Town Creek Indian Mound ( 31 MG 2) is a prehistoric Native American

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 an ...

located near present-day Mount Gilead, Montgomery County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The site, whose main features are 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 surrounding village and wooden defensive

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

, was built by the

Pee Dee The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, a Native American tribe that historically inhabited the region. His ...

, a

South Appalachian Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earth ...

people (a regional variation of the

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 ...

) that developed in the region as early as 980 CE. They thrived in the

Pee Dee River The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river in the Carolinas of the United States. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, where its upper course, above the mouth of the Uwharrie River The Uwharri ...

region of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

during the

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

era. The Town Creek site was an important ceremonial site occupied from about 1150—1400 CE. It was abandoned for unknown reasons. It is the only ceremonial mound and village center of the Pee Dee located within North Carolina. The Pee Dee people shared the Mississippian culture that was characterized in part by building large, earthwork

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 for spiritual and political purposes. They participated in a widespread network of trading that stretched from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

through

, eastern

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, and the mountain and

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

regions of North Carolina. The Town Creek site is not large by Mississippian standards. The earthwork mound was built over the remains of a rectangular-shaped

earth lodge An earth lodge is a semi-subterranean building covered partially or completely with earth, best known from the Native American cultures of the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands. Most earth lodges are circular in construction with a dome-like ...

. The site was declared 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 ...

on October 15, 1966, and is identified as reference number 66000594. The site is the only national historic landmark in North Carolina to commemorate American Indian culture. It is owned by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is operated by the Division of State Historic Sites. Today the Pee Dee people are based in

, where the state has recognized four bands and one group.

Background

The Pee Dee people built their mound on a low

bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

at the confluence of Town Creek and the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

. The Town Creek site was a major center of Pee Dee habitation, religion and trade. Discussions regarding trade among the local

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

s were held at Town Creek. Many of the highest-ranking members of the tribe lived, died, and were buried at Town Creek; the elite served both political and religious roles. The site in Montgomery County was the location of important religious ceremonies and tribal feasts. The clans in the surrounding area would gather at Town Creek for periodic gatherings known as "busks". During a busk, the temple, homes, and grounds of the village were cleaned and repaired as needed. Debts and grievances were resolved. Ritual purification ceremonies took place at the Town Creek Mound. The ceremonies included fasting, bathing, the ingestion of

cathartic In medicine, a cathartic is a substance that ''accelerates'' defecation. This is similar to a laxative, which is a substance that ''eases'' defecation, usually by softening feces. It is possible for a substance to be both a laxative and a cathart ...

medicine, and ritual scratching of the skin with the teeth of the

garfish The garfish (''Belone belone''), also known as the garpike or sea needle, is a pelagic, oceanodromous needlefish found in brackish and marine waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black, and Baltic Seas. Description Th ...

. The busk gathering concluded with a celebration known as a ''poskito'', in which the neighboring tribes feasted on new corn. (It is often referred to as the Green Corn Ceremony.) The clans would return to their villages with embers from the sacred fire to stoke their hearths. Scholars believe that the sharing of the fire symbolized unity among the Pee Dee.

Archaeology

Archaeologic excavation began at Town Creek in 1927 on an amateur basis,. In 1937 professional archaeologists began a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA)-funded project during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The scholarly excavations continued regularly until 1987. In the years prior to 1927, local residents had known the site as a place to collect Indian

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...

s and other relics. With little knowledge of archaeological practices, they likely caused some permanent damage to the site. The amateur group used a scraper pulled by a mule to uncover artifacts, including animal and human bones, and shards of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

. Today excavations continue on a limited basis. During the 1930s the land was owned by L. D. Frutchey. He allowed exploratory work to begin in 1937 by a team from the

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, funded by the WPA of the President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

administration. Frutchey donated the mound and about an acre of surrounding land to the state of North Carolina, and it was called Frutchey State Park for several years. The name was changed to Town Creek in the 1940s, and it has been administered by the

North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a cabinet-level department within the state government of North Carolina dedicated to overseeing projects in the arts, culture, and history within the borders of the state. The cur ...

. Town Creek was the first state historic site to be developed for interpretation for visitors. The Pee Dee left no written record, so the archaeology work has been vital in uncovering and interpreting their history. Joffre Coe of the

was the lead archaeologist at Town Creek beginning in 1937. Coe and his team uncovered various artifacts and burial vaults, and also found the remains of a defensive wooden

that once surrounded the town and mound. Evidence suggests this palisade was rebuilt at least five times. Further excavations revealed that the mound, which had not been destroyed over the years despite widespread farming in the area, was the site of three separate structures. The earliest structure was a rectangular

that had collapsed with age. The second structure was built over the fallen lodge; it was a temple. After the temple burned, the Pee Dee built another ceremonial structure on the same spot on top of the mound. This building had an eastward-facing ramp that provided access to the surrounding plaza. The flat, graded plaza in front of the mound served as the site for ceremonies and other public meetings. The archaeologists discovered the remains of several support buildings in the vicinity of the plaza, including a burial and

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cus ...

house. It is believed that the burial house was significant for a specific

. The mound, burial, mortuary houses and many family homes were surrounded by a protective palisade. The remains of two gates and guard towers have been discovered on the north and south ends of the palisade, with archaeological evidence pointing to the successive construction and destruction of at least five protective walls. This is a pattern seen at other Mississippian sites, 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- ...

, a major center located in present-day southwestern Illinois across the Mississippi River and near

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

. A total of 563 burials have been found at Town Creek Indian Mound; they are believed to be Pee Dee people. Many of the burial sites appear to have been fairly simple and common, with the bodies casually placed in the graves. Some of the remains were found buried with the bodies fully extended, while others may have been re-buried in a bundle of bones. The remains of young children and infants have been found tightly wrapped in deerskins and placed within large pottery vessels which archeologists have called burial urns. Coe served as the lead archaeologist for Town Creek Indian Mound for more than 50 years. His extensive work at Town Creek has resulted in the development of deep knowledge about the past of Town Creek. Traditionally, historic excavations have taken place over a much shorter period of time, and artifacts are often moved to a distant research facility. Coe maintained his center of operations at Town Creek for over 50 years, allowing him to establish a consistent plan of research and study.

Facilities

The state has developed several facilities at Town Creek Indian Mound that are open to the public. It built a reconstructed ceremonial center, restoring the platform mound and reconstructing a temple on it. It also reconstructed a minor temple and the mortuary. The visitor center houses interpretive exhibits, audiovisual programs, and a gift shop. The visitor center, minor temple, and mortuary are handicapped accessible. Several trails and outdoor monuments are located on the property. Fourteen picnic tables are located on the grounds.

Tours

Group tours are available with advance scheduling. Groups are led through some hands-on activities. Various special events held throughout the year focus on the lifestyle of the Pee Dee. Self-guided tours of the rebuilt structures and mound occur during normal operational hours, and admission to Town Creek Indian Mound is free.

References

External links