The Kincaid Site in Massac Co., Illinois, showing platform mounds. Illustration by artist Herb Roe

A platform mound is any earthwork or mound intended to support a structure or activity.

Eastern North America[link]

A diagram showing the various components of Eastern North American indigenous ceremonial substructure mounds

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. Many different archaeological cultures (Poverty Point culture, Troyville culture, Coles Creek culture, Plaquemine culture and Mississippian culture) of North Americas Eastern Woodlands are specifically well known for using platform mounds as a central aspect of their overarching religious practices and beliefs. These platform mounds are usually four-sided truncated pyramids, steeply sided, with steps built of wooden logs ascending one side of the earthworks. When European first arrived in North America, the peoples of the Mississippian culture were still using and building platform mounds. Documented uses for Mississippian platform mounds include semi-public chief's house platforms, public temple platforms, mortuary platforms, charnel house platforms, earth lodge/town house platforms, residence platforms, square ground and rotunda platforms, and dance platforms.^[1]

Many of the mounds underwent multiple episodes of mound construction, with the mound becoming larger with each event. The site of a mound was usually a site with special significance, either a pre-existing mortuary site or civic structure. This site was then covered with a layer of basket-transported soil and clay known as mound fill and a new structure constructed on its summit. At periodic intervals averaged about twenty years these structures would be removed, possibly ritually destroyed as part of renewal ceremonies,^[2] and a new layer of fill added, along with a new structure on the now higher summit. Sometimes the surface of the mounds would get a several inches thick coat of brightly colored clay.^[2][3] These layers also incorporated layers of different kinds of clay, soil and sod, an elaborate engineering technique to forestall slumping of the mounds and to ensure their steep sides did not collapse. This pattern could be repeated many times during the life of a site.^[4] The large amounts of fill needed for the mounds left large holes in the landscape now known by archaeologists as "borrow pits". These pits were sometimes left to fill with water and stocked with fish.^[5]

Some mounds were developed with separate levels (or terraces) and aprons, such as Emerald Mound, which is one large terrace with two smaller mounds on its summit; or Monks Mound, which has four separate levels and stands close to 100 feet (30 m) in height. Monks Mound had at least ten separate periods of mound construction over a 200-year period. Some of the terraces and aprons on the mound seem to have been added to stop slumping of the enormous mound.^[6] Although the mounds were primarily meant as substructure mounds for buildings or activities, sometimes burials did occur. Intrusive burials occurred when a grave was dug into a mound and the body or a bundle of defleshed, disarticulated bones was deposited into it.

Mound C at Etowah Mounds has been found to have more than 100 intrusive burials into the final layer of the mound, with many grave goods such as Mississippian copper plates (Etowah plates), monolithic stone axes, ceremonial pottery and carved whelk shell gorgets. Also interred in this mound was a paired set of white marble Mississippian stone statues.^[3]

Interpretations[link]

A long-standing interpretation of Mississippian mounds comes from Vernon James Knight, who stated that the Mississippian platform mounds were one of the three "sacra", or objects of sacred display, of the Mississippian religion - also see Earth/fertility cult and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. His logic is based on analogy to ethnographic and historic data on related Native American tribal groups in the Southeastern United States.

Knight suggests a microcosmic ritual organization based around a "native earth" autochthony, agriculture, fertility, and purification scheme, in which mounds and the site layout replicate cosmology. Mound rebuilding episodes are construed as rituals of burial and renewal, while the four-sided construction acts to replicate the flat earth and the four quarters of the earth.^[7][8]

Platform mounds - other cultures[link]

The use of platform mounds is documented elsewhere in the world, including:

• in Mesoamerica, the Olmec and other groups - see Mesoamerican pyramids
• the Norte Chico
• the Hohokam
• in periods of Ancient China - see Chinese pyramids

See also[link]

• Artificial dwelling hill
• Earthwork (archaeology)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Platform mounds in the Arizona Desert
• Corin Pursell. "Geographic distribution and symbolism of colored mound architecture in the Mississippian Southeast". http://siu.academia.edu/CorinPursell/Papers/502312/Geographic_distribution_and_symbolism_of_colored_mound_architecture_in_the_Mississippian_Southeast. 
• Payne, Claudine (1994). Mississippian capitals : an archaeological investigation of Precolumbian political structure (Doctoral thesis). University of Florida. http://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/09/73/79/00001/mississippiancap00paynrich.pdf. 
• John H. Blitz; Patrick Livingood. "Sociopolitical implications of Mississippian mound volume". American Antiquity. http://anthropology.ua.edu/reprints/13.pdf. 
• Steven Porth. Raised ground, Razed structure :Ceramic chronology, occupation and chiefly authority on Mound P at Moundville (Thesis). pp. 11-12. http://rla.unc.edu/Mdvlfiles/ma/Porth%202011%20MA.pdf. 
• Kitt Chappell, Sally A. (2002). Cahokia : Mirror of the Cosmos. pp. 51-65. ISBN 0-226-10136-3. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/1492/cahokia_excerpt.cfm. 

v t e    Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures Late Woodland period · List of archaeological periods (North America) Coles Creek sites Aden Site · Balmoral Mounds · Churupa Plantation Mound · Coles Creek Site · Crippen Point site · Cypress Grove Mound · DePrato Mounds · Greenhouse Site · Filhiol Mound Site · Fisher Site · Flowery Mound · Frogmore Mound Site · Ghost Site Mounds · Greenhouse Site · Insley Mounds · Kings Crossing Site · Lamarque Landing Mound · Marsden Mounds · Mazique Archeological Site · Mott Mounds · Mound Plantation · Peck Mounds · Raffman Site · Scott Place Mounds · Shackleford Church Mounds · Sundown Mounds · Transylvania Mounds · Troyville Earthworks · Venable Mound · Wade Landing Mound · Coastal Coles Creek sites Atchafalaya Basin Mounds (16SMY10) · Bayou Black Mound (16TR78) · Bayou Cypremont (16SMY7) · Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds · Bayou L’Ours Site · Bayou Portage Mounds · Bayou Sorrel Mounds (16IV4) · Clovelly Site (16LF64) · Cypress Point Site (16VM112) · Eagle Point Site (16IB123) · Gibson Mounds (16TR5) · Greenwood Cemetery Site (16SMY10) · Kleinpeter Mounds · Little Cheniere Site (16CM22) · Little Pecan Island Site (16CM43) · Jerry Haas Site (16SJ51) · Machias Lake (16SB2) · Morgan Mounds (16VM9) · Pecan Mounds (16SM37) · Pennison Mounds (16AS16) · Portage Mounds (16SM5) · Richeau Field Site (16TR82) · Schwing Place Mound (16IV13) · Sims Site · Southwest of Cut Off Lagoon (16SB50) · St. Gabriel Mounds (16IV128) · Temple Mounds Site (16LF4) · Plum Bayou sites Chandler Landing Site · Coy Site (3LN20) · Dogtown Site · Hayes Site (35CS196) · Maberry Site · Roland Site (3AR30) · Toltec Mounds · Related topics  · Eastern Agricultural Complex · Fourche Maline culture · Mississippian culture · Natchez · Plaquemine culture · Platform mound · Taensa · Troyville culture ·

v t e    Mississippian and related cultures List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley Middle Mississippian American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Site Cahokia Cloverdale archaeological site Dickson Mounds Emmons Cemetery Site John Roy Site Kuhn Station Site Mitchell Site Monks Mound Orendorf Site Sugarloaf Mound Steed-Kisker culture Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Site Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Rowlandton Mound Site Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Site Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Site Bone Bank Site Caborn-Welborn culture Hovey Lake Murphy Archaeological Site Prather Site Slack Farm Tolu Site Welborn Village Archeological Site Tennessee and Cumberland Beasley Mounds Site Brentwood Library Site Brick Church Mound and Village Site Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Archaeological Site Mound Bottom Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Archaeological Site Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Site Campbell Site Chucalissa Eaker Site Menard-Hodges Site Murphy Mound Archeological Site Parkin Site Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase South Appalachian Mississippian Avery Site · Beaverdam Creek Site · Bell Field Mound Site · Bessemer Site · Bussell Island  · Chauga Mound · Chiaha · Chota · Citico · Coosa chiefdom · Dallas Phase · Dyar site · Etowah Mounds · Garden Creek site · Hoojah Branch Site · Irene Mound Site · Jere Shine Site · Joara · Joe Bell Site · King Archaeological Site · Lamar Mounds and Village Site · Lamar Phase · Liddell Archeological Site · Little Egypt · Mabila · Mandeville Site · McMahan Mound Site · Moccasin Bend · Moundville Site · Mouse Creek Phase · Mulberry Site · Muscogee (Creek) · Nacoochee Mound · Nikwasi · Ocmulgee · Pisgah Phase · Punk Rock Shelter · Rembert Mounds · Roods Landing · Rucker's Bottom Site · Savannah Archaeological Site · Shiloh Indian Mounds Site · Sixtoe Mound · Summerour Mound Site · Toqua Site · Town Creek Indian Mound · Waddells Mill Pond Site · Wilbanks Site Fort Walton culture Anhaica · Apalachee · Apalachee Province · Cayson Mound and Village Site · Corbin-Tucker Site 8CA142 · Fort Walton Mound · Lake Jackson Mounds · Leon-Jefferson Culture · Letchworth Mounds · Velda Mound · Yon Mound and Village Site Pensacola culture Bottle Creek Indian Mounds · Dauphin Island · Fort Walton Mound · Hickory Ridge Cemetery Site · Naval Live Oaks Cemetery · Pensacola people Plaquemine Mississippian Anna Site · Emerald Mound Site · Fitzhugh Mounds · Flowery Mound · Foster's Mound · Ghost Site Mounds · Grand Village of the Natchez · Holly Bluff Site · Jaketown Site · Jordan Mounds · Julice Mound · Mangum Mound Site · Mazique Archeological Site · Medora Site · Mott Mounds · Natchez · Pocahontas Mounds · Routh Mounds · Scott Place Mounds · Sims Site · Taensa · Transylvania Mounds · Venable Mound · Winterville Site · Caddoan Mississippian Battle Mound Site · Belcher Mound Site · Bluffton Mound · Caddo · Caddoan Mounds · Gahagan Mounds · Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village · Spiro Mounds Upper Mississippian cultures Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Site Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Site Dodge Site Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village Culture Artwork Emmons mask Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian copper plates (Rogan plates, Spiro plates, Wulfing cache) Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian stone statuary Shell gorget Languages Caddoan languages Central Algonquian languages Cherokee language Mobilian Jargon Muskogean languages Natchez language Siouan languages Timucua language Tunica language Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Calumet (pipe) Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther Related topics  · Chevron bead · Clarksdale bell · Maize · Mill Creek chert · de Soto Expedition ·

v t e    Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

Mounds State Park
Circular "Great Mound" at Mounds State Park
Mounds State Park Location within Florida today
Coordinates	40°8′0″N 85°40′53″W / 40.133333°N 85.68139°W / 40.133333; -85.68139
Location
Country	USA
Region	Madison County, Indiana
Nearest town	Anderson, Indiana
History
Culture	Adena culture, Hopewell tradition
First occupied	160 BCE
Excavation and maintenance
Responsible body	Indiana DNR
Architecture
Architectural styles	earthworks
Number of monuments	10
Mounds State Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area:	251.8 acres (100 ha)
Governing body:	Indiana DNR
NRHP Reference#:	73000022[1]
Added to NRHP:	January 18, 1973

Mounds State Park is a state park in Anderson, Indiana, featuring Native American heritage, and 10 ceremonial mounds built by the prehistoric Adena culture indigenous peoples of eastern North America, and also used centuries by later Hopewell culture inhabitants.

Mounds[link]

The largest earthwork, the "Great Mound", is believed to have been constructed around 160 BCE. The Great Mound is a circular earth enclosure with an internal ditch and south to southwest entrance. The earthworks measure 394 feet (120 m) across from bank to bank. The 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) embankment is 63 feet (19 m) wide at its base, and the ditch is 10.5 feet (3.2 m) deep and 60 feet (18 m) across at its top. The central platform is 138 feet (42 m) across and was occupied by a 4-foot-high (1.2 m) central mound 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter. One particular mound at the Anderson Site has a sequence of clay platforms, each deliberately covered by a layer of ash. ^[2]

Popular culture[link]

In 1900, a series of strange misshapen skeletons were unearthed from similar mounds in nearby Alexandria, Indiana. This brought thousands of tourists from around the Mid-West. In 1910, several locals admitted to stealing chimpanzee skeletons from the nearby Muncie Zoo's monkey house. In 1915 the skeletons were sold to a local museum which burned down in 1919.^[3]

Canoeing is also available in Mounds State Park, on the White River.

See also[link]

• Adena culture
• Hopewell tradition
• List of Hopewell sites
• List of burial mounds in the United States

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Mounds State Park website
• Friends of Mounds State Park website
• Central States Archaeological Societies: Mounds State Park
• National Register of Historic Places for Madison County, Indiana

v t e Adena Culture List of Adena culture sites Woodland period Mound builder (people) List of archaeological periods (North America) Ohio Sites Adena Mound Austin Brown Mound Arledge Mounds I and II Beam Farm Clemmons Mound Conrad Mound Archeological Site Coon Hunters Mound George Deffenbaugh Mound Enon Mound Fortner Mounds Great Mound Highbanks Metropolitan Park Mounds I and II Hillside Haven Mound Hodgen's Cemetery Mound Horn Mound Hurley Mound Jackson Mound Karshner Mound Kinzer Mound Luthor List Mound Miamisburg Mound Odd Fellows' Cemetery Mound Old Maid's Orchard Mound Orators Mound Carl Potter Mound Reeves Mound D.S. Rose Mound Ross Trails Adena Circle Short Woods Park Mound Snead Mound Spruce Run Earthworks David Stitt Mound Story Mound (Cincinnati) Story Mound (Chillicothe) Wolf Plains Group Zaleski Mound Group Kentucky Sites Biggs Site Gaitskill Mound Mount Horeb Earthworks Complex Round Hill Mound West Virginia Sites Criel Mound Grave Creek Mound Indiana Sites Mounds State Park Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley burial mound Eastern Agricultural Complex Hopewell tradition

v t e Hopewellian peoples Woodland period List of Hopewell sites Mound builder (people) List of archaeological periods (North America) Ohio Hopewell Beam Farm Benham Mound Cary Village Site Cedar-Bank Works Dunns Pond Mound Ellis Mounds Ety Enclosure Ety Habitation Site Fort Ancient Fortified Hill Works Great Hopewell Road High Banks Works Hopeton Earthworks Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Indian Mound Cemetery Keiter Mound Marietta Earthworks Moorehead Circle Mound of Pipes Nettle Lake Mound Group Newark Earthworks Oak Mounds Perin Village Site Portsmouth Earthworks Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District Shawnee Lookout Tremper Mound and Works Williamson Mound Archeological District Crab Orchard culture Mann Site O'byams Fort site Rockwell Mound Goodall Focus Goodall Site Norton Mound Group Havana Hopewell culture Albany Mounds State Historic Site Dickson Mounds Mound House site Naples Mound 8 Rockwell Mound Sinnissippi Mounds Toolesboro Mound Group Kansas City Hopewell Cloverdale archaeological site Renner Village Archeological Site Trowbridge Archeological Site Marksville culture Crooks Mound Grand Gulf Mound Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site Mott Archaeological Preserve Miller culture Bynum Mound and Village Site Ingomar Mound Miller Site Pharr Mounds Pinson Mounds Point Peninsula Complex Lewiston Mound Serpent Mounds Park LeVescounte Mounds Swift Creek culture Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture Crystal River Archaeological State Park Etowah Indian Mounds Leake Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park Miner's Creek site Pierce Site Swift Creek mound site Third Gulf Breeze Yearwood site Yent Mound Other Hopewellian peoples Armstrong culture Copena culture Fourche Maline culture Laurel Complex Saugeen Complex Old Stone Fort (Tennessee) Exotic trade items Copper Galena Mica Fresh water pearls Obsidian Pipestone Sea shells Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Black drink burial mound Calumet (pipe) Effigy mound Hopewell pottery Horned Serpent Eastern Agricultural Complex Underwater panther

v t e    Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

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Emerald Mound Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
The western end of Emerald Mound, showing the larger of the two secondary mounds.
Nearest city:	Stanton, Mississippi
Coordinates:	31°38′9.98″N 91°14′50.02″W / 31.6361056°N 91.2472278°W / 31.6361056; -91.2472278Coordinates: 31°38′9.98″N 91°14′50.02″W / 31.6361056°N 91.2472278°W / 31.6361056; -91.2472278
Governing body:	National Park Service
NRHP Reference#:	88002618
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	November 18, 1988[1]
Designated NHL:	December 29, 1989[2]

The Emerald Mound Site (22 AD 504), also known as the Selzertown site, is a Plaquemine culture Mississippian period archaeological site located on the Natchez Trace Parkway near Stanton, Mississippi, United States. The site dates from the period between 1200 and 1730 CE. It is the type site for the Emerald Phase (1500 to 1680 CE) of the Natchez Bluffs Plaquemine culture chronology^[3] and was still in use by the later historic Natchez people for their main ceremonial center. The platform mound is the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the country, after Monk's Mound at Cahokia, Illinois.^[1]

The mound covers eight acres, measuring 770 feet (230 m) by 435 feet (133 m) at the base and is 35 feet (11 m) in height.^[4] Emerald Mound has a flat top with two smaller secondary mounds at each end. It was constructed around a natural hill. Travelers in the early 19th century noted a number of adjoining mounds and an encircling ditch that are no longer present.This site once had six other secondary mounds which were lost due to the plowing of the surface of the mound.^[5] Emerald Mound was stabilized by the National Park Service in 1955.^[1] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.^[2]

Site Prehistory[link]

Emerald Mound was constructed during 1250 and 1600 CE, and is the type site for the Emerald Phase (1500 - 1680) of the Plaquemine culture Natchez Bluffs chronology. It was used as a ceremonial center for a population who resided in outlying villages and hamlets, but takes its name from the historic Emerald Plantation that surrounded the mound in the 19th century. The large mound began as a natural hill, which was built up by workers' depositing earth along the sides, reshaping it and creating an elongated, pentagonal-shaped, artificial plateau. Two smaller mounds sit on either end of the summit of the primary mound. The larger of the two sits at the western end, and measures 190 feet (58 m) by 160 feet (49 m) at the base and is 30 feet (9.1 m) in height.^[4] The smaller mounds on the summit are believed to be platforms for homes of chiefs and other key leaders.^[6]

Emerald Mound as seen from the air

The summit of the mound is roughly 65 feet (20 m) above the surrounding landscape. Early drawings suggest that six smaller mounds, three on either side, flanked the edges of the primary mound^[7] between the two secondary mounds, but were flattened by erosion and plowing in the 19th century. Originally a constructed ditch, part of the earthworks, encircled the entire complex.^[6]

Archaeologists believe that the Plaquemine culture builders were the ancestors of the historic Natchez, who inhabited the area and used Emerald Mound site as their main ceremonial center at time of first European contact.^[3] At its height, Emerald would have been the center of religious and civic rituals for the area, with the ceremonial center located on top of Emerald Mound, an unusual feature rarely seen in other mound centers. The secondary mounds were the bases of a temple and residence of a priest or ruler and other elites. By the late 1730s, the Natchez had abandoned Emerald,^[3] possibly because of social upheaval that followed extensive fatalities from European diseases introduced to the American Southeast by the de Soto expedition in the 1540s.^[8] By the time of the La Salle Expedition of 1682, the tribe's main ceremonial center was located at the Grand Village of the Natchez or Fatherland site, 12 miles (19 km) to the southwest. Emerald was abandoned during the French colonial period, and the hereditary chief lived at the Grand Village.^[9] The people of the tribe lived in a widely dispersed settlement pattern, mainly in small hamlets and on family farms. They periodically assembled at the ceremonial centers for religious and social events. This settlement appears to have been one of the last active expressions of the large platform mound-building culture along the Mississippi River.^[8]

Archaeological excavations[link]

Locations of the 8 secondary mounds

The site, originally known as the Selzertown site, derives its present name from the nearby antebellum-era Emerald Plantation. The first excavations took place in 1838, and were recorded by John C. Van Tramp in his book Prairie and Rocky Mountain Adventures, or, Life In The West. Measurements were taken, pottery and skeletons exhumed, and the investigators noted the eight secondary mounds and a large encircling trench. Over the intervening years, periodic excavations have taken place, most recently in 1972. Animal remains, ceramic fragments, tools, and the stratigraphy—all studied by National Park Service archeologists—offer a glimpse into the life of Emerald's ancient inhabitants.^[7]

The owners donated the site to the National Park Service (NPS) during the 1950s.^[6] Due to damage caused by erosion of the secondary mounds, the NPS restored the mounds and sodded the surfaces in the mid-50s. A trail and stairways were constructed from the parking lot adjacent to the mound, leading to the surface of the primary platform and to the tops of the larger of the secondary mounds.^[6]

See also[link]

• List of Mississippian sites
• Mississippi Valley: Culture, phase, and chronological periods table - List of archaeological periods

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Emerald Mound

• Indian Mounds of Mississippi, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

v t e    Mississippian and related cultures List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley Middle Mississippian American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Site Cahokia Cloverdale archaeological site Dickson Mounds Emmons Cemetery Site John Roy Site Kuhn Station Site Mitchell Site Monks Mound Orendorf Site Sugarloaf Mound Steed-Kisker culture Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Site Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Rowlandton Mound Site Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Site Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Site Bone Bank Site Caborn-Welborn culture Hovey Lake Murphy Archaeological Site Prather Site Slack Farm Tolu Site Welborn Village Archeological Site Tennessee and Cumberland Beasley Mounds Site Brentwood Library Site Brick Church Mound and Village Site Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Archaeological Site Mound Bottom Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Archaeological Site Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Site Campbell Site Chucalissa Eaker Site Menard-Hodges Site Murphy Mound Archeological Site Parkin Site Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase South Appalachian Mississippian Avery Site · Beaverdam Creek Site · Bell Field Mound Site · Bessemer Site · Bussell Island  · Chauga Mound · Chiaha · Chota · Citico · Coosa chiefdom · Dallas Phase · Dyar site · Etowah Mounds · Garden Creek site · Hoojah Branch Site · Irene Mound Site · Jere Shine Site · Joara · Joe Bell Site · King Archaeological Site · Lamar Mounds and Village Site · Lamar Phase · Liddell Archeological Site · Little Egypt · Mabila · Mandeville Site · McMahan Mound Site · Moccasin Bend · Moundville Site · Mouse Creek Phase · Mulberry Site · Muscogee (Creek) · Nacoochee Mound · Nikwasi · Ocmulgee · Pisgah Phase · Punk Rock Shelter · Rembert Mounds · Roods Landing · Rucker's Bottom Site · Savannah Archaeological Site · Shiloh Indian Mounds Site · Sixtoe Mound · Summerour Mound Site · Toqua Site · Town Creek Indian Mound · Waddells Mill Pond Site · Wilbanks Site Fort Walton culture Anhaica · Apalachee · Apalachee Province · Cayson Mound and Village Site · Corbin-Tucker Site 8CA142 · Fort Walton Mound · Lake Jackson Mounds · Leon-Jefferson Culture · Letchworth Mounds · Velda Mound · Yon Mound and Village Site Pensacola culture Bottle Creek Indian Mounds · Dauphin Island · Fort Walton Mound · Hickory Ridge Cemetery Site · Naval Live Oaks Cemetery · Pensacola people Plaquemine Mississippian Anna Site · Emerald Mound Site · Fitzhugh Mounds · Flowery Mound · Foster's Mound · Ghost Site Mounds · Grand Village of the Natchez · Holly Bluff Site · Jaketown Site · Jordan Mounds · Julice Mound · Mangum Mound Site · Mazique Archeological Site · Medora Site · Mott Mounds · Natchez · Pocahontas Mounds · Routh Mounds · Scott Place Mounds · Sims Site · Taensa · Transylvania Mounds · Venable Mound · Winterville Site · Caddoan Mississippian Battle Mound Site · Belcher Mound Site · Bluffton Mound · Caddo · Caddoan Mounds · Gahagan Mounds · Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village · Spiro Mounds Upper Mississippian cultures Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Site Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Site Dodge Site Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village Culture Artwork Emmons mask Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian copper plates (Rogan plates, Spiro plates, Wulfing cache) Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian stone statuary Shell gorget Languages Caddoan languages Central Algonquian languages Cherokee language Mobilian Jargon Muskogean languages Natchez language Siouan languages Timucua language Tunica language Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Calumet (pipe) Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther Related topics  · Chevron bead · Clarksdale bell · Maize · Mill Creek chert · de Soto Expedition ·