Moundville Archaeological Park
Moundville Archaeological Park, formerly Mound State Monument, is 326-acre prehistoric settlement site with 29 large earthen mounds which were constructed between 1000 and 1450 by Native Americans of the Mississippian culture on a plateau overlooking the Black Warrior River in northern Hale County. The site is managed by University of Alabama Office of Archaeological Research and, along with the on-site Jones Archaeological Museum, is open to the public as part of the University of Alabama's Museum .
The Mississippian settlement at Moundville was first occupied in about 1000 AD and grew into a metropolis of regional importance beginning in about 1150. A wooden palisade was completed around the primary site by 1200, after which the population inside the enclosure may have topped 1,000 inhabitants, with nearly 10,000 living in the surrounding countryside. Through the 14th century, it is presumed to have been the most populous city of what is now Alabama. The overall arrangement of mounds around an open plaza is believed to have reflected a social system based on rival clans. The larger mounds supported lodgings for important households, with others serving various ceremonial functions.
After 1350 the Moundville site was depopulated, but remained an important ceremonial center for a century or so. By the time Hernando De Soto's band of Spanish explorers crossed the area in 1540 the Mississippian culture was all but forgotten and the Moundville site was uninhabited.
Erskine Ramsay Archaeological Repository.
The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966
In 1980 264 prehistoric vessels were stolen from the Archaeological Repository at Moundville. After decades of fruitless investigation, a $20,000 reward was offered for information about any missing artifacts in 2018. Three notable vessels that had been among those stolen were recovered a month later.
References
- Knight, Vernon James Jr (2010) Mound Excavations at Moundville: Architecture, Elites and Social Order. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817316877
- Beahm, Anna (November 12, 2018) "3 of the hundreds of stolen artifacts from Moundville recovered." The Birmingham News