The Pinson Mounds comprise a prehistoric
Native American complex located in
Madison County, Tennessee
Madison County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 98,823. Its county seat is Jackson. Madison County is included in the Jackson, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
H ...
, in the region that is known as the Eastern Woodlands. The complex, which includes 17
mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...
s, an
earthen
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former term ...
geometric
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
, and numerous habitation areas, was most likely built during the
Middle Woodland period
In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...
(c. 1-500
AD). The complex is the largest group of Middle Woodland mounds in the United States. Sauls' Mound, at , is the second-highest surviving mound in the United States.
The Pinson Mounds are now part of Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, one of two
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
parks in Tennessee (the other being
Old Stone Fort near
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
). Pinson Mounds is a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
.
Geographic setting
The Pinson Mounds are located on a plateau-like upland above the
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s that line the banks of the South Fork of the
Forked Deer River
The Forked Deer River system is the main drainage of the central portion of West Tennessee. Locals pronounce the first word of the river's name with two syllables, as in “Forkéd” ().
The Forked Deer consists of various streams designated ...
. The river and its wetlands form the complex's southern boundary. The Pinson Mounds are located amidst three distinctive biotic zones: the
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
forests atop the plateau, the
cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...
forests in the wet bottomlands, and the
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
forests on the slopes between the uplands and the bottomlands. The ground is mostly composed of
Tertiary period
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
rocks known for producing high-quality clay.
The mounds complex can be roughly divided into three sections— the Inner section, situated at the center of the complex around Saul's Mound, the Western (or Ozier) section, and the Eastern section, which includes the geometric enclosure. A stream known as Hudson Branch runs perpendicular to the Forked Deer River and divides the Inner section from the Western section. The Eastern and Western sections are both roughly 1,500 meters from the Inner section.
The Pinson Mounds complex is managed by the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) is a Cabinet-level agency within the government of the U.S. state of Tennessee, headed by the Tennessee Commissioner of Environment and Conservation.
The Department of Conservation ...
. The Western section is managed by the Tennessee Division of Forestry and includes a nursery and irrigation pond. Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park is located appx. 2.5 miles east of the town of
Pinson and approximately 10 miles southeast of
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name
Places
Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Qu ...
.
Archaeological features
The Pinson Mounds complex covers approximately and contains at least 30 mounds, 17 of which have been identified as being completely or partially constructed by prehistoric peoples.
[Mark Norton, "The Pinson Mounds Complex," ''West Tennessee Historical Society Papers'' 55 (2001). Copy obtained at Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park.] The mounds range in height from the prominent 72-foot Saul's Mound to barely noticeable rises. Most mounds were probably constructed between 100 and 300 AD, based on
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
and the predominance of Woodland-period artifacts found at the site. The following are major features at the Pinson Mounds site:
Inner Complex
* Sauls' Mound (Mound 9), at the center of the complex. The mound was named after John Sauls, the owner of the property before its purchase by the state. Sauls' Mound is the second-highest prehistoric mound in the United States.
[Robert Mainfort and Mary Kwas,]
Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park
, ''The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 9 December 2007. The mound is rectangular in formation, with each corner aligned with one of the four
cardinal directions
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are a ...
. The mound's function was believed to be ceremonial. A viewing platform has been constructed atop the mound for park visitors. Dimensions: base— 112 x 91 meters, height— 22 meters.
[Information obtained from on-site interpretive signs, except where otherwise noted. Information accessed: 8 December 2007. Dimensions converted to metric for consistency.]
* Mound 10, a few meters to the east of Sauls' Mound. Mound 10 is believed to have been a
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 ...
with a ceremonial function. Dimensions: base— 61 x 40 meters, height— 1.3 meters.
* Mound 11 Sector, a few meters to the north of Sauls' Mound, behind the museum. Mound 11 is a natural rise that is believed to have been a habitation area during the Middle Woodland period.
* Mound 12, several meters southwest of Sauls' Mound. Mound 12 was a
burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
mound built upon an Early Woodland habitation area. Dimensions: base— 23 x 17 meters, height— 1.3 meters.
* Mound 14 Sector, several meters southwest of Sauls' Mound. The Mound 14 Sector was a late-Woodland/early-
Mississippian habitation area.
* Mound 15, several hundred meters southwest of Sauls' Mound. Part of Mound 15 has been destroyed by cultivation. Dimensions: base— 46 x 50 meters, height— appx. 1 meter.
* Mound 17, several hundred meters southeast of Sauls' Mound. Dimensions: appx. 12 meters long with a height of 1 meter.
Eastern Section
* The Eastern Citadel, an earthen geometric enclosure located approximately east of Sauls' Mound. William Myer gave the enclosure its present name in the early 20th century, although
archeologists
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
believe its function to have been primarily ceremonial rather than defensive. The walls form a near-perfect semicircle with a diameter of , enclosing approximately . The height of the walls is, on average, approximately . The enclosed area is not level, with the western edge being approximately lower than the eastern edge.
* Mound 29, a rectangular platform mound located along the eastern edge of the geometric enclosure. Mound 29 is aligned with Sauls' Mound in the direction of the
equinox
A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...
sunrise. Dimensions: base— , height— .
* Mound 30, a bird-shaped mound a few meters south of Mound 29. The bird shape is thought to have been due to recent cultivation and subsequent erosion. Dimensions: approximately long with a height .
* Mound 28, a rectangular platform mound located approximately northeast of Sauls' Mound and several hundred meters north of the Eastern Citadel. Mound 28 is almost aligned with Sauls' Mound in the direction of the summer solstice sunrise. Dimensions: base— , height— .
Western (Ozier) Section
* The Ozier Mound (Mound 5), a rectangular platform mound with an earthen ramp facing northeast. At 33 feet, the Ozier Mound is the second-largest mound in the complex. Dimensions: approximately in diameter, height of .
[Mainfort, et al., ''Archaeological Investigations at Pinson Mounds'', p. 54.]
* The Twin Mounds (Mound 6), a double-conical mound located a few meters south of the Ozier Mound. The Twin Mounds were burial mounds. Base approximately .
* Mound 31, a burial mound located a few meters south of the Ozier Mound. Base appx. 40 x 60 meters.
* The Cochran Area, a site located approximately west of the Ozier Mound section. The Cochran Area is believed to have been a temporary habitation area. The Cochran area covers appx. .
Pinson Mounds in recorded history
After 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 classified as ...
were forced from much of West Tennessee in 1818, land speculator Joel Pinson arrived in what is now Madison County to survey the area. Pinson "discovered" the complex which was named after him in 1820. The complex did not receive much attention until a
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name
Places
Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Qu ...
-area
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
named J.G. Cisco began writing about it in the late 19th century. Cisco's articles drew the interest of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
.
In 1916 the Smithsonian dispatched the
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
William E. Myer to investigate the site. Myer suggested that the entire complex was built according to a master plan, and created a map for the site. In 1947, the Tennessee Division of Forestry purchased the Western section of the Pinson site.
Archaeological surveys and excavations
At the request of the Jackson Archaeological Society and the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
, in December 1961 the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
archaeologists Fred Fisher and
Charles McNutt carried out the first major excavation of the Pinson Mounds. In the Mound 14 Sector, Fisher and McNutt discovered the remains of a house surrounded by a posthole-lined wall-trench and containing a central hearth and
storage pits. Based primarily on the vast amount of pre-
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
debris found at the site and
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
of
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
, Fisher and McNutt concluded that the Pinson Mounds were probably built during the Middle Woodland period, c. 1-500 AD.
Excavations by
Dan Morse and Richard Polhemus in 1963 uncovered what they believed was an oval-shaped house, a large hearth, and various refuse pits. Morse and Polhemus agreed that the mounds were mostly built during the Middle Woodland period. The state purchased the prehistoric property in 1965 from the Williams and Saul families. It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
that same year.
In the 1970s, John Broster of the
Tennessee Division of Archaeology
The Tennessee Division of Archaeology (TDOA) is a division of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation responsible for managing prehistoric archaeological sites on lands owned by the U.S. state of Tennessee, conducting archaeologi ...
carried out extensive investigations of the site's Western section and the Mound 12 Sector. Broster uncovered a human
cremation
Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a Cadaver, dead body through Combustion, burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India ...
pit and evidence of
Early Woodland-period habitation at Mound 12. Broster's team also found a number of "exotic"
artifacts at the Cochran area. This suggested Pinson Mounds may have been a "manufacture" area for grave goods, or a regional trade center.
In the 1980s, Robert Mainfort discovered six tombs in the Twin Mounds, one of which contained the remains of eight young women wearing headdresses with
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
adornments. Another tomb had four older men, one of whom had been buried with two round rattles bearing abstract designs. Mainfort also uncovered a single burial in Mound 31 and evidence of food offerings at the base of the mounds.
Excavations carried out prior to construction of park facilities uncovered a possible habitation area at Mound 11 and a large number of 19th-century artifacts. In the late 1990s, four additional mounds were verified as prehistoric, bringing the total to 17.
The function of the Pinson Mounds
The Middle Woodland natives most likely built the Pinson Mounds primarily for religious ceremonial purposes, although their motives have yet to be established definitively. The Ozier Mound contains no burials and because of its shape, ramped and flat-topped, it was most likely used as a ceremonial platform. It is one of the oldest such mounds in the Eastern Woodlands region. At least three of the mounds— 6, 12, and 31— contain burials or cremations.
Excavations have turned up a relatively scant amount of cultural material (e.g., arrowheads and pottery fragments), which points to a lack of permanent habitation at the Pinson Mounds site.
[Mainfort, et al., ''Archaeological Investigations at Pinson Mounds'', p. 50.]
Some evidence suggests that the layout of the Pinson Mounds might be due to
astronomical
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...
alignment, and expresses the people's
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
, as is the case at some later mound complexes, such as
Cahokia
The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in south- ...
. The corners of Sauls' Mound, for instance, face the four cardinal directions. The Eastern and Western sections of the complex are roughly equidistant (appx. 1,500 meters) from the Inner complex, although the alignment is not exact. Mound 29 in the Eastern section is aligned with Sauls' Mound in the direction of the
equinox
A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...
sunrise, and Mound 28 is ''almost'' aligned with Sauls' in the direction of the Summer
solstice
A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...
sunrise. To date, no mound has been found in the direction of the Winter solstice sunrise.
Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park
The park's museum is built within a "replica" of a platform mound. Its exhibits include artifacts obtained from the various excavations at the Pinson site, as well as various other artifacts from around the region. The museum is also home to the West Tennessee Regional Archaeology offices and an archaeological library.
The park contains approximately 6 miles of walking trails, most of which explore the mounds and associated features. South of Sauls' Mound, a boardwalk looks out over the South Fork of the Forked Deer River and its wetlands. The park is also the site of Archaeofest, an event held every September that celebrates the site's prehistoric builders.
See also
*
Old Stone Fort
*
Hopewell culture
The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
*
List of burial mounds in the United States
This is a list of notable burial mounds in the United States built by Native Americans. Burial mounds were built by many different cultural groups over a span of many thousands of years, beginning in the Late Archaic period and continuing through ...
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee
Following is a list of sites and structures in Tennessee that have been designated National Historic Landmarks. There are 30 National Historic Landmarks located entirely in the state, and one that includes elements in bot. All National Historic L ...
*
References
External links
Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park— official site
Pinson Mounds Information & Videos- Chickasaw.TV
Pinson Mounds- TN History for Kids
{{authority control
Hopewellian peoples
Woodland period
State parks of Tennessee
National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
Museums in Madison County, Tennessee
Archaeological museums in Tennessee
Native American museums in Tennessee
Protected areas of Madison County, Tennessee
Archaeological parks
National Register of Historic Places in Madison County, Tennessee