Annis Mound and Village site 15 BT 2, 15 BT 20, and 15 BT 21 | |||||||||
Map Type: | USA Kentucky | ||||||||
Coordinates: | 37.2898°N -86.7529°W | ||||||||
Location: | Butler County, Kentucky, United States | ||||||||
Region: | Western Coal Field | ||||||||
Built: | 800 CE | ||||||||
Abandoned: | 1300 CE | ||||||||
Cultures: | Middle Mississippian culture | ||||||||
Excavations: | 1916, 1939–1940, 2002–2004 | ||||||||
Archaeologists: | Clarence Bloomfield Moore, William Snyder Webb, Scott W Hammerstedt | ||||||||
Architectural Styles: | platform mound, palisade | ||||||||
Architectural Details: | Number of temples: 1
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The Annis Mound and Village site (15BT2, 15BT20, and 15BT21) is a prehistoric Middle Mississippian culture archaeological site located on the bank of the Green River in Butler County, Kentucky, several miles northwest of Morgantown in the Big Bend region. It was occupied from about 800 CE to about 1300 CE.[1]
The site consisted of a platform mound (15 BT 2) measuring 33.5m (109.9feet) square by 3.7m (12.1feet) in height with special use structures at its summit. It was surrounded by the village area (15 BT 20) which was situated north of the generally east to west course of the Green River at the sites location. The village featured domestic structures and several sequential iterations of an encircling defensive palisade of upright tree trunks. The palisade was built three different times in the site's history; each one larger than its predecessor and encircling an expanded village area. A bastion was discovered in the northwest corner of the last version of the palisade. Agriculture was based on the cultivation of maize as a staple of the diet. Ceramics found at the site were typical Mississippian culture pottery; although a few sherds of high status pottery from the Cahokia site were discovered during excavations of the platform mound summit structure.[1]
The site also features a 1m (03feet) in height 30m (100feet) by 35m (115feet) circular feature known as the Annis Sand Mound (15 BT 21) that dates from the Archaic period. This feature lies directly north of the village area and outside of the area encompassed by the palisade.[2]
A 9acres area at the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as "Annis Mound and Village Site" in 1985.