Moundville Archaeological Site facts for kids
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Moundville Archaeological Site
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Artist's conception of the Moundville Archaeological Site
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 Location in Alabama
Location in the United States
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| Location | 634 Mound State Parkway Moundville, Alabama, US |
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| Nearest city | Tuscaloosa |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000149 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | July 19, 1964 |
The Moundville Archaeological Site, also known as the Moundville Archaeological Park, is a very important Mississippian culture archaeological site. It is located on the Black Warrior River in Hale County, close to the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Many studies by archaeologists show that this site was a major political and religious center. It was part of a large Mississippian culture chiefdom (a group of villages led by a powerful chief) between the 11th and 16th centuries.
Today, the archaeological park is managed by the University of Alabama Museums. It covers about 185 acres (75 hectares) and has 29 large platform mounds. These mounds are built around a rectangular open area called a plaza. Moundville is the second-largest site from the classic Middle Mississippian era in the United States. The largest is Cahokia in Illinois. The Mississippian culture was found in many villages and chiefdoms across the central Mississippi River Valley and nearby areas. This includes parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. The park also has a museum and a special lab for studying ancient objects.
The site was named a National Historic Landmark in 1964. It was then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
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Discovering Moundville's Past
People have known about Moundville for a long time. In the mid-1800s, E. G. Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis mentioned it in their book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. This book was a survey for the Smithsonian Institution. Later, Nathaniel Thomas Lupton made a good map of the site.
The first major archaeological work at Moundville happened in the early 1900s. Clarence Bloomfield Moore, a lawyer from Philadelphia, dug there a lot in 1906. His detailed notes and discoveries are still helpful to archaeologists today. Sadly, over the next two decades, many valuable artifacts were taken from the mounds. This also damaged some of the ancient structures.
In the mid-1920s, concerned citizens, including Walter B. Jones (geologist), worked hard to save the site. The museum at Moundville is named after him. With help from the Alabama Museum of Natural History, they bought the land where the mounds are. By 1933, the site was officially called Mound State Park.
Protecting the Site
The park was developed for visitors starting in 1938. During the Great Depression, workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped protect the mounds from erosion. They also built roads and buildings for people to use at the site. The park's name changed to Mound State Monument and it opened to the public in 1939.
In 1980, many ancient pottery vessels were taken from the Erskine Ramsay Archaeological Repository at Moundville. These were very important pieces. Even with an investigation, none of the artifacts were seen again until 2018. That year, three special bowls were returned anonymously.
In 1991, the park's name officially became Moundville Archaeological Park. In 2021, a committee found that the site is culturally connected to seven Native American tribes. These tribes have asked for the return of human remains and other cultural items.
Life at the Ancient Site
Native Americans of the Mississippian culture lived at this site from about 1000 AD to 1450 AD. Around 1150 AD, the leaders of the settlement began to become more powerful. Moundville grew from a local village to a major regional center, or chiefdom. At its peak, the community was a large residential and political area, covering about 300 acres (120 hectares). It was protected on three sides by a wooden wall with towers called palisades. The other side was protected by the river bluff.
The largest platform mounds were built on the northern edge of the plaza. The mounds became smaller as you moved around the plaza to the south. Experts believe that the most important families lived near the large northern mounds. The smaller mounds likely had buildings for homes, burials, or other uses. There are 29 mounds still at the site today.
Mound A is the largest mound and sits in the center of the great plaza. Mound B is just north of it. Mound B is a steep, 58-foot (18-meter) tall pyramid-shaped mound with two ramps for access. Archaeologists have also found evidence of places where dirt was dug out (called borrow pits), other public buildings, and many small houses made of poles and thatch.
Archaeologists think that the way the community was planned showed its social order. Different families or groups (called clans) lived in different areas. Their importance was shown by the size and arrangement of the mounds around the central plaza. By 1300, the site was used more as a religious and political center than a place where many people lived. This was the start of its decline, and by 1500, most of the area was abandoned.
People and Their Skills
The area around Moundville seems to have had many people living there. However, they built few mounds before 1200 AD. After that, the plaza and mounds were built. At its busiest time, about 1,000 to 3,000 people lived inside the walls. Another 10,000 people lived in the surrounding river valley.
From what archaeologists have found, the people living at Moundville were very good at farming. They especially grew a lot of maize (corn). Growing extra corn meant they had time to trade for other goods. It also allowed more people to live in the area and for some people to become specialized craft makers. Many valuable goods from other places have been found at the site. These include copper, mica, galena, and marine shells.
Moundville is famous for the amazing art found in its artifacts. The former residents created beautiful pottery, stonework, and embossed copper pieces.
Moundville's Location
The Moundville Archaeological Site is on a bluff overlooking the Black Warrior River. The site and other related settlements are in a part of the Black Warrior River Valley. This area starts just south of present-day Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and goes about 25 miles (40 kilometers) downriver.
This region is a special type of environment called an ecotone. It has plants and animals from different types of forests. These include temperate oak-hickory forests, maritime magnolia forests, and pine forests. This mix of environments provided many resources for the people living there.
