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The Mazique Archeological Site ( 22 AD 502), also known as White Apple Village, is a prehistoric
Coles Creek culture Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland archaeological culture in the Lower Mississippi valley in the Southeastern Woodlands. It followed the Troyville culture. The period marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population ...
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
located in Adams County, Mississippi. It is also the location of the historic period White Apple Village of the
Natchez people The Natchez (; Natchez pronunciation ) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area in the Lower Mississippi Valley, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi in the United States. They spoke a language ...
and the Mazique Plantation. It was added to the NRHP on October 23, 1991, as NRIS number 91001529.


Description

The site is located on the west bank of Second Creek, a tributary of the
Homochitto River The Homochitto River (pronounced "ho-muh-CHIT-uh") is a river in the U.S. State of Mississippi. It flows from its source in southwest Mississippi for about west and south, emptying into the Mississippi River between Natchez and Woodville. Acc ...
and consisted of three
platform mound Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...
s and a central
plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
. It was occupied during both the Coles Creek period (700–1000 CE) and the later Plaquemine Mississippian period (1000–1680 CE), when it was recorded in historic times as the White Apple village of the Natchez. Mound A sits directly on the bank of Second Creek and more than half of its mass has been lost due to the creek eroding into it. It is currently in height but was recorded as being in height and in circumference by Montroville W. Dickeson in 1841 and in height and in length on the top by Calvin Brown in 1916. Mound B is located to the southeast and is in height and has a historic cemetery on its summit. It still retains its flat topped shape. Dickeson was the only one to mention the third mound, which he described as smaller than the others and being further reduced by cultivation of its surface. By the time of the other surveys and investigations it is no longer mentioned and its location is still under investigation. The site is named for a local African-American family from southern Adams County who once owned the land.


Excavations

Mazique was visited in 1927 and 1929 by James A. Ford and Moreau B. Chambers, who performed a site survey and surface collection of ceramic fragments of
Plaquemine culture pottery The Plaquemine culture was an archaeological culture (circa 1200 to 1700 CE) centered on the Lower Mississippi River valley. It had a deep history in the area stretching back through the earlier Coles Creek (700-1200 CE) and Troyville cultures ...
. Analysis of these fragments were used to date the site to the Coles Creek period. The first archaeological excavations at the site were in 1940 by the Natchez Historical Association at the instigation of local tourism promoter and entrepreneur Jefferson Davis Dickson, Jr. Dickson then had a short-lived "archaeological museum" built on the site during the early 1940s, which caused serious damage. The site was again excavated in 1948 by John L. Cotter and W. P. Lancaster.


White Apple Village

White Apple Village had three different actual sites, which were each occupied at different times. The first was near
Washington, Mississippi Washington is an unincorporated community in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Located along the lower Mississippi, east of Natchez, it was the second and longest-serving capital of the Mississippi Territory. History This area along t ...
, the second in
Franklin County, Mississippi Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,118, making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Meadville. The county was formed on December 2 ...
, and the third at the present location of the Mazique site. By the early 1700s, the Natchez had developed internal pro-
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
and pro- French factions. The pro-French faction was led by the tribal chief ''The Great Sun'' and his brother the ''
Tattooed Serpent Tattooed Serpent (died 1725) ( Natchez: Obalalkabiche; French: Serpent Piqué) was the war chief of the Natchez people of Grand Village, which was located near Natchez in what is now the U.S. state of Mississippi. He and his brother, the paramou ...
'', and was based in the
Grand Village of the Natchez Grand Village of the Natchez, ( 22 AD 501) also known as the Fatherland Site, is a site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south Natchez, Mississippi. The village complex was constructed starting ...
and supported by the villages of ''Flour'' and ''Tioux''. These villages were in the southwestern part of Natchez territory near the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
and closer to the location of French contact. The pro-English faction's villages lay to the northeast, closer to the
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...
and English contact, and further from the river. The pro-English villages included White Apple, ''Jenzenaque'', and ''Grigra''. When violence broke out between the Natchez and the French, the village of White Apple was usually the main instigator of the hostility. This factional infighting was a holdover of pre-European local politics, when various groups vied for supremacy over the polity. This had caused the main Natchez political leadership to switch amongst various sites throughout the years; at times being located at
Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...
, Emerald, Foster, Mazique, or the
Fatherland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
sites. The First Natchez War (1716) began when raiders from White Apple killed four French traders. After the war, the French built
Fort Rosalie Fort Rosalie was built by the French in 1716 within the territory of the Natchez Native Americans and it was part of the French colonial empire in the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. Early history As part of the peace terms that ...
near the Grand Village, considered the beginning of Natchez, Mississippi. In 1722 and 1723, war (Second and Third Natchez Wars) again broke out when in White Apple an argument over a debt resulted in a French trader's murder of one of the Natchez villagers. Unsatisfied with the French commander's reprimand of the murderer, the warriors of White Apple retaliated by attacking nearby French settlements until Tattooed Serpent's diplomatic efforts restored the peace. Within a year, a French army intent on punishing the warriors of White Apple demanded the surrender of a White Apple chief as recompense for the earlier Natchez attacks. Under pressure from the French and other Natchez villages, White Apple turned the chief over. When in the late 1720s both the elder Great Sun and Tattooed Serpent died, the chief of White Apple became the eldest Sun chief and had more political clout than the newly installed Great Sun, nephew of the previous Great Sun. The French continued to hold this new Great Sun responsible for the conduct of all Natchez villages and insisted on dealing with the Natchez people as a unified nation ruled from its capital, even though in reality this was not the situation. In 1729, the new French commander, Sieur de Chépart, ordered the emptying of White Apple so that he could use its land for a new
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. This was the final affront to the Natchez. The chiefs of White Apple sent emissaries to potential allies, including the Yazoo,
Koroa The Koroa were one of the groups of indigenous people who lived in the Mississippi Valley prior to the European settlement of the region. They lived in the northwest of present-day Mississippi in the Yazoo River basin. Language The Koroa are bel ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
, Chickasaw, and Choctaw. They also sent messages to enslaved Africans of nearby French plantations, inviting them to join the Natchez in rising up to drive out the French. The Natchez destroyed the French settlements in their territory. In retaliation, the French eventually killed or enslaved most of the Natchez people. Overshadowing the first three in scale and importance, this war is usually called simply the Natchez War.


References


External links


White Apple Village ruins -- Natchez

The location of the historic Natchez villages
(PDF)
Mazique Archeological Site Historical Site
{{National Register of Historic Places Natchez people Archaeological sites of the Coles Creek culture Plaquemine Mississippian culture Mounds in Mississippi Geography of Adams County, Mississippi Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi