Among the artifacts found at the Spiro Mounds site in Spiro, Oklahoma was a group of earspools. Traditionally, women tended crops like corn, beans, squash and sunflowers, while men hunted small game. located on Lock & Dam Road, 4 1/2 miles. Excavations at house Mound 5 at the spiro site 5 1.4. And on a June afternoon, as birds chirp in the nearby woods and a hawk glides silently above, a visitor can walk across a once-great city and, perhaps, just for a moment, catch a glimpse of its glorious past. See Figures 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 The concept of an axis mundi the point where different cosmic domains converge is found in many cultures around the world. north of Oklahoma Highway 9 in Spiro. This Spiro artifact is made from what is commonly known as a conch shell. They were dug out of mound #72 at Cahokia mounds in Illinois. The story of the long-forgotten Spiro settlement seems particularly timely. At the time of de Soto's conquest, the Caddoan peoples occupied a large territory. The modern town of Spiro developed approximately seven miles to the south. The people of the Spiro Mounds are believed to have been Caddoan speakers, like the modern Wichita, Kichai, Caddo, Pawnee, and Arikara. Corn (maize) was the most harvested plant, but others, such as sunflowers, squash, beans, hickory nuts, and acorns were also utilized. al. 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. Brown Mound, the largest platform mound, is located on the eastern side of the plaza. this 13 1/8 inch flint lance has a maximum thickness at one It was a major Mississippian settlement from 800 to 1450 AD. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center Spiro's treasures include engraved conch shells from the Florida Keys, copper breastplates from the Great Lakes and beads from the Gulf of California. The site remained unoccupied from AD 1600 until 1832. [4], The historic cultures following in the wake of Spiro, such as the Caddo, Pawnee, and Wichita peoples, were less complex and hierarchical.[7]. 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 Bronze statue marks the spinach capital of the world. The majority of the Spiro artifacts are housed at the Gilcrease Museum, but Special Collections has a few artifacts, and . After that, most of the population moved to other towns nearby. [15], Most authorities agree that the people of Spiro were Caddoan speaking, but their descendants in historic times are difficult to identify. During this trek, one of his chroniclers mentioned the Etowah sitereferring to it as Itaba. It appears the site had transformed from a large population center to a necropolisa regional repository for the deceased. The Spiro Mounds ceremonial objects are among the finest examples of pre-Columbian art in North America. Mississippian settlements were known for their large earthwork, platform mounds (usually truncated pyramids), surmounted by temples, the houses of warrior kings and priests, and the burial houses of the elite. Forrest E. Clements- Worked for the state as an archaeologist, wrote the first interpretation of the Spiro Mound. These sacred Mesoamerican ruins feature peculiar petroglyphs hidden in the stones. diffusing capacity. Spiro Mound. It would be smoky because everyone was burning fires. The archaeological site of Spiro is famous for a range of aritfacts including effigy pipes, engraved shell artifacts, embossed copper sheets, bead necklaces, and ear spools that were discovered in the "Great Mortuary" context. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Chunkey was a game played in the Mississippian period, but also in historic times by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and other tribes throughout the Eastern Woodlands. B. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. . Craig Mound as it appears today at the site of Spiro in eastern Oklahoma. Edited by Eric D. Singleton and F. Kent Reilly III. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is located northeast of Spiro, Oklahoma, four miles north of US-271. Fresh off the press, the newest (2020) printing of the classic 1952 volume dedicated to Spiro Mounds. Spiro, OK 74959 The cities began to crumble. I thought at first they were Spiro Mound artifacts. It tells of a people desperately trying to adapt to a changing climate that would ultimately destroy their society. Spiro was home to a ceremonial centre for a loosely aligned confederation of mound-building nations called the Mississippian Culture. Townsend collection in Mr. Onkens Legends of Prehistoric 1945 The Spiro Mound Collections in the Museum. Ex-Ken Partain, Lonnie Hartline, Tommy Bryden . This preserved the mounds until the Great Depression, when a group of diggers who called themselves the Picola Mining Company acquired the site and tore through the ancient structure, destroying the delicate feather capes and baskets that had survived within the mound-cavities for hundreds of years. This break can be identified by a small shadow in the During this period, known as the Mississippian period, Spiro leaders were developing political, religious, and economic ties with people from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Mexico and from the coast of Virginia to the Great Lakes. Tribute points are the most artistically designed and skillfully made point type recovered from Craig mound. long narrow blades from the Wehrle Cache. The story behind the artefacts is just as compelling. It had an earthen ramp that gave access to the summit from the northern side. Recent excavations have revealed more cultural diversity than scholars had expected within that region. The site known as Spiro Mounds was a major location of the Caddoan Mississippian culture in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. One of the most prominent symbols at Spiro is the "Birdman", a winged human figure representing a warrior or chunkey player. The modern languages in the Caddoan family include Caddo, Wichita, Kitsai, Pawnee, and Arikara languages. While Cahokia declined, however, Spiro's importance was increasing greatly, thanks to its strategic location on the Arkansas River with easy access to both the Plains and the Woodlands. Tribute Points Frame. of $100. But around 1250, the rains became less predictable during a period known as the Little Ice Age. Participants drank a tea made from the Yaupon Holly from conch shell cups. No purchase necessary. Native American Art, Ritual, and Cosmic Renewal. The area was largely empty from 1600 to 1832, when Choctaw and Chickasaw freedman cleared the site for farming. Like many other cultures in the world, the Mississippians had a ranked society, which included commoners, warriors, ritual elite, and chiefs. Braden is a highly refined artistic style known for its representation of Morning Star and Earthmother as well as its depictions of plants, animals, and humans with references to body painting and tattooing. Dr. Robert E. Bell said the cache would fit in his Each phase is identified by distinct ceramic types and style of architecture. The eyes are This site has been significant for North American archaeology since the 1930s, especially due to its many preserved textiles and a wealth of shell carving. 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. During the 1930s commercial, and later academic, excavations revealed one of the greatest collections of artistic and utilitarian prehistoric American Indian artifacts in the United States. on Sundays from noon to 5. 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. It also contained the third-largest pyramidal mound in all the Americas. Context & History WHEN SPIRO WAS FIRST SETTLED during the Evans Phase (900-1050), Toltec Mounds in central Arkansas was a prominent spiritual center, and early Spiro pottery resembles that found at Toltec Mounds and at Caddo sites along the Red River. Engraving of a Birdman found in Spiro Mound. An earspool is a circular object that adorns extended ear holes, much like a modern day earring, and is decorated with different designs. What If She Never Existed? The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacn and the great pyramid at Cholula, both located in Mexico, are the only pyramids larger than Monks Mound. . Another Spiro icon is the "Great Serpent", a being said to inhabit the Under World, the spiritual domain on the opposite side of the Mississippian universe. and sold elsewhere. Greg Perino named these points in 2001 from a small group that surfaced in a private collection and documented several years ago by Dr. Robert Bell. Where Elvis Presley received his first Army buzz cut. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Park submitted by Flickr Copper artifact from Spiro Mounds Image copyright: tobeyruth (Ruth Tobey), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. [citation needed], Archaeologists found that one of the conch shell cups from Craig Mound had a black residue in the bottom. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Park submitted by Flickr Woolaroc Spiro Mounds artifacts Spiro mound artifacts on display at Woolaroc Museum, near Bartlesville. It is a Spiro Mound site that has a large amount of burial art and artifacts. The area known as the Cumberland has one of the densest concentrations of mound sites from the Mississippian Period. And in the destruction, one-third of the mounds were lost. Etowah was a large Mississippian center constructed about the same time as Cahokia and Moundville. This photograph shows the 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. Thus, the overall geographic area of the Mississippian world was subdivided into stylistic regions. May 13, 2023 Group of 60+ Artifacts. However, it is unquestionable that Spiro shared the same iconography and belief system as the other Mississippian Ceremonial Centers. Hundreds of engraved conch shells, thousands of pearl and shell beads, copper breast plates, large human effigy pipes and piles of brightly coloured blankets and robes. Spiro Mound. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. Artifacts . The Spiro people probably were speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages. Now an exhibition at The Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame brings this to life. Spirometer prices. Spiro continued to be used as a regional ceremonial center and burial ground until about 1450. This cache was found Harry T. Bell- Robert Bell's father, an artifact collector from Marion, Ohio. Image credit: Pete Bostrom. Cahokia's center called Monk's Mound covers an area of five hectares (12 acres) at its base and stands over 30 meters (~100 feet) tall. Later, some of the artifacts sold by treasure hunters were returned to regional museums and the Caddo Nation, but many artifacts from the site have never been accounted for. 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. . Craig Mound also called "The Spiro Mound" is the second-largest mound on the site and the only burial mound. archaeologists can begin to determine what life was like for the inhabitants of the Spiro Mound site. This piece is now at the Ohio Cahokia was also the likely epicenter of an artistic tradition referred to as Braden. Spiro Mound. National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter. [14] Archaeologists have determined that Spiro was at the peak of its cultural importance in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. and Robert Phelps of Marion, Ohio, arranged by Henry C. Shetrone, 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. We arrived at the Spiro Mounds site in early afternoon. Like the other eastern mounds, it was palisaded. They discarded the human remains and the fragile artifactsmade of textile, basketry, and even feathersthat were preserved in these extremely unusual conditions. These maces are pictured in Hamilton (1952), Plate 43, and Many are still used today by multiple Indigenous artistsallowing people to identify and understand this common ideology. Living near rivers in the Midwest and Southeast, they created highly developed, agriculturally based communities that were mostly fortified and contained large earthen mounds and broad plazas. Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center opened to the public on May 9, 1978. Each Mississippian center produced its own distinctive art, which in many instances was exchanged with other centers. May 13, 2023 20 3/4 . This The Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is the only prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public. This photograph shows an During this time, the site saw the enlargement of previously created mounds as well as many newly-constructed ones. Exhibit. SIartifacts Newbie. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, preventing collapse. Director: Anna Vincent, Geocache location Mound 72 is a fascinating mound well worth googling for more information and absolutely ridiculous photographs of artifacts, burials and sacrifices. Tunneling into the mound and breaking through the Great Mortuary's log wall, they found many human burials, together with their associated grave goods. item 1393.1A. It is currently a total of 17 blades plus three maces in the group sold to Mr. Fri, Feb 19, 2021. Witnesses say the air hissed as it escaped from a burial chamber that had been sealed for 500 years. Later, steps were taken to protect the site. It was concluded that the Spiro people had created a civilization equal to that of the Aztec or Maya. Offer subject to change without notice. A cavity created within the mound, approximately 10 feet (3.0m) high and 15 feet (4.6m) wide, allowed for almost perfect preservation of fragile artifacts made of wood, conch shell, and copper. Some scholars believe that minerals percolating through the mound hardened the log walls of the chamber, making them resistant to decay and shielding the perishable artifacts inside from direct contact with the earth. Schools and large groups can arrange for guided tours of the site by contacting the staff by phone or email at least a week ahead of time. six of the swords from the cache, not any of the examples shown Leflore Co, OK. Includes 2 Copper Pieces (1 3/4" and 2 1/4"). In the 1930s during the Great Depression, treasure hunters bought the rights to tunnel into Craig Moundthe second-largest mound on the siteto mine it for artifacts. These chiefs were often considered godlike by their people, sometimes referred to as the Sun. In . Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is located on Lock & Dam Road, 4 1/2 miles north of Oklahoma Highway 9 in Spiro (Highway 9 is the Oklahoma extension of Interstate 540 in Fort Smith). the leaders at Spiro Mounds thrived. 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. C. It has burial artifacts that date to earlier than 10,000 BCE. They paid the owner of Spiro's largest mound $300 for temporary rights to dig it up, although the men had no idea what lay inside. spiromound-0001- Figure 1: The They uncovered more than six hundred complete or partial burials and created what is the greatest collection of prehistoric Native American artifacts in the United States. ", "Notice of Inventory Completion: Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Admission fees are waived while the center is undergoing updates. the local S.S. Kresges 5 & 10 store in Bells 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. . Spiro, located on the Arkansas River, sat at a natural passage between the east and west, and grew as a trade centre. Archaeologists have shown that Spiro had a large resident population until about 1250. Darryl Starbird's National Rod and Custom Car Hall of Fame Museum. in this photograph, are shown in his Plate 46. spiromound-0046- Figure 46: An archaeological find unmatched in modern times. To save itself, Spiro's priests made a desperate attempt to "restart the universe". Large bifaces from Craig Mound, Spiro Mound site. This event was likely environmental and brought on by what is known today as a Little Ice Age. The mounds site, located seven miles outside of Spiro, Oklahoma, is the only prehistoric, American Indian archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public. Two Shell Earspools from Spiro Mound, LeFlore Co, OK. 1" and 1 1/4". Over 1,000 men, women, and children, along with artifacts, were buried in Craig Mound from the year AD 800 and AD 1450. from the occipital hairknot is a copper feather that curves up Robert E. Bell took this picture The most notable mound site in this area is called Kincaid. (Permission Oklahoma Historical Society) . The dead past has surely buried its dead within the mound." artifact collector J.G. A historian is on site to answer questions and lead tours. A treasure lost to time: Looters destroyed America's largest collection of Native American relics. Hamilton (1952), Plate 46. Anthropologists have thought that the Caddo and related peoples had been living in the region for centuries and that they had their own local variant of Mississippian culture. Newspapers would later call the find an American "King Tut's tomb". Pictures and description of several large bifaces that were excavated from Craig Mound in the 1930's by the Pocola Mining Company. The treasure hunters sold the artifacts they recovered to art collectors, some as far away as Europe. Permanent settlement at Spiro lasted from the year 800 until 1450, when the population suddenly declined and dispersed. The interpretive centre itself feels like a time warp, where a nearly 40-year-old introductory slide is shown by request. Archeological studies have revealed that Mississippian culture extended from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, along the Ohio River, and into both the lowland and mountain areas of the Southeast. Mar 16, 2022 3 4. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the worlds hidden wonders. over the head. The population lived in a village that bordered the plaza. These are the characteristics of an object that allow it to be grouped with similar works. They also lacked the wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. The longest is 22 long and is These were sold to Mr. Cooperrider of The 80-acres site lies near the Arkansas River in Fort Coffee, seven miles north of the town of Spiro. N35 degrees, 18.696 minutes, W94 degrees, 34.164 minutes. [4] As in other Mississippian-culture towns, the people built a number of large, complex earthworks. This plant-based diet was supplemented with large and small game, such as bison, deer, and rabbit, as well as fish. Located on a bend of the Arkansas River, the site was a natural gateway from which the Spiro people exerted their influence. The other principal cities were in Etowah, Georgia; Moundville, Alabama; and Cahokia, Illinois, near St. Louis, which was the biggest. The Mississippian people (AD 8001650) were the largest and most complex society to develop in the eastern half of North America. [21][22] The center features various exhibits and trails, and it offers tours,[21] including a virtual tour.[23]. The city center was surrounded by a large defensive wall and sat on nearly 185 acres. Florida plates Copper Solar Ogee Deity plate found at Lake Jackson Mounds, Florida . Hours which was exposed to major damage due to the looting of its artifacts. Twelve mounds lie on approximately 150 acres in which the Spiro lived and worked. Historical Society. B. Bison bones found at the Burnham site . THE SPIRO MOUNDS DIG. Ex-Ken Partain, Lonnie Hartline . The Spiro Mounds site is world renowned for the incredible amount of art and artifacts dug from the Craig Mound, the site's only burial mound. Artifacts from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma. 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. 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. While some artefacts remain on site, Spiro's bounty is spread among more than 65 museums across the US. Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to noon1 to 4 p.m. someones lunch sack. The Spiro mound collection in the Museum Burnett, Edwin Kenneth ; Clements, Forrest E. ; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1945 Where are mounds located? Despite the efforts of archeologists from . Embossed Copper Plate - Identified as a peregrine falcon, the bird figure has a distinctive "weeping eye" motif that appears in many falcon depictions on religious paraphernalia associated with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex - Craig Mound, Spiro Mound Complex - Eastern Oklahoma. Hamilton (1952) Plate 73, and Hamilton, et. The protected site included 150 acres of land that encompass twelve mounds, the elite village area and part of the support city. But the treasure soon disappeared. C. Townsend, Jr. purchased the Bell collection. Today the site is owned and operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Little excavation has been conducted there to date. Craig Mound is the tallest one, about 34 feet high, and to the left. The mound center declined and was eventually abandoned by AD 1450, although the city . The Strange Tale of SS Warrimoo, the Ship That Existed in Two Centuries at Once, Pirmide de los Nichos (Pyramid of the Niches), http://www.okhistory.org/outreach/museums/spiromounds.html, http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SP012.html, http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/counties/leflore.htm, http://www.chickasaw.tv/home/list/spiro-mounds. Other rooms hold modest galleries with replica artefacts. Very well made and in Very good condition. Ohio and later donated to the Ohio Historical Society. Artifacts found during this period reflect a major shift and resemble those typical of groups living on the Plains, such as the Wichita. This point measures 1 13/16 inches long (46mm) and 1 1/16 inches wide (26mm). In economic terms, Spiro seems to have been a gateway town that funneled valuable resources from the Great Plains and other western regions to the main Mississippian ceremonial centers farther east. Good condition. It is a The vast majority of Mississippian mounds in other places are no more than 3 m (10 ft) high. 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). [10] Using these valued materials, Mississippian artists created exquisite works of art reflecting their cultural identity and their complex spiritual beliefs. From a bend in the Arkansas River, the Spiro people led Mississippian culture over nearly two-thirds of what is now the United States. It was built in Norway around the year 820, and it was discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tnsberg in 1904. The Spiro people did not rely on maize as their primary cultivated crop like the inhabitants of the other ceremonial centers. Craig Mound has been called "an American King Tut's Tomb". The site is open. Etowah is unique because it saw repeated instances of abandonment and repopulation. By AD 1375, archaeological investigations indicate that the region was consumed with warfare and the city sacked. The mounds were arranged around large, constructed flat plazas believed to be used for ceremonial community gathering and ritual games. arrowpoints. 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. It is unknown why it was abandoned. Aside from the cultural importance of the . Temple Mound, Spiro, 1936, showing the ragged destruction by the looters. ", U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie), "National Register Properties in Oklahoma", Caddo Fundamentals: Spiro and the Arkansas Basin., "Spiro Mounds-A Ceremonial Center of the Southern Cult", "Caddo Fundamentals: Spiro and the Arkansas Basin. Prehistoric American Volume XXXVII Number 3, 2003. spiromound-0022- Figure 22: First identified in 1914 by Joseph Thoburn, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, the mounds were part of the Choctaw Nation land allotment. 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.
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