led by Ed Jackson of USM, and sponsored by the National Geographic Society. They have had some good findings regarding the chronology of construction of the mounds, and dating of the occupation there. The site is described as having 23 mounds in early accounts, of these 11 remain. A huge amount of earth was moved to construct the earthworks, more than meets the eye-the mounds sit atop an apron of soil that in some places is a couple of feet deep, covering dozens of acres. While most of the site is contained in the park, a significant portion remains on private property, and is protected by the landowners.
Some have contended that the people that gave DeSoto's expedition so much grief in the area were the occupiers of the village at Winterville, but it appears from these latest excavations that the complex was most likely abandoned at that time. The work revealed evidence of ritual feasting at the mounds, with feasts consisting of one or just a couple of food sources for each feast; i.e. one pit excavated contained the remains of over 1000 squirrels, apparently consumed at one time. Another feast consisted of over a dozen deer. At least one feasting event took place probably after the site had been abandoned.
Mound "A". This mound is approximately 55 feet tall at present.
View across the Delta from atop the mound.
Mound "B". This mound is outside of the park.
Some of the smaller mounds. The alignment of them can be seen in the photo.
Some pieces contained in the museum. Many of these pieces weren't found at this site, nice stuff anyway.
Post ID#18693 - replied 5/8/2011 8:26 PM
prisoner
That looks like a nice site and perhaps a decent museum as well. I got to go to Watson Brake, Moundville, and Poverty Point earlier this spring and had a great time. Watson Brake blew my mind, I never knew there were Middle Archaic mounds (some of them quite big) in Louisiana. Is that a couple of turkeys in the fourth photo down?
Post ID#18694 - replied 5/9/2011 5:26 AM
StarRider
I don't think they were turkeys, think they were stumps. If they were I completely failed to notice them ha.
There are several Middle Archaic mound sites in LA, and some in MS also. Nobody really knows what was going on at these sites, but the earthworks and the geometric objects would seem to imply that what was going on at Poverty Point didn't just appear out of nowhere. Lower Jackson Mound, which you probably passed on the way into the Poverty Point site (out in an agricultural field, near the turn into the park) was begun in the Middle Archaic also. It is aligned with some of the earthworks at PP, so either PP might have been constructed with it in mind, or perhaps even begun much earlier than thought, though no evidence has been found of this.
I posted photos of Watson Brake on a thread here a while back, amazing place.
There are several Middle Archaic mound sites in LA, and some in MS also. Nobody really knows what was going on at these sites, but the earthworks and the geometric objects would seem to imply that what was going on at Poverty Point didn't just appear out of nowhere. Lower Jackson Mound, which you probably passed on the way into the Poverty Point site (out in an agricultural field, near the turn into the park) was begun in the Middle Archaic also. It is aligned with some of the earthworks at PP, so either PP might have been constructed with it in mind, or perhaps even begun much earlier than thought, though no evidence has been found of this.
I posted photos of Watson Brake on a thread here a while back, amazing place.
Post ID#18696 - replied 5/9/2011 6:47 AM
StarRider
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