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Spiro Mounds |
Spiro Mounds is a state archaeological site run by the Oklahoma Historical Society and open to the public. It is located in Eastern Oklahoma, near the modern town of Spiro. It is one of the most important pre-Columbian sites in the United States.
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Spiro is the largest Caddoan Mississipian site, and the western-most known outpost of the over-arching Mississippian culture that spread along the lower Mississippi drainage area and its tributaries. Like other Mississippian sites, it is composed of a number of large ceremonial mounds.
Spiro was inhabited between about 600 and 1450 AD. It was the headquarters of powerful leaders who directed the building of eleven platform mounds and one burial mound over a 150-acre (0.61 km2) area. The heart of the site is an oval plaza area formed by a group of nine mounds. The platform mounds in this area elevated the homes of important leaders or formed the foundations for religious structures that focused the attention of the community. Here, the inhabitants carried out complex rituals, centered especially on the deaths and burials of Spiro's leaders. Craig Mound, one of the largest and the only burial mound, was looted by artifact hunters between 1933 and 1935. The mound contained a small cavity which allowed for almost perfect preservation of fragile artifacts like lace, fabrics, copper and conch shell. It appears to have begun as a burial chamber for an ancient ruler that was covered over with earth but never collapsed. Some of the artifacts looted at that time have been recovered.
Archaeologists from the University of Oklahoma explored the site between 1936 and 1941. The Oklahoma Historical Society established the "Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center" in 1978.
Spiro was instrumental in the formulation of what archaeologists call the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. When the Craig Mound was entered in the 1930s, many hundreds of elaborately engraved shell fragments were found, as well as stone effigy pipes, repousse copper plates and mortuary pottery. In the 1940's (along with artifacts from Cahokia, Etowah, Moundville,Ocmulgee, and various other sites) the S.E.C.C. was formulated by Antonio Waring and Preston Holder as a series of four traits which they categorized as the Southeastern (centered) Ceremonial Complex. 1
Since then, scholars have expanded the original definition while still using the same trait list. Since the late 1980's scholars have proposed a more archaeologically centered definition for defining the Mississippian artistic tradition. They propose the classification of the complex into five horizons, with each as a discrete tradition defined by the origin of specific motifs and ritual objects and the specific developments in long-distance exchange and political structures. 2 The S.E.C.C. was a vast Mississippian trading network that brought colored flint from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes, mica from the Carolinas, and whelk shells from the Gulf Coast to Spiro. 3 . Alone among Mississippian sites, obsidian from Mexico was found at the Spiro site. 4. These exotic materials were engraved with intricate designs of humans, animals, and geometric designs. The designs on whelk shells at Spiro are particularly well rendered and undoubtedly had profound symbolic significance. The shells were made into drinking vessels. One of the whelk shell cups found in the Craig mound had a black ring in the bottom, possibly indicating a participation in the Black drink Ceremony of the Gulf Coast. 5
There are four distinct styles found on the Spiro artifacts. The Braden Style is found on objects brought from the faraway Cahokia site, while the Craig A, B, and C styles are local derivates of the Braden Style. 6 7 Spiro's ceremonial objects are among the finest examples of pre-Columbian art in North America.
The Spiro people appear to have been speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages.
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