Poverty Point State Historic Site - Epps, Louisiana

Home to the largest known prehistoric earthworks in the Western Hemisphere, the Poverty Point State Historic Site is located on a bluff overlooking Bayou Macon between the towns of Epps and Lake Providence in the northeastern corner of Louisiana.

The site is one of the most remarkable Indian mound groups in the United States. Not only does its primary mound (Mound A) still rise more than 72 feet above the surrounding area, it takes the form of a giant flying bird. Such effigy mounds would become common in the Midwest and were built at other locations in the South over the centuries that followed, but at the time Poverty Point was active, Mound A was the only known such effigy in the country.

The Poverty Point Culture reached its height more than 3,000 years ago, long before any of the other mound-building groups of the Southeast. They were a pre-ceramic culture, meaning that they did not make pottery vessels to use for cooking or storing food. Instead, they were a stone age people who raised the manufacture of stone tools to a new level. Trade networks developed connecting the Poverty Point people to other prehistoric Native Americans across much of the eastern United States. Excavations at the site have revealed  shells from Florida, copper from the Great Lakes region and quartz and other crystals from the Ouachita and Ozark mountains of Arkansas and Missouri.

The site today is extremely interesting. In addition to the towering Mound A, which may have been more than 100 feet high when it was in use, the site includes other mounds, a central plaza site that appears to have been the location of a prehistoric observatory, and unique concentric manmade ridges upon which the people of the town lived.

In addition to walking paths and a nice museum, the site also provides guided tram tours of the extensive mounds. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poverty1.

Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center - Spiro, Oklahoma

Spiro Mounds is a major Indian mound site in eastern Oklahoma that is ranked as one of the four most important prehistoric sites east of the Rocky Mountains.

Although it seems far removed from the large Mississippian era mound groups of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia and the other Deep South states, Spiro played a critical part in the development of the Native American culture that spread across much of the Southeast and Midwest between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1540. The town maintained vast trading networks and archaeologists have found artifacts at the site that originated as far away as the Great Lakes and Florida.

Spiro Mounds also seems to have played a major role in the development of the ceremonial or religious beliefs of the Mississippian people, a culture that received its name because it is thought to have spread from the Mississippi River throughout the Southeast in around A.D. 900. Spiro is believed to have been occupied as early as A.D. 850 and research there has revealed a dramatic quantity of high quality ceremonial artifacts and artwork.

Research at the site has also revealed that the extensive complex of mounds was designed to coincide with key celestial events. The inhabitants of Spiro could mark the changing seasons by the way the sun and stars aligned with their mounds on key days of the year.

Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center is a major park owned and preserved by the Oklahoma Historical Society. It is open to the public five days each week and features a museum, walking paths, interpretive exhibits and more. To read moer about Spiro, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/SpiroMounds1.

Safety Harbor Mounds - Safety Harbor, Florida

The massive temple mound at Philippi Park in Safety Harbor is one of the most significant archaeological and historic sites in Florida.

Located just north of St. Petersburg and bordering Old Tampa Bay, Safety Harbor was once the site of a major Tocobaga Indian village that was thriving when the first Spanish explorers landing in the area. In fact, there are many indications that it was the capital of the primary cacique or chief of the Tocobaga.

Both Hernando de Soto and Panfilo de Narvaez encountered the Tocobaga as they stormed ashore in the Tampa Bay area, but it was Pedro Menendez de Aviles, the founder of St. Augustine, who first took more than a passing interest in them. Shortly after founding the oldest city in the U.S. on Florida's East Coast, Menendez implemented a systematic plan to conquer all of Florida and bring it under Spanish dominion.

He began by establishing forts on the east coast and by 1566 had made his way around the peninsula to Florida's Southwest Coast. He arrived at Tampa Bay that same year in an effort to make peace between the Tocobaga and their neighbors, the Calusa, who lived down the coast. The two warring nations agreed to a temporary peace and the Tocobaga even agreed to let Menendez build a fort at their primary town, believe to be the one that surrounded the Safety Harbor Temple Mound.

The first Spanish settlement on Old Tampa Bay did not last long. After about a year the Tocobaga rose up against the Europeans and slaughtered them to a man. The fort was destroyed and a priest of the time blamed the attack on cruelty committed against the Indians by the garrison.

The Tocobaga themselves did not long survive the arrival of the Spanish in Florida. Less than 100 years later, they had vanished, leaving only shell middens and mounds as reminders that they had ever walked the shores of the Gulf Coast.

The temple mound at Philippi Park is the best preserved of several mounds that once stood at the Safety Harbor site. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/safetyharbor.

Lake Jackson Mounds - Tallahassee, Florida

The site of modern Tallahassee has been the location of capital cities for thousands of years.

Long before this site was selected to become the capital of Florida, the Tallahassee area was the center of the Apalachee Indians. This Native American tribe battled early Spanish explorers such as Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando de Soto. Their ancestors, it is believed, were responsible for the development of the major civilization that had its center at the Lake Jackson Mounds in the northern edge of Tallahassee.

Now preserved as a state park, the Lake Jackson site features two large platform mounds, what remains of a massive ceremonial complex. Archaeologists believe this site was occupied during the Mississippian period (A.D. 900-1500), but was abandoned for unknown reasons in around 1500, just a few decades before Spanish explorers penetrated the region.

Excavations here revealed the burials of high status individuals believed to have been chiefs and priests. Some of the individuals were buried with elaborate copper breastplates, made from metal brought down from the mountains of North Georgia and Tennessee. These presence of such items at the site indicates that its occupants had vast trade networks.

The site now features interpretive displays, a nature trail, wooden stairs leading to the tops of the two mounds and a beautiful open area on the plaza of the ancient city. For more information, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/lakejackson1.

Spring Travel Part One: Poverty Point, Louisiana

Since spring is now here and everyone seems ready to shake off the winter blahs and explore a little, I thought I would take the next couple of weeks and share some of my favorite places in the South with you.

Poverty Point State Historic Site in northeastern Louisiana is one of the most impressive archaeological sites not just in the United States, but in the world. Located only about a half hour's drive north of Interstate 20 just west of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the park preserves the site of a Native American civilization that thrived some 3,000 years ago.

What makes Poverty Point so unique is that it preserves the mounds and earthworks of a civilization that thrived even before its inhabitants developed such things as pottery. The largest mound at the site rises over 72 feet above the surrounding farmland and was designed in the form of a giant bird. It overlooks a village site that was built atop a series of six semicircular concentric earthworks.

The park is extremely well maintained and offers a very nice interpretive center, paved walking trails, guided tours and a tram tour of the mounds. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poverty1.

Kolomoki Mounds - Ancient Civilization of South Georgia

Kolomoki Mounds State Park in Early County, Georgia (near Blakely), preserves one of the most impressive archaeological sites in North America.

Mound A (the main "Temple Mound," seen here) is one of the tallest and largest Native American earthworks in North America. The park also preserves a number of other prehistoric mounds, one of which has been excavated and enclosed in a museum to give visitors a chance to learn more about the unique Kolomoki culture.

At the time the mound group was occupied (before 1,000 A.D.), Kolomoki may have been the largest Native American civilization north of Mexico. The mounds were constructed to form a giant astronomical observatory for use in determining the longest and shortest days of the year.

If you would like to learn more about Kolomoki, please visit our section on the mounds at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/kolomoki1.

Emerald Mound - Natchez, Mississippi

This astounding Native American ceremonial mound is located just off the Natchez Trace Parkway outside of Natchez, Mississippi.

One of the largest "Indian mounds" in the eastern United States, Emerald Mound is believed to be more than 600 years old. It covers more than 8 acres and is topped by several smaller mounds.

Now protected by the National Park Service, the mound is one of the many historic points of interest along the Natchez Trace. If you would like to read more and see additional photographs, just go to www.exploresouthernhistory.com and look for the "Natchez Trace Parkway" heading.