Moundville AL

Now for a detour of our westward progression of the mound building cultures. I had the opportunity to travel to Alabama last year, and during my stay I visited Moundville AL.

It's located just below the fall line of the Black Warrior River south of Tuscaloosa, where the piedmont of northern Alabama flattens out to the coastal plain that stretches all the way to the Gulf in the south. Built by the Mississippian culture, Moundville was occupied from 1000 CE to 1450 CE. Two traits of Mississippian culture are platform mounds & complex, hierarchical communities. (Photo below is Mound B)

Visiting Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient structures does nothing to prepare you for the monumental scale that the Mississippian cultures build on. Moundville is a 300 acre site that has 29 known mounds. Fifteen of those are large platform mounds arranged in a rough circle forming the central plaza. The two largest mounds, Mound A sits in the middle of the plaza and Mound B (or Chief's Mound) is aligned just to the north along the central axis of the plaza.

You can go up the 60 or so feet to the top of Mound B for a great overview of the plaza and chance to see an unfortunate reconstruction of the Chief's house. Stick with the view and you'll be fine. (Photo below if the view from the side of Mound B across the great plaza to Mound A.)

Unlike the Adena conical mounds, these mounds have a larger rectangular base and have a broad flat area on the top. And unlike the large but delicate geometric designs of the Hopewell earthworks, these mounds would not be easily plowed over -- they are massive. The scale and overall positioning of the mounds would seem to indicate the more complex and hierarchical society of Mississippian culture. . And the entire area has a presence and a power of architecture not found in older cultures.

There's jewel box of a museum on the site, built by the CCC in the 1930's. It holds an updated and informative collection of artifacts found during excavations, including many plates and bowls with a striking image of single hand with an eye in the palm.