Moundville Burial Sites and Evidence of Social ... |||| Around 800 years ago, a great civilization inhabited the land in western Alabama, located along the Black Warrior River, south of Tuscaloosa. It encompassed a known area of 320 acres and contained at least 29 earthen mounds. Other significant features include a centralized plaza or open area and a huge log construction fortification. The flat-grouping pyramidal mounds ranging from three to 60 feet, are believed to have been built by moving the land, leaving large pits that are today small lakes. As the main ceremonial center, up to 3000 people inhabited the central area from 1200-1400 AD. An estimated 10,000 lived around the stockade, which surrounded three sides of the civilization (Blitz 2008: 2-3; Little et al 2001: 132). A farmer in the late 19th century, after plowing his land near Carthage, Alabama, buried object in the earth. From the ground, he removed a large stone disc, shiny and perfectly round. The disk was about 12 inches in diameter with small edges. One side showed engraved globular lines and the reverse of the coin was “a strange engraving showing an open hand with what looked like an eye peering from it. Approximating the image by hand and eye were two intertwined rattlesnakes with horns and long tongues. "The farmer had previously found pottery tools, but had never seen an object like this (Blitz 2008:1). Moundville has been the focus of a great deal of archaeological interest because of its impressive earthworks. Clarence B . Moore produced well-publicized works. During his time at Moundville in 1905 and 1906, Moore pierced the mounds with "test holes", finding numerous burials and related artifacts most of his discovery ...... center of paper ...... Now Little2001: Edgar Cayce's Forgotten Record of Ancient America .2000 Rural Communities in the Valley of the Black Warriors, Alabama: The Role of Ordinary Citizens in Creating the Moundville Landscape I. American Antichity 65 (2): pp. 337-354 : ancient peoples of eastern North America. London. Thames Andhudson Ltd. Reilly III, Kent E. and James F. Garber2007. Ancient objects and sacred realms. Austin. University of Texas Press.Steponaitis, Vincas p.1983 Investigations of the Smithsonian Institution at Moundville in 1869 and 1882. MidContinental Journal of Archeology 8 (1): pp. 127-160.Welch, Paul D. and C. Margaret Scarry1995. Status-related variation in Foodways in the Moundville Chiefdom. American Antiquity60 (3): pp. 397-419.

Topic > Moundville Burial Sites and Evidence of Social ... |||| Around 800 years ago, a great civilization inhabited the land in western Alabama, located along the Black Warrior River, south of Tuscaloosa. It encompassed a known area of 320 acres and contained at least 29 earthen mounds. Other significant features include a centralized plaza or open area and a huge log construction fortification. The flat-grouping pyramidal mounds ranging from three to 60 feet, are believed to have been built by moving the land, leaving large pits that are today small lakes. As the main ceremonial center, up to 3000 people inhabited the central area from 1200-1400 AD. An estimated 10,000 lived around the stockade, which surrounded three sides of the civilization (Blitz 2008: 2-3; Little et al 2001: 132). A farmer in the late 19th century, after plowing his land near Carthage, Alabama, buried object in the earth. From the ground, he removed a large stone disc, shiny and perfectly round. The disk was about 12 inches in diameter with small edges. One side showed engraved globular lines and the reverse of the coin was “a strange engraving showing an open hand with what looked like an eye peering from it. Approximating the image by hand and eye were two intertwined rattlesnakes with horns and long tongues. "The farmer had previously found pottery tools, but had never seen an object like this (Blitz 2008:1). Moundville has been the focus of a great deal of archaeological interest because of its impressive earthworks. Clarence B . Moore produced well-publicized works. During his time at Moundville in 1905 and 1906, Moore pierced the mounds with "test holes", finding numerous burials and related artifacts most of his discovery ...... center of paper ...... Now Little2001: Edgar Cayce's Forgotten Record of Ancient America .2000 Rural Communities in the Valley of the Black Warriors, Alabama: The Role of Ordinary Citizens in Creating the Moundville Landscape I. American Antichity 65 (2): pp. 337-354 : ancient peoples of eastern North America. London. Thames Andhudson Ltd. Reilly III, Kent E. and James F. Garber2007. Ancient objects and sacred realms. Austin. University of Texas Press.Steponaitis, Vincas p.1983 Investigations of the Smithsonian Institution at Moundville in 1869 and 1882. MidContinental Journal of Archeology 8 (1): pp. 127-160.Welch, Paul D. and C. Margaret Scarry1995. Status-related variation in Foodways in the Moundville Chiefdom. American Antiquity60 (3): pp. 397-419.