Mounds in the south

 

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Gregory L Little, Ed.D.

@DrGregLittle2

This map shows a 5-day driving loop to mound site in the Mid-South region. About 50 mounds could be seen on this 1200-mile excursion, but there would be more mounds than that along the route if one had more time. From: Forgotten History 5-Day Mound Tour: Travel Guide to Native American Mounds in the Mid-South.

TVA and mounds in Tennessee

I lived in Tennessee as a kid and I've been back several times. Lots of interesting archaeology still, but much of it was flooded by the TVA.

This tweet from Greg Little is a good example.

Gregory L Little, Ed.D.

@DrGregLittle2

In the 1930s the TVA & WPA excavated many mounds in the Tennessee Valley prior to new dams flooding hundreds of ancient sites. This "structure" was found at the bottom of a large mound that was 130 x 110 feet in diameter near Speedwell, Tenn. They found that a series of 8 different large buildings had been made on this spot over a vast time period. When a building was burned, burials were made, it was then covered by a layer of dirt and then a new building was built. When it burned burials were made and a new building was made. The "first" building (shown here) was made from huge logs (the post holes are along the sides) tilted inward. It was a 55 x 27 feet building (1,485 sq. ft). The mound, which they asserted had been plowed down to only half its original size, was one of several there and a large village with at least 1000 residents was located around the site. From: Bulletin 118; Smithsonian BAE (1938).

(click to enlarge)

Ancient routes to America

This map from the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville, Arkansas, shows the ancient routes to America.

https://www.monah.org/

Thanks to https://twitter.com/DrGregLittle2/status/1684723218215505920?s=20

With recent genetic research it is known that ancient migrations were made into the Americas from people living in the Australia/New Zealand area of the South Pacific. Some American archaeology museums are now accepting that there were at least two, and possibly three, ancient migration routes. This map from the MONAH museum in Arkansas shows the "southern route" at the bottom, the standard Beringia route in the top left, and an eastern route shown in the upper right.

_____

Once when I was in Brisbane, Australia, a temple worker noticed my accent and asked if I was American. I said yes. 

He said, "Did you know Lehi landed here on his way to America?"

"That's a new one," I replied.

"It's obvious. Just look at Alma 10:2."

I pulled it up on my phone. "I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi." (Alma 10:2)

I told him that made more sense than that Lehi landed in Mesoamerica!

Pre-Columbian civilizations in North America

Gregory Little makes an important observation about the Smithsonian map from the late 1800s.

Gregory L Little, Ed.D.

@DrGregLittle2

I need to do this again... this is the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology map showing the general distribution of mound sites they had identified in the eastern half of the USA by the late 1800s. The red dots indicate areas where mounds, sometimes hundreds, were found. However, they typically then looked only at places that were easily visited: by roads, railways, and rivers. For just one simple example, the entire Gulf coast of Florida should be solid red. Another example: the mountains of NE Alabama has hundreds to a thousand or more stone mounds that were not found until the 2000s.

(click to enlarge)

Portsmouth site

Portsmouth, Ohio, is on the Ohio river about 90 miles south of Columbus. I've visited here a few times and highly recommend the site (as well as the other sites in Ohio).

Portsmouth is the location of a complex of earthworks dating from 100 BC to 500 AD, built by Adena and Hopewell cultures. Across the river in Kentucky is an unusual earthwork that was plowed up for cattle grazing.

Squier and Davis survey (click to enlarge)

There's a nice overview with references on wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Earthworks

This site has some additional info:

https://earthworks.site/index.php/portsmouth-earthworks

Blue lines show the embankment walls

Greg Little tweeted about it recently:

Gregory L Little, Ed.D.

@DrGregLittle2

1. 1800s survey of another portion of the Portsmouth, Ohio earthworks. It was located across the Ohio River in Kentucky. The exact location is known. 2. This is the spot where the central mound shown on the survey existed and the owner of the site is on the left. He related that his grandfather leveled the mound and intricate circular earthworks to make a cattle grazing area. He also related that his grandfather came to regret it.