BGuthrie Photos: MS -- Natchez Trace Parkway -- Mile 243.1 -- Owl Creek Mounds

MS -- Natchez Trace Parkway -- Mile 243.1 -- Owl Creek Mounds:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NT2431_170605_10.JPG: Owl Creek Mounds A Ceremonial Site and Its Surrounding Area The first humans came to North America by crossing the Bering Strait land bridge, which connected Siberia and Alaska. Their descendants arrived in this part of Mississippi nearly 12,000 years ago. The oldest mounds in the state were built by people who hunted animals and gathered wild plants for food. Later mounds were the handiwork of prehistoric farmers. The Owl Creek Mounds site was built and used by farming people belonging to the Mississippian culture, A.D. 1000 to 1500. The Owl Creek site consists of five mounds arranged around a central open area. Mounds I and II are publicly owned, while Mounds III, IV, and V are on private land. The mounds were described in 1805 by Dr. Rush Nutt, an early traveler through the area. He wrote that all five mounds were flat on top. Today, only Mound I remains close to its prehistoric appearance. As late as the 1960s, the mounds were plowed and planted, changing their shape and size. The county road was also widened, cutting away part of Mound V. People probably came to the mounds for special events but lived in small farmsteads scattered on high ground along Chuquatonchee, Tallabinnela, Tubbalubba, and other nearby creeks. The small farmsteads are marked by a few pieces of shell-tempered pottery and other everyday artifacts. Some of these residential sites have been located by archaeologists searching the surface of the ground for artifacts. A ground stone axe was found in Goodfood Creek near the mounds. Since it was made from a fragile type of rock called limonite, it was probably a ceremonial object. The axe may have served as a symbol for an important leader, perhaps someone in charge of the ceremonies at the mounds. The Owl Creek site is intriguing because the mounds show that massive construction was done during the early part of the Mississippian period, yet the site was abandoned after only a hundred years. During its use, Owl Creek was the largest mound site in a region covering thousands of square miles. The nature of the ceremonies carried out at the mounds and the reason for the site's abandonment remain a mystery.
2. NT2431_170605_25.JPG: Archaeology at Owl Creek Mounds Early Archaeology - Mound II The first archaeological work at Owl Creek Mounds was supervised by Moreau Chambers in August, 1935. He was employed by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and assisted by Slater Gordon. E.T. Winston, a Pontotoc journalist and local historian, also helped. The crew, hired by the Federal Employment Relief Administration, was composed of local men. Excerpt from Chambers' diary Saturday, August 10, 1935 "During the morning I took Mr. Winston into Pontotoc to see about getting pay for the FERA laborers. To our dismay we learned that our work-week instead of being 48 hours in length is limited to 30 hours ... While we were in Pontotoc, I got some more gas and groceries on credit for ten dollars at the First National Bank of Pontotoc, having had my pocket money reduced to 17c through the necessity of carrying on the Survey with our personal funds." Chambers' crew dug trenches from the edges to the centers of Mounds II, IV, and V. The excavations showed complicated layering, especially in Mound II, but few artifacts were recovered. A large hearth, with clay hardened by fire, was found at the bottom of the trench in Mound II. 1935. Chambers' crew standing in the trench in Mound II. E.T. Winston in the foreground, Wayne Harrison, James M. Watts, Wilson Dillard, Tom Crews, and Chastain Johnson in back. In 1992, a crew cleaning the dirt out of Chambers' 1935 L-shaped trench in Mound II found a bottle with a note inside. This mound excavated in the month of August, 1935 by Messrs. Moreau B. Chambers and Slater Gordon from the Mississippi Dept. Of Archives and History. Co-operating with Pontotoc County FERA organization – W.D. Hiddleston, Works Manager; E.T. Winston, Foreman of Labor; James W. Watts, Archaeological Expert.
3. NT2431_170605_28.JPG: 1935. Chambers' crew standing in the trench in Mound II. E.T. Winston in the foreground, Wayne Harrison, James M. Watts, Wilson Dillard, Tom Crews, and Chastain Johnson in back.
4. NT2431_170605_37.JPG: Archaeology Determines the Age of Owl Creek Mounds Owl Creek Mounds were built between 800 and 900 years ago and were used for only about 100 years. This was determined by the dating of charcoal samples collected at the site and by studying the artifacts and type of building remains found in the mounds. Artifacts provide an easy method for establishing the time period of a site. Pottery, even in broken pieces, works especially well. For example, people of the Mississippian culture made pots with crushed mussel shell added to the clay as temper. Pottery tempered with crushed mussel shell was found in all five mounds. Using wall trenches in the construction of buildings is also typical of the Mississippian cultures. The builders dug narrow trenches where each wall was to be placed. They then set the posts, sometimes in postholes dug in the bottom of the trenches. The wall trenches were filled with dirt to hold the posts in place. Archaeological excavations found wall trenches in Mounds I, II, and IV. This method of construction also confirms that the mounds were built during the Mississippian period. Archaeologists discovered the age of the mounds by using the radiocarbon method to date charcoal samples. This tells how much time has passed since the charred remains were living organisms such as trees or corn plants. All living things absorb carbon-14, along with stable carbon-12, from the atmosphere. When they die, this absorption stops while the carbon-14 in their tissues continues to decay radioactively. Since we know how fast carbon-14 decays, measuring the amount left can provide a date for each charcoal sample. Small amounts of charcoal were carefully collected from a wall trench and postholes in Mounds I, II, and V. The radiocarbon lab counted the amount of radioactive carbon-14 left in each sample. Five different radiocarbon dates were determined. The dates spanned from the period A.D. 1133 to A.D. 1219.
5. NT2431_170605_45.JPG: De Soto's Expedition Was Owl Creek the Town of Chicasa? Hernando De Soto landed in Florida at Tampa Bay in May, 1539. His army numbered around 800 Spaniards including two women. He also had 240 horses and several pigs. The expedition traveled through the Southeast to Texas and returned to the Mississippi River to float down to the Gulf of Mexico. Only about 300 Spaniards survived the four-year journey to reach Mexico in September of 1543. Chicasa was a village occupied by the Chickasaw Indians. The Chickasaws attacked and burned their own village in 1541 while Hernando De Soto and his Spanish army were living there, in order to drive the Spaniards out. It has been suggested that Owl Creek Mounds was the site of Chicasa. However, according to archaeological discoveries the mounds were abandoned around A.D. 1200. No one lived at Owl Creek Mounds at the time of De Soto's expedition. In December, 1540, De Soto entered what is now the state of Mississippi with his army of about 700 Spaniards and Indian captives. When they arrived at the banks of a flooded Tombigbee River, a group of Indians on its west bank began threatening the army. De Soto dispatched 30 mounted soldiers to cross upstream and frighten the Indians away. Once the hostile Indians departed, De Soto's army crossed the river and continued without opposition. De Soto and his army spent that winter in the village of Chicasa. The Indians abandoned the village to the Spaniards and moved to a smaller village a few miles away, but the Chickasaw chief still visited Chicasa, bringing gifts of dogs, rabbits, and animal hides to De Soto and his army. In March, 1541, the Chickasaws attacked the village of Chicasa. About a dozen Spaniards and fifty horses were killed. The Indians burned the village and the livestock pens, killing many pigs. De Soto and most of his army survived the attack and in April they resumed their journey westward.
6. NT2431_170605_64.JPG: Archaeology at Owl Creek Mounds Modern-Day Archaeology - Mound I In the summers of 1991 and 1992, archaeology field schools from Mississippi State University worked to learn more about the site. Most of the excavations were done on top of Mounds I and II, with small test units dug into Mounds III, IV, and V. Broken pieces of pottery and other artifacts were recovered. Information on pits, buildings, and mound construction stages was also gathered. Because the mounds contained few artifacts, they probably were used for short-term ceremonies rather than as permanent chiefs' residences. In 1992, archaeologists searched for a village at Owl Creek. They dug shovel holes thirty yards apart over the entire site and sieved the dirt from 160 holes. Only a few broken pieces of pottery were found, which means that the site was not a place where many people lived. It was probably deserted for much of the year, between ceremonial gatherings. Top View of Excavation: Many Mississippian mounds were platforms for temples or chiefs' houses. The excavation on Mound I found evidence of a building that had been rebuilt several times. At one time, the south wall was 20 feet long. It had two short walls extending to the south which possibly formed screens at the top of the ramp. The ramp faced south into the plaza. The steps in use today were added in recent times. Side View of Excavation: Dirt layers of various colors, including gray, orange, olive green, and brown formed floors within the Mound I building. Perhaps a new layer was laid when the floor was renewed for ceremonial uses of the mound.
7. NT2431_170605_70.JPG: 1992. Mississippi State University crew on the steps of Mound I.
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