The Bynum Mound and Village Site ( 22CS501) is a

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 ...

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 near

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Chickasaw County, Mississippi Chickasaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,392. Its county seats are Houston and Okolona. The county is named for the Chickasaw people, who lived in this area for hundred ...

. The complex of six

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

was in use during the Miller 1 and Miller 2 phases of the Miller culture and was built between 100 BC and 100 AD. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as part of the Natchez Trace Parkway at milepost 232.4.

Site description

The site is located on a low ridge which overlooks Houlka Creek in the

Tombigbee River The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties int ...

drainage area. It has six conical burial mounds, which range in height from to , and its associated habitation area were constructed and used during the Middle Woodland period, between 100 BC and 100 AD. In the 1940s, archaeologists with 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 propert ...

excavated five of the mounds. The two largest mounds were restored afterward and the site is open to the public and now includes informational plaques. Excavations produced artifacts made from non local materials such as Greenstone, copper, and galena, and distinctive projectile points that did not originate at the site or even in Mississippi. Similar high prestige exotic goods were also found at Pharr Mounds, a nearby contemporaneous site, which show the local peoples involvement with the Hopewell exchange system, long distance trade network and religious network.

Mound A

During excavations of Mound A archaeologists found the remains of a woman who had been placed between two parallel burned oak logs buried at the base of the mound. They also found ornamental copper spools at each of her wrists. They also found the remains of two adult males and a child.

Mound B

The largest mound at the site, Mound B, was found to be covering a log lined crematory pit. Archaeologists found twenty nine polished greenstone

celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

arranged in an L-shaped pattern. They also found human remains, some cremated and others unburned, on the ash-covered floor of the pit. Exotic artifacts including copper

ear-spool A plug (sometimes earplug or earspool), in the context of body modification, is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry commonly worn in larger-gauge body piercings. Modern western plugs are also called flesh tunnels. Because of their size—which ...

s, nineteen

chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...

projectile points believed to have been imported from Hopewell peoples in

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 ...

, and a piece of galena were also found.

References

External links

Bynum Mounds Mississippi Orbs

Bynum Mounds on Flickr

Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia
{{Protected areas of Mississippi Miller culture Protected areas of Chickasaw County, Mississippi Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi 1st-century BC establishments 1st-century disestablishments National Register of Historic Places in Chickasaw County, Mississippi Mounds in Mississippi