Batesville Mounds

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Batesville Mounds
Batesville Mounds 7.jpg
Mound C at Batesville Mounds 22-Pa-500
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Batesville Mounds
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Batesville Mounds
Nearest city Batesville, Mississippi
Coordinates 34°20′51″N89°55′25″W / 34.34750°N 89.92361°W / 34.34750; -89.92361
NRHP reference No. 88002702
Added to NRHPDecember 14, 1988 [1]
A mound diagram of a platform mound showing the multiple layers and structures such as temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and intrusive burials Mississippian culture mound components HRoe 2011.jpg
A mound diagram of a platform mound showing the multiple layers and structures such as temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and intrusive burials

The "Batesville Mounds" (22-Pa-500) in Panola County, Mississippi are the conial archeological remains of a culture of indigenous people who flourished in North America. The mounds appear to have served as both habitation and burial sites. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [2]

Contents

Mound builders

For centuries, hypotheses have existed about the origins of the mounds ranged from the theory of central Mexico's indigenous people building the mounds, to the work of foreign refugees escaping one disaster or another, or to the work of ancient lost tribes. It was the Smithsonian Institution that conducted 13 years of research, ending in 1894, that verified north American indigenous people constructed the mounds. [3]

The mound builders were a variety of pre-Columbian cultures who inhabited the areas of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippi River valley. Rather than the wigwam of much of the plains peoples, or the pueblo culture of the American southwest, the mound builders created giant earthwork communities. Thousands of mounds have been discovered throughout the continent. Researchers found that the builders had an organized social structure, and charted the cosmos. [3]

Discovery

Mounds A, B, C, D and E were discovered by Calvin Smith Brown in 1926. [4] Believed to have been populated during the Woodland period common era, the mounds were examined and studied again in 1949, by archaeologist William G. Haag. In the ensuing decades, Mound E had ceased to exist. Speculation at the time was that the mound had been destroyed as a result of crop harvesting. [5] The Mississippi Department of Archives and History designated the Bateville mounds as an official Mississippi Landmark on March 23, 1989. [6] Archeological excavations have suggested these specific mounds date to the Early to Middle Woodland period (500-1000 A.D). [2] [7]

Tourism

In January 2018, the city of Batesville opened the site as a public park. [8] Only B and C of the original mounds still exist.

Related Research Articles

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The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mound Builders</span> Pre-Columbian cultures of North America

Many pre-Columbian cultures in North America were collectively termed "Mound Builders", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks that indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span the period of roughly 3500 BCE to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period, Woodland period, and Mississippian period. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, Florida, and the Mississippi River Valley and its tributary waters.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park</span> Archaeological site from the Late Woodland period in Arkansas

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The Kincaid Mounds Historic Site c. 1050–1400 CE, is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located at the southern tip of present-day U.S. state of Illinois, along the Ohio River. Kincaid Mounds has been notable for both its significant role in native North American prehistory and for the central role the site has played in the development of modern archaeological techniques. The site had at least 11 substructure platform mounds, and 8 other monuments.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaketown Site</span> Archaeological site in Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States

Jaketown Site is an archaeological site with two prehistoric earthwork mounds in Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States. While the mounds have not been excavated, distinctive pottery shards found in the area lead scholars to date the mounds' construction and use to the Mississippian culture period, roughly 1100 CE to 1500 CE.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Panola County, Mississippi</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Panola County, Mississippi.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunns Pond Mound</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

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Janet's Mound, also known as site 22-Ch-520, is an archeological site in the general area of French Camp, Mississippi. Its specific location is not disclosed, but the site is more significant for its location in an area of the state which has few mounds and where little archeological research of mounds has been conducted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocahontas Mounds</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spikebuck Town Mound and Village Site</span> United States historic place

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The Carson Mounds,, also known as the Carson Site and Carson-Montgomery- is a large Mississippian culture archaeological site located near Clarksdale in Coahoma County, Mississippi in the Yazoo Basin. Only a few large earthen mounds are still present at Carson to this day. Archaeologists have suggested that Carson is one of the more important archaeological sites in the state of Mississippi.

The Mississippi Mound Trail is a driving tour of 33 sites adjoining U.S. Route 61 where indigenous peoples of the Mississippi Delta built earthworks. The mounds were primarily built between 500 and 1500 AD, but are representative of a variety of cultures known as the Mound Builders. Each site has a historical marker and is accessible by road.

References

  1. "NPGallery Asset Detail". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 Howell, John (14 June 2013). "Pan-Gens ask to have Batesville included on mound trail 6/14/13". The Panolian.
  3. 1 2 "Mound Builders". Mississippi Encyclopedia.
  4. "Batesville Mounds" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places.
  5. "National Register of Historical Places - MISSISSIPPI (MS), Panola County". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  6. "Batesville Mounds (A, B, C) (22-Pa-500)". www.apps.mdah.ms.gov. Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
  7. "Batesville Mounds". Mississippi Mound Trail. Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
  8. Paton, Alex (3 January 2018). "Batesville opens Native American mound site". SuperTalk Mississippi.

Further reading