Pocahontas Mounds

32°28′9.37″N 90°17′17.81″W / 32.4692694°N 90.2882806°W / 32.4692694; -90.2882806HistoryFounded800 ADAbandoned1300 ADCulturesColes Creek culture, Plaquemine Mississippian cultureSite notesExcavation dates2004ArchaeologistsJames A. FordArchitectureArchitectural stylesplatform mound, plaza, tumulusArchitectural detailsNumber of monuments:

Pocahontas Mound A

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

NRHP reference No.69000365^[1]Added to NRHPNovember 25, 1969

Pocahontas Mound B

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

NRHP reference No.72000694^[1]Added to NRHPApril 11, 1972 Responsible body: private

Pocahontas Mounds (22 HI 500) is an archaeological site from the Plaquemine Mississippian culture in Hinds County, Mississippi, dating from 800 to 1300 CE. Two mounds from the site were added to the NRHP on two separate occasions, Pocahontas Mound A on November 25, 1969, as NRIS number 69000365 and Pocahontas Mound B on April 11, 1972, as NRIS number 72000694.^[1] The mounds are listed on the Mississippi Mound Trail.^[2]

Description

The site consists of two mounds, a rectangular platform mound and a mortuary mound, and an associated village area. The site was occupied from 800 to 1300 CE by peoples of the Coles Creek and Plaquemine Mississippian cultures, although evidence found during excavations in 2004 showed that the site was occupied briefly in the Middle-Late Archaic period about 4000-1000 BCE.^[3] The platform mound, Mound A, is about 175 feet (53 m) in width and 22 feet (6.7 m) in height.^[4] It was described in the late 1930s by archaeologist James A. Ford as being 250 feet (76 m) by 350 feet (110 m) at its base and 25 feet (7.6 m) in height.^[5] Archaeological investigations found the remains of a typical Mississippian-period thatched, clay-plastered log-post structure on the mounds summit, which was once a ceremonial temple or residence of a chief.^[4] Located 1,200 feet (370 m) northwest of Mound A is Mound B, a steep-sided conical mound 75 feet (23 m) in diameter and 10 feet (3.0 m) in height.

At the time of Ford's writing Mound B was included within the grounds of a local school and could not be excavated.^[5] Various kinds of artifacts have been recovered from the site through site survey collections and excavations, including Mississippian-culture copper ear-spools, Mississippian culture pottery, flint chips and numerous burials in the surrounding fields. A fragmentary bird effigy bowl and a human effigy ceramic pipe were found at the burial mound by children from the school.^[5] The pottery found at the site is very similar to that found at the Anna site.^[6]

New excavations took place in June 2004 under the direction of Jeffrey Alvey for the Cobb Institute of Archaeology and funded by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. In 2008, a roadside park was opened at Mound A as a combined rest stop area and educational center explaining the site's cultural and historical importance.^[3]

Location

The site is used as a roadside park along U.S. Route 49, near its junction with Interstate 220.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "National Register of Historic Places". Retrieved October 27, 2011.
^ "Mississippi Mound Trail". Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Pocahontas Mound A". Cobb Institute of Archaeology. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "National Park Service : Indian Mounds of Mississippi : Pocahontas Mound A". National Park Service. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c James Alfred Ford (October 28, 1999). Michael John O'Brien; R. Lee Lyman (eds.). Measuring the flow of time: the works of James A. Ford, 1935-1941. University Alabama Press. p. 255. ISBN 0-8173-0991-8.
^ James Alfred Ford (October 28, 1999). Michael John O'Brien; R. Lee Lyman (eds.). Measuring the Flow of Time: The Works of James A. Ford, 1935-1941. University Alabama Press. p. 243. ISBN 0-8173-0991-8.

External links

Indian Mounds in Mississippi
Pocahontas Indian Mound
Historical Marker Society of America - Pocahontas Mounds
Pocahontas Mounds on Flickr

Mississippian and related cultures

List of Mississippian sites
Timeline of Mississippi valley

Middle
Mississippian

American Bottom and Upper Mississippi	Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Ramey state Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Acropolis Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Starr Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound
Lower Ohio River and Confluence area	Adams site Dogtooth Bend Mounds Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Ware Mounds Wickliffe Mounds
Middle Ohio River	Angel Mounds Angel phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown
Tennessee and Cumberland	Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Hiwassee Island Link Farm Mound Bottom Riverview Sellars Obion Old Town Swallow Bluff
Central and Lower Mississippi	Belle Meade Boone's Boyd Campbell Carson Chucalissa Denmark Eaker Janet's Menard-Hodges Murphy Nodena Nodena phase Owl Creek Parkin Quigualtam Tipton phase Tunica Koroa Yazoo Walls phase

South Appalachian
Mississippian

Fort Walton culture

Pensacola culture

Plaquemine
Mississippian

Caddoan
Mississippian

Upper Mississippian
cultures

Oneota	Anker Beattie Park Blood Run Carcajou Point Fifield Fisher Mound Group Gentleman Farm Grand Village of the Illinois Griesmer Hartley Fort Hotel Plaza Hoxie Farm Huber Juntunen Knoll Spring Mero site Moccasin Bluff Oak Forest Palos Plum Island Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Schwerdt Summer Island
Fort Ancient culture	Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village

Culture

Agriculture	Beans Chenopodium Little barley Maize Marshelder Pumpkin Squash Sunflower Three Sisters Tobacco
Artwork	Emmons mask Copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Duck River cache Long-nosed god maskette Mill Creek chert Pottery Shell gorget Stone statuary
Languages	Caddoan Central Algonquian Cherokee Mobilian Jargon Muskogean Natchez Taensa Siouan Timucuan Tunican Yuchi
Religion	Ballgame (Southeastern) Northern Black drink Burial mound Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Red Horn Sacred bundle Village bundle Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther

Related topics: Chevron bead; Clarksdale bell; Mound Builders; de Soto Expedition

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Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era

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