Indian Mound Park (Dauphin Island, Alabama) facts for kids

Indian Mound Park, also known as Shell Mound Park, is a special place on the northern shore of Dauphin Island. This island is part of Mobile County, Alabama, in the United States. It's not just a park; it's also a safe place for many different birds. You can find a wide variety of plants here too.

The park is very important because it has ancient Indian shell mounds. These mounds are huge piles of discarded oyster shells. People from long ago left them here. Indian Mound Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources helps manage and protect it.

History of the Shell Mounds

The shell mounds at Indian Mound Park were made during the Mississippian period, which was from about 1100 to 1550. During these years, Native Americans from the Pensacola culture often visited these mounds. They came to collect oysters and fish in Little Dauphin Island Sound, which is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico.

A scientist named Gregory Waselkov, from the University of South Alabama, thinks these visitors likely came from Bottle Creek Indian Mounds. Bottle Creek was the biggest Mississippian settlement in that area. He believes Bottle Creek was their main village, and Dauphin Island was a place they traveled to during the winter months.

How Ancient People Used Oysters

Shell middens at the site.

Fish and oysters from the sound were a good source of food. They were easy to find, unlike farmed food, which could be affected by bad weather. People could eat the oysters right away or dry them to save for later.

They collected oysters from reefs when the water was low. To cook them, they put the oysters on hot coals in a pit. Then, they covered them with seaweed to steam them. This cooking method was probably similar to a traditional New England clam bake. Steaming made the oyster shells open easily, so it was simple to get the meat out. To keep the oysters from spoiling, the meat was often smoked. Over many years, all the discarded shells piled up, forming the large mounds we see today.

Arrival of Europeans and Changes

Spanish explorers first came to Dauphin Island in 1519. When Europeans arrived, it changed the way of life for the Mississippian culture. Over time, the Mississippian tribes in the coastal area either became or were replaced by the Choctaw and Creek tribes.

The Creeks and Seminoles continued to fish and gather oysters in this area. However, in the 1830s, they were forced to move to the Indian Territory, which is now in Oklahoma.

In 1699, a French explorer named Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville landed on the island. He found a large pile of human bones. Because of this discovery, d'Iberville named the island Massacre Island. The tall, winding shape of the shell mounds on the north side of the island showed that earlier groups of people had lived or used the area.

Archaeology at Indian Mound Park

Indian Mound Park has six oyster shell mounds of different sizes. The largest mound is mostly round with a dip in the middle. It measures about 180 feet (55 meters) across and 165 feet (50 meters) wide. Its height ranges from 3 feet (1 meter) to 22 feet (7 meters). However, in a book called Stars Fell On Alabama, Carl Carmer said the largest mound was once 50 feet (15 meters) tall and had layers that were ten feet (3 meters) thick. These mounds are similar to shell rings found along the coasts of Florida and South Carolina.

Studying the Mounds

In 1940 and 1941, a small study was done on a large ancient shell mound on Dauphin Island. Later, in 1990, scientists from the University of South Alabama did more detailed digs at the site.

When they looked at the side of a mound, they saw different layers. There were thick layers of oyster shells and thin layers of charcoal, fish bones, and broken pottery. These layers show that different groups of people used the mounds at different times of the year over hundreds of years. The oyster shells were thrown into the area around the fire used for steaming. Each year, the fire might have been in a slightly different spot, creating a complex pattern of overlapping shell layers. A team from the University of South Alabama, with help from the National Science Foundation, even made a map of the shell mounds.

Not many objects were found during these digs. Most of the items discovered were pieces of broken cooking pots. Stone tools were very rare in this area.

Wildlife and Nature

Indian Mound Park has more kinds of subtropical plants than other barrier islands along the Gulf Coast. Many of these plants were probably brought here by Native American groups for medicine or cooking. Some plant families found here come from as far north as the Appalachian Mountains and as far south as the state of Yucatán in Mexico. Some Live oak trees on the island might be over 800 years old. They were already growing there when Spanish and French explorers first arrived.

The park is part of the Dauphin Island-Bayou La Batre Loop of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail. Because of its location on the northern edge of the Gulf of Mexico, Dauphin Island is a resting spot for many migrating birds. Over 384 different kinds of birds have been seen on the island. These include many shorebirds, long-legged waders, and warblers. The city of Dauphin Island was even called America's "birdiest" small coastal city in both 2005 and 2006. You can also spot migrating butterflies at Indian Mound Park.

Images for kids

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  Shell middens at the site.