Pocahontas Mounds Explained

Pocahontas Mounds
(22 HI 500)
Map Type:USA Mississippi
Coordinates:32.4693°N -90.2883°W
Location:Pocahontas, MississippiHinds County, Mississippi United States
Region:Hinds County, Mississippi
Built:800 AD
Abandoned:1300 AD
Cultures:Coles Creek culture, Plaquemine Mississippian culture
Excavations:2004
Archaeologists:James A. Ford
Architectural Styles:platform mound, plaza, tumulus
Architectural Details:Number of monuments:
Pocahontas Mound A
Embed:yes
Added:November 25, 1969
Refnum:69000365[1]
Pocahontas Mound B
Embed:yes
Added:April 11, 1972
Refnum:72000694
Notes:Responsible body: private
Precolumbian:yes

Pocahontas Mounds (22 HI 500) is an archaeological site from the Plaquemine Mississippian culture in Hinds County, Mississippi, dating from 800 to 1300 CE. Two mounds from the site were added to the NRHP on two separate occasions, Pocahontas Mound A on November 25, 1969, as NRIS number 69000365 and Pocahontas Mound B on April 11, 1972, as NRIS number 72000694.[1] The mounds are listed on the Mississippi Mound Trail.[2]

Description

The site consists of two mounds, a rectangular platform mound and a mortuary mound, and an associated village area. The site was occupied from 800 to 1300 CE by peoples of the Coles Creek and Plaquemine Mississippian cultures, although evidence found during excavations in 2004 showed that the site was occupied briefly in the Middle-Late Archaic period about 4000-1000 BCE.[3] The platform mound, Mound A, is about 175feet in width and 22feet in height.[4] It was described in the late 1930s by archaeologist James A. Ford as being 250feet by 350feet at its base and 25feet in height.[5] Archaeological investigations found the remains of a typical Mississippian-period thatched, clay-plastered log-post structure on the mounds summit, which was once a ceremonial temple or residence of a chief.[4] Located 1200feet northwest of Mound A is Mound B, a steep-sided conical mound 75feet in diameter and 10feet in height.

At the time of Ford's writing Mound B was included within the grounds of a local school and could not be excavated.[5] Various kinds of artifacts have been recovered from the site through site survey collections and excavations, including Mississippian-culture copper ear-spools, Mississippian culture pottery, flint chips and numerous burials in the surrounding fields. A fragmentary bird effigy bowl and a human effigy ceramic pipe were found at the burial mound by children from the school.[5] The pottery found at the site is very similar to that found at the Anna site.[6]

New excavations took place in June 2004 under the direction of Jeffrey Alvey for the Cobb Institute of Archaeology and funded by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. In 2008, a roadside park was opened at Mound A as a combined rest stop area and educational center explaining the site's cultural and historical importance.[3]

Location

The site is used as a roadside park along U.S. Route 49, near its junction with Interstate 220.[4]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: National Register of Historic Places. 2011-10-27.
  2. Web site: Mississippi Mound Trail . Mississippi Department of Archives and History . 13 July 2021.
  3. Web site: Pocahontas Mound A. Cobb Institute of Archaeology. 2011-11-10 .
  4. Web site: National Park Service : Indian Mounds of Mississippi : Pocahontas Mound A. 2011-10-28. National Park Service.
  5. Book: Measuring the flow of time: the works of James A. Ford, 1935-1941. Michael John O'Brien. R. Lee Lyman. James A. Ford. James Alfred Ford. University Alabama Press. 1999-10-28. 255. 0-8173-0991-8.
  6. Book: Measuring the Flow of Time: The Works of James A. Ford, 1935-1941. Michael John O'Brien. R. Lee Lyman. James A. Ford. James Alfred Ford. University Alabama Press. 1999-10-28. 243. 0-8173-0991-8.