<< Other Photo Pages >> Carson Mounds - Artificial Mound in United States in The South
Submitted by stonetracker on Friday, 03 February 2023 Page Views: 449
Pre-ColumbianSite Name: Carson MoundsCountry: United States Region: The South Type: Artificial Mound
Nearest Town: Stovall MS
Latitude: 34.294934N Longitude: 90.681712W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
stonetracker visited on 1st Feb 2024 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 One of the most impressive Early Mississippian sites anywhere in the US, let alone MS. Outside of the Lake George (Holly Bluff) site, it is likely the largest Native American mound site in the state, covering over a mile of terrain that once hosted over 80 mounds, an earthen enclosure, and a large village site. 5 of the largest mounds are the only cultural features that remain visible today. Unfortunately most of them are on private property and can only be viewed legally from the road unless owner permission is obtained (or they are approached with caution and respect). Some are posted No Trespassing.
Only Mound B has an official parking pulloff. The rest can be accessed, but generally require parking in a private area with some short distance walking.
Stretching nearly the length of a mile, Carson Mounds is one of Mississippi's most impressive archaeological sites. When it was first mapped in 1894, the site had seven large and 80 small mounds as well as an earthen embankment. Though the site is exceptional in size, the mounds and other site features are organized according to a common orientation, suggesting that Native American people built the earthworks in accordance with a planned site layout. Today, five of the original seven large mounds remain. The remaining mounds as well as the earthen embankment have all been destroyed by modern agricultural practices, though portions of the embankment were still visible as late as 1951.
Professional archaeological excavations since 2007 have found that Mounds A, B, C, and D exhibit different construction techniques and that they had domestic, ritual, and mortuary functions. Much recent excavation has focused on the area surrounding Mound A that was once enclosed by the earthen embankment. In this part of the site, archaeologists have discovered houses, palisade walls, and large storage pits. They have also discovered evidence of elaborate mortuary ritual in the form of charnal houses and communal burial pits.
Pottery and other artifacts from Carson suggest that Native Americans lived at the site at least as early as the Middle Woodland Period (ca. AD 1-400). However, the mounds and other earthworks were constructed beginning in the Early Mississippi Period (or slightly earlier), sometime around AD 1000. About the time mound building commenced, the people of Carson were interacting with Mississippian people from Cahokia, near present day East St. Louis, Illinois. Evidence of this contact includes stone tools that are identical in material and manufacturing techniques to those from Cahokia, as well as pottery and architectural styles that are similar to those of Cahokia but unknown elsewhere in the Yazoo Basin. Some archaeologists speculate that this contact with Cahokia may have sparked significant cultural change in the region, including the shift to maize-based agriculture as well as increasing social and political inequality. In any case, the program of mound building that began during this time continued at Carson for several hundred years, perhaps until around the time of European contact in the mid 16th century.
Location of coordinates is Mound B.
For more info, see http://trails.mdah.ms.gov/mmt/carson/index.html#
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