Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park ( 3 LN 42), (formerly known as "Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park") also known as Knapp Mounds, Toltec Mounds site or Toltec Mounds, is an archaeological site from the

Late 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 ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

that protects an 18-mound complex with the tallest surviving prehistoric mounds in

. The site is on the banks of Mound Lake, an oxbow lake of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

. It was occupied by its original inhabitants from 600 to 1050 CE. The site is designated as 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 ...

Name

The identification of the site with the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. T ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

was a 19th-century mistake. It was thought that the Toltec people lived in North America and built the mounds. Mary Eliza Feild Officer Knapp was the co-owner of the land from 1849 to 1905. She and her first husband purchased the land in 1849 and the land passed to her after his death. She and her second husband made subsequent land purchases near the site. Mary was interested in archeology and had become acquainted with Dr William H. Barry who was also interested in Native American artefacts and customs. Mary entered into correspondence with Barry discussing the "Toltec Mounds" site and Barry passed her letter on to Joseph Henry, the secretary 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 ...

. Mary would go on to correspond directly with Henry as well as forward artefacts she had collected from the site to the Smithsonian. This would lead to investigations at the site by archaeologist

Edward Palmer Edward Palmer may refer to: * Edward Palmer (d.1624) (1555–1624), antiquary and projector of a university in Virginia * Edward Palmer (socialist) (1802–1886), American religious socialist * Edward Palmer (Canadian politician) (1809–1889), Pri ...

from the

s Bureau of American Ethnology in 1883 as well as by others which proved that the indigenous ancestors of regional Native Americans built these mounds and all other mounds within the present-day United States. They were part of mound building cultures that flourished from the

Late Archaic period In the classification of the archaeological cultures of North America, the Archaic period in North America, taken to last from around 8000 to 1000 BC in the sequence of North American pre-Columbian cultural stages, is a period defined by the ''a ...

into the Protohistoric period. They built earthwork mounds for religious, political and ceremonial purposes, connecting them to their cosmology. Originally, the name ''Plum Bayou'' was borrowed from a nearby waterway and applied to the distinctive culture of the site, discussed below. The site was officially renamed in November 2022 following consultation with the

Quapaw Nation The Quapaw ( ; or Arkansas and Ugahxpa) people are a tribe of Native Americans that coalesced in what is known as the Midwest and Ohio Valley of the present-day United States. The Dhegiha Siouan-speaking tribe historically migrated from the Oh ...

and the Arkansas Archaeological Survey.

Plum Bayou culture

The people who built the mounds at Plum Bayou Mounds had a culture distinct from other contemporary Native American groups in the Mississippi Valley. Plum Bayou sites are found throughout the White River and

floodplains of central and eastern

, but are also found as far west as the eastern

Ozark Mountains The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...

. Plum Bayou Mounds is the largest site of the eponymous culture. Their relationships with neighboring cultures such as the

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 ...

to the south and

Fourche Maline culture Fourche ( ) is a town in Perry County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 59 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Little Rock–North Little Rock– Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Fourche is located at (34.9931 ...

to the southwest are still under investigation. The people lived in permanent villages and hamlets throughout the countryside. They built sturdy houses, farmed, gathered wild plants, fished, and hunted.

Plum Bayou Mounds Site

Mound groups, such as this one, were religious and social centers for people living in the surrounding countryside. Plum Bayou Mounds itself had a small population, made up primarily of political and religious leaders of the community and their families. This center was occupied from about 600 to 1050 CE. Located on the banks of an oxbow lake, the archaeological site once had an and earthen embankment and ditch on three sides. The other side was the lake, now called Mound Pond. Eighteen

mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * ...

were built inside the high curving 1 mile embankment, and two were originally high. Mounds were placed along the edges of two open areas (

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. ...

s) which were used for political, religious, and social activities attended by people from the vicinity. At least two mounds were used for feasting, as indicated by discarded food remains. Deer were a favorite food. Mound locations seem to have been planned using principles based on the alignment with important solar positions and standardized units of measurement. Most of the mounds were flat-topped

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 with buildings on them. Other Native Americans lived on the site in the 15th century, but they did not build the mounds. The site was declared a

in 1978.,

Culture, phase and chronological table for the Plum Bayou Mound site

Table taken from "Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project", by Martha Ann Rolingson, 1982.

References

External links