Prehistoric American Volume XXXVII Number 3, 2003. spiromound-0022- Figure 22:
Now an exhibition at The Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame brings this to life. The Spiro people did not rely on maize as their primary cultivated crop like the inhabitants of the other ceremonial centers. It is located approximately 1,500 feet (460m) southeast of the plaza. Henry Hamilton traced the design decorations on the Spiro Mound artifacts by placing tracing paper on top of the artifact. 11k followers. This break can be identified by a small shadow in the middle of . diffusing capacity. The city was palisaded (walled) and had a large grand plaza that was the equivalent of thirty-five football fields. A nearly forgotten people who created one of the most highly-developed civilizations in the Americas. BBC Travel'sLost Civilisationsdelves into little-known facts about past worlds, dispelling any false myths and narratives that have previously surrounded them. "high-status" artifacts per burial from selected spiro phase (ad 1250-1450) sites 10 2.1. craig Mound prior to excavation 14 2.2. north cone of the craig Mound during excavation by the wPa 16 4.1. ceramic attributes and key 28 4.2. ceramic vessel profiles 31 4.3. whole and partial . The treasure hunters sold the artifacts they recovered to art collectors, some as far away as Europe. ", "Notice of Inventory Completion: Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. The prehistoric Spiro people created a sophisticated culture which influenced the entire Southeast. feather but that it is intended to show a sheet copper plume hair
The Spiro Mound, reportedly by Bill Heydon Vandagriff, and
When Mound 3 at the site was excavated it yielded fourteen copper plates, deposited in the . Our first view of the mounds. LeFlore Co, OK. High grade two tone chert. The Spiro Mounds are located within the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center complex in Fort Coffee, Oklahoma. Wonderfully rare little artifact gem. It was a major Mississippian settlement from 800 to 1450 AD. The interpretive centre itself feels like a time warp, where a nearly 40-year-old introductory slide is shown by request. The blade is shown in the
The story of the long-forgotten Spiro settlement seems particularly timely. Repousse male profile in copper with two earspools. Spiro artifacts provide one of the few windows into this world. As the nation prospered, a priest class evolved, which took responsibility for planting and harvest ceremonies, and marking the annual solstices and equinoxes that governed the growing seasons. The new scheme divides the SECC into five periods, or horizons, each defined by the appearance of new ritual objects and cultural motifs connected with new developments in politics and long-distance trade. "The Spiros were family with us," said Chase Earles, a Caddo artist from Ada, Oklahoma, whose contemporary pottery and historical illustrations are included in the new exhibit. Why is the Craig Mound so world renowned? Together it included about 3 million people from more than 60 tribes, speaking 30 different languages. . The Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They are shown sitting on
This artifact was recovered from The Spiro Mound, reportedly by Bill Heydon Vandagriff, and purchased for $15.00 on the spot by Robert E. Bell for his father's collection. [16], Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the U.S. Federal government, cultural anthropologists, and archaeologists as the cultural descendants of the builders of Spiro Mounds.[17]. The Spiro site includes twelve earthen mounds and 150 acres of land. First identified in 1914 by Joseph Thoburn, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, the mounds were part of the Choctaw Nation land allotment. Spiro Mound
The vast majority of Mississippian mounds in other places are no more than 3 m (10 ft) high. a total of 17 blades plus three maces in the group sold to Mr.
Containing six mounds, it was the largest known ritual center in the region from AD 1000 to 1550. They also lacked the wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. An artifact displayed a the Spiro Mounds exhibit. The spiritual beings of the Under World were thought to be in constant opposition to those in the Upper World. Traditionally, women tended crops like corn, beans, squash and sunflowers, while men hunted small game. Image credit: Pete Bostrom. Evidence indicates that the most common source of food was deer, bear, elk, turkey, and the eastern box turtle. These were sold to Mr. Cooperrider of
The protected site included 150 acres of land that encompass twelve mounds, the elite village area and part of the support city. photograph shows seven of the long narrow blades, also called
The Mississippian people (AD 8001650) were the largest and most complex society to develop in the eastern half of North America. Wednesday through Saturday from 9 to 5 and. on Sundays from noon to 5. Other rooms hold modest galleries with replica artefacts. The mound center declined and was eventually abandoned by AD 1450, although the city continued to be occupied for another 150 years. 918-962-2062 Today the site is owned and operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. The Spiro Mound excavation in Oklahoma uncovered a "tall man in full armor.with a pot of thousands of pearls and other artifacts" (Nexus New Times Vol 2, Number 12). Archaeologists have identified four distinct styles: the Braden Style characteristic of artifacts brought from Cahokia and the Craig A, B, and C styles that are local derivatives of the Braden Style.[11][12]. The most notable mound site in this area is called Kincaid. spiro@history.ok.gov eye design is like the marking of the peregrine falcon. The other principal cities were in Etowah, Georgia; Moundville, Alabama; and Cahokia, Illinois, near St. Louis, which was the biggest. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. The goal of exhibition is to share the history of the Spiro culture from its humble beginnings to its rise as one of the premier cultural sites in all of North America. Archaeological research has shown that Mississippian settlements such as Cahokia and Spiro took part in a vast trading network that covered the eastern half of what is now the U.S. and parts of what is now the western U.S. as well. Since the original Spiro Mound amateur excavations resulted in the scattering of the contents into numerous private collections, the Heye Museum of the American Indian produced this publication to catalog the objects that were . The mounds barely rate a mention in textbooks, he said, while noting that some years, nearly half his students have Native American heritage. These towns and cities were the center of political, social, and ceremonial life in this period. Known as Monks Mound, it measures one hundred feet high and took nearly 150 years to complete. al. Nearly a century later, the incident remains the worst looting of an archaeological site in US history. The conch shells were fashioned into gorgets and drinking cups engraved with intricate designs representing costumed humans, real and mythical animals, and geometric motifs, all of which had profound symbolic significance. This
It was rebuilt in AD 1250. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoan may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. No purchase necessary. he was not a collector, he asked Bell to purchase the frame for
Ohio and later donated to the Ohio Historical Society. Nine of the mounds surround a central plaza with a larger mound (Brown Mound) in the center which served a religious/ceremonial purpose. [19] The Caddoan languages once had a broad geographic distribution, but many are now extinct. in the collection of Bobby Onken. The
Director: Anna Vincent, Geocache location the leaders at Spiro Mounds thrived. Twelve mounds lie on approximately 150 acres in which the Spiro lived and worked. This developing interest and enthusiasm in the Spiro site has been stimulated in various ways; by examination of artifacts in private collections or in museums, by an increasing reference to Spiro materials in the literature, and through recognition of Spiro as a grandiose example of the so-called "Southern Cult" complex. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Which of the following prehistoric cultures built 12 mounds by hand between 850 and 1450 CE?, Which of the following factors led to theories that Paleo-Indians may have been in Oklahoma as early as 30,000 BCE? The complex was a vast trading network that distributed exotic materials from all across North America that were used in the making of ritual objects. Later, steps were taken to protect the site. One believer transformed a local curiosity into proof of Vikings on the Great Plains. The people of Spiro people relied on a wide variety of animals for meat, including deer, elk, turkey, fish, turtles, geese, ducks, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and other small mammals. Good condition. The blade was broken in one place and
They discarded the human remains and the fragile artifactsmade of textile, basketry, and even feathersthat were preserved in these extremely unusual conditions. Oklahoma Historical Society800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 | 405-521-2491Site Index | Contact Us | Privacy | Press Room | Website Inquiries, Get Updates in Your Inbox Keep up to date with our weekly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. The people of the Spiro Mounds are believed to have been Caddoan speakers, like the modern Wichita, Kichai, Caddo, Pawnee, and Arikara. It has by far the largest mound of any Mississippian site and held a population of between 10,000-15,000 at its heyday. 2004 The Spiro Mound: A . When the men refused, the scholar convinced the state legislature to pass one of the nation's first antiquities acts to protect archaeological sites in 1935. After that, most of the population moved to other towns nearby. Spiro Mounds people participated in what cultural anthropologists and archaeologists call the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), a network of ceremonial centers sharing the Mississippian culture and similar spiritual beliefs, cosmology, ritual practices, and cult objects. Spiro Mound. Anthropologists have tried in recent years to interpret the meaning of the ritual artifacts and artistic imagery found at Spiro and other Mississippian sites. Often, the cedar tree, or the striped-center-pole, is found on engraved conch shell gorgets, with human or animal figures positioned on either side. "The most distinctive feature of the site (Spiro Mound) was the saddle-shaped mound known as The Spiro Mound or the Great Temple Mound, (It has been renamed the Craig Mound---)." Similar beings were the subject of myth in historic times among the Micmac, Huron, Kickapoo, Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Caddo, and other Native American tribes, appearing in tribes of at least three major language families. Like the other eastern mounds, it was palisaded. In return, it received valuable goods from those other centers. Starting in about 1250 CE, the climate shifted and the site stopped being a major living space with most of the population moving to other towns nearby; Spiro continued to be used as a regional ceremonial center and . Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). He said museum curators worked closely with Native communities to ensure Spiro's story was properly interpreted. It is frequently represented as a tree (including the Tree of Life), since trees pass through the surface of the earth and connect the subsurface and the sky. A. What was once a center of prehistoric power is now reduced to 12 earthen mounds. This suggests that the Spiro people may have practiced a version of the Black Drink Ceremony, a purification ritual that was also performed in historic times by their descendants - the southeastern tribes. While reaching firm conclusions about the meanings of works of art made centuries ago by people of an extinct culture is difficult, they have made some compelling interpretations by comparing Mississippian artistic imagery with the myths, religious rituals, art, and iconography of historic Native American groups. By 1935, most of the Spiro Mounds had been riddled with pits and tunnels, but the largest known as the "Craig Mound" remained largely intact. These materials included colored flint from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes, conch (or lightning whelk) shells from the Gulf Coast, and mica from the Carolinas. The story behind the artefacts is just as compelling. Visitors can explore nearly two miles of interpreted trails, including a one-half mile nature trail. Spiro was home to a ceremonial centre for a loosely aligned confederation of mound-building nations called the Mississippian Culture. Spiro's treasures include engraved conch shells from the Florida Keys, copper breastplates from the Great Lakes and beads from the Gulf of California. Wehrle. Corn (maize) was the most harvested plant, but others, such as sunflowers, squash, beans, hickory nuts, and acorns were also utilized. [citation needed], Archaeologists found that one of the conch shell cups from Craig Mound had a black residue in the bottom. Much of the Spiro culture is still a mystery, as well as the reasons for the decline and abandonment of the site. photograph is 17 long and the longest mace is 16 3/8
arrowpoints. Artifacts from Spiro Mounds have been documented in at least 65 facilities around . Spiro's 12 mounds resemble little more than bumps on the landscape, most covered with trees and brush. Engraved shell gorget fragment traced by Hamilton (1952: 70, Plate 88d); he identified the iconography as dancers with bows. This was supplemented with nuts and other wild plants. Etowah was a large Mississippian center constructed about the same time as Cahokia and Moundville. In 1933 on the eastern edge of the US state of Oklahoma, a group of failed gold prospectors watched as their partner struck a pickaxe into clay. More than a decade in the making, this nearly 200-object exhibition with companion publication and educational programming were developed in collaboration with the Caddo Nation, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and scholars from over a dozen universities and museums from across the United States. It came from the Spiro Mound or the Great Mound in LeFlore County, Oklahoma. As a site devastated by looting in the 1930s, Spiro served as a test case in the development of state-level legislation to protect antiquities, bringing artifact looting into the public eye. A group of six local men hoped they could make money by selling Native American artefacts, and formed a company named after the nearby town of Pocola. These include Cahokia in Illinois, the largest Mississippian town; Etowah and Ocmulgee in Georgia; and Moundville in Alabama. The majority of the Spiro artifacts are housed at the Gilcrease Museum, but Special Collections has a few artifacts, and . Mississippian culture spread along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. Located on a bend of the Arkansas River, the site was a natural gateway from which the Spiro people exerted their influence. Spiro Mound. $300. And in the destruction, one-third of the mounds were lost. Cahokia was also the likely epicenter of an artistic tradition referred to as Braden. The Mississippian societies shared elaborate rituals, a pictographic writing system, and mounds built from earth around central plazas. Skeletons were tossed carelessly to the side, broken fragments of conch shells piled up like snow, and cedar poles used to build the chamber and carry the dead were burned as firewood. The site is closed for state holidays. item 1393.1A. Cherry of Fort Wayne, Indiana from those who were digging . Spiro Mounds Archaeological Park submitted by Flickr Woolaroc Spiro Mounds artifacts Spiro mound artifacts on display at Woolaroc Museum, near Bartlesville. Blade and mace cache: Part 1. There may have been a few additional
The largest, Mound C, served as the mortuary facility for Etowahs elite and included objects and iconographic imagery matching other regional stylesnamely Braden. An earspool is a circular object that adorns extended ear holes, much like a modern day earring, and is decorated with different designs. which was exposed to major damage due to the looting of its artifacts. ---1981, Barbara Page, "Spiro Mound Artifacts Reveal 12th Century Culture," The Gilcrease Magazine Of American History And Art, p. 7- 8. Probably, most of these valuable objects are lost, but some have been returned through donation and have been documented by scholars. In historic tribes, such objects have traditionally been created by women. It had an earthen ramp that gave access to the summit from the northern side. Spiro and the Arkansas Basin. It also was not palisaded, as were the ceremonial centers of Cahokia, Moundville, and Etowah. The exhibit just finished its run at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, and moves to the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama in October 2021, before making its final stop the following March at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas. Spirometer prices. Why the Spiro culture disappeared and why the site was abandoned remain a mystery, although the Caddoan language lived on with the modern Wichita, Kichai, Caddo, Pawnee, and Arikara, suggesting that the Spiro people broke off into smaller tribes. But the drought cycle continued, and by 1450, the mound city was abandoned. Style analysis of the objects found at Spiro reveals that many objects were imported from different regions across the southeastern United States and probably arrived at the site via a system of interregional exchange. Tribute Points Frame. Townsend collection in Mr. Onkens Legends of Prehistoric
It has been depicted with a beaked face on unearthed artifacts from Cahokia to Georgia. Scientists believe the Birdman was a warrior king, but it's also possible this was the legendary Thunderbird. Founded around AD 1050, this site is divided into five separate phases: Lohmann (AD 10501100), Stirling (AD 10001200), Moorehead (AD 12001275), Sand Prairie (AD 12751350), and Oneta (AD 13501650). Exhibit. Copper (1974), Figure 88. purposefully blew up the central chamber of the mound for unknown reasons. who owned a tract that included Craig Mound. The site is open. It is 268 pages and has 152 black-and-white plates of photographs and drawings of artifacts recovered from Spiro Mound. Mid-range: From $20 to $40, you can find lower-end digital models and incentive spirometers. Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages. Edited by Eric D. Singleton and F. Kent Reilly III. Florida plates Copper Solar Ogee Deity plate found at Lake Jackson Mounds, Florida . The protected site included 150 acres of land that encompass twelve mounds, the elite village area and part of the support city. swords, and the three chipped chert maces that were purchased by
These plates, along with artifacts from Spiro and Moundville Archaeological Site were instrumental in the development of the archaeological concept of the S.E.C.C. Fresh off the press, the newest (2020) printing of the classic 1952 volume dedicated to Spiro Mounds. Harry T. Bell- Robert Bell's father, an artifact collector from Marion, Ohio. Learn how a Little Ice Age may have led to the sites ultimate abandonment and what lessons may be learned as we face our own ecological changes today. someones lunch sack. Craig Mound is the tallest one, about 34 feet high, and to the left. Stone tools found at the Cooperton site were more advanced than expected. Each phase is identified by distinct ceramic types and style of architecture. The town was the headquarters of a regional chiefdom, whose powerful leaders directed the building of eleven platform mounds and one burial mound in an 80-acre (0.32km2) area on the south bank of the Arkansas River. Located about 400 miles northeast of Spiro near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, Cahokia was the largest and most impressive of all the Mississippian towns. Divided into at least four allotment partitions, the Spiro site was . The Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma, one of the most important places in ancient America and was called the "Tut's Tomb" of the Arkansas Valley. (left) for other items in the cache. at Spiro in August 1935. One of the most prominent symbols at Spiro is the "Birdman", a winged human figure representing a warrior or chunkey player. Paired groups of mounds along the plazas edge were associated with specific clans, arranged according to social power and prestige. But around 1250, the rains became less predictable during a period known as the Little Ice Age. Subscribe Now, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program, Spiro Mounds: A Story of Prehistoric Oklahoma,. Artifacts found during this period reflect a major shift and resemble those typical of groups living on the Plains, such as the Wichita. These included mounds surrounding a large, planned and leveled central plaza, where important religious rituals, the politically and culturally significant game of chunkey, and other important community activities were carried out. Between 1933 and 1935, Craig Mound was excavated by a commercial enterprise that had bought the rights from local landowners to excavate and to keep or sell the artifacts they recovered. This page was last edited on 29 November 2022, at 10:02. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is located northeast of Spiro, Oklahoma, four miles north of US-271. When the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto led a military expedition into what is now the southeastern United States in the 1540s, he encountered Native American groups including the Tula people, who lived near the Arkansas River. D. It was the only burial mound created by the Norman mound builders. This Spiro artifact is made from what is commonly known as a conch shell. The cities began to crumble. ornament such as those seen in Figures 41 and 42. During this trek, one of his chroniclers mentioned the Etowah sitereferring to it as Itaba. Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. The mound center declined and was eventually abandoned by AD 1450, although the city . Located just outside St. Louis, Missouri, this city had a population of 10,000 to 20,000 people, contained nearly 200 earthen mounds, and covered five square miles. This year, 175 pieces were reunited in a travelling exhibition that set attendance records in Oklahoma City, and is drawing new attention to Spiro Mounds, one of the most important and least understood sites in pre-contact North America. cutout copper sheet human head effigy with repousse designs. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center features an annual Family Kite Flite Day on the third Saturday of March, Archaeology Day, and Birthday Bash in May, and temporary exhibits sponsored by the Spiro Mounds Development Association. Together it included about 3 million people from more than 60 . and Robert Phelps of Marion, Ohio, arranged by Henry C. Shetrone,
Excavations at house Mound 5 at the spiro site 5 1.4. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. purchased for $15.00 on the spot by Robert E. Bell for his
At the height of the Great Depression, Indian relic and curio dealers and artifact collectors had caught wind of the artifacts at the heart of the Spiro Mounds area of LeFlore County, north of Poteau. Objects created in this style are found at other large ceremonial centers across the eastern half of North Americaincluding Moundville in Alabama, Etowah in Georgia, and Spiro Spiro was the westernmost outpost of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, also known as the Southern Death Cult or Buzzard Cult, which included Cahokia (now East St. Louis), Moundville in Alabama, and Etowah in Georgia. Newspapers would later call the find an American "King Tut's tomb". remaining items from the Wehrle Cache shown in Figure 22. Spiro's bounty is now spread among more than 65 museums across the US, Europe and Asia, and researchers are still discovering additional galleries and people possessing its riches. The overall geographic area of the Mississippian world is subdivided into different regions. over the head. And while it's painful to see the artefacts outside of tombs where they belong, he's pleased that non-Natives are having a chance to learn about his culture. Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to noon1 to 4 p.m. The following articles are featured: An Interpretation of the Place of Spiro in Southeastern Archaeology by James B. Griffin. Artifacts indicate an extensive trade network, a highly-developed religious center, and a political system which controlled the entire region. The Great Serpent is portrayed in Mississippian art with a serpent's body, but also with wings or horns. B. Bison bones found at the Burnham site . $170. Bronze statue marks the spinach capital of the world. piece is shown in Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians on
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