Frustrated Gentlemen Scholars Search for Ancient Mississippi Valley Native American Mound-builders

An artists depiction of the Anna Site a Plaquemine culture mound site in Adams County, Mississippi 10 miles north of Natchez. Inhabited from 1200 to 1500 CE.  Wonders of geometric precision, the earthworks of the lower Mississippi were centers of life long before the Europeans arrived in America. As was the river itself. The soil of its banks yielded a bounty of beans, squash, & corn to foster burgeoning communities. Over the Mississippi’s waters, from near & far, came prized pearls, copper, & mica.  Today, most of the mound-builders’ legacy is gone. Many of their earthworks have been plowed, pilfered, eroded, & built over. Yet evidence of the culture remains. (Image thanks to the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service}

With few exceptions—such as the record of Hernando DeSoto's Spanish army—there are no documents of what travelers saw in the age of the moundbuilders. DeSoto's entourage, which traversed the valley in the 1540s, came when the cultures were in decline. DeSoto landed near Tampa Bay, Florida, & for two years trekked across what are now the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, & Louisiana. He visited a number of large communities in the Mississippi valley.

“Having arrived in the town, we found that the caciques there were accustomed to have, next to the houses where they lived, some very high mounds, made by hand, & that others have their houses on the mounds themselves. On the summit of that mound we drove in the cross, & we all went with much devotion, kneeling to kiss the foot of the cross." Luys Hernandez de Biedma, 1539, from The De Soto Chronicles

“The greatest adornment of all . . . consists in certain figures of suns, serpents, or other things, which they carry pictured on their bodies in the manner of the ancient Britons, of whom Caesar tells us in his Commentaries. It is not only for them an ornament, but also a mark of honor & distinction, which is only acquired after many brave deeds . . . The figure imprinted on the flesh is never effaced. It is carried to the tomb." Le Page Du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, 1758

“It is altogether unknown to us what could have induced the Indians to raise such a heap of earth in this place . . . It is reasonable to suppose, however, that they were to serve some important purpose in those days, as they were public works, & would have required the united labour & attention of a whole nation." William Bartram, writer/naturalist, 1775

“Here, covered in with gigantic trees of a primitive forest, the work truly presents a grand & impressive appearance; & upon entering the ancient avenue for the first time, the visitor does not fail to experience a sensation of awe such as he might feel in passing the portals of an Egyptian temple." E.G. Squier & E.H. Davis, Ancient Monuments, 1848

“An ancient & unknown people left remains of settled life, & of a certain degree of civilization, in the valleys of the Mississippi & its tributaries. We have no authentic name for them either as a nation or a race; therefore they are called "Mound-Builders," this name having been suggested by an important class of their works." James Baldwin, Ancient America, 1872

“This is the worst place to get any information I ever struck. I have asked a thousand questions, & about the only consolation I have is . . . to tramp to every mound I can hear of & look at it for myself. One man today was willing to swear that a mound in this country was over a quarter of a mile high! That's all I know. Of course, De Soto comes in for a large share of this work." Letter from Charles S. Smith to Bureau of American Ethnology president Cyrus Thomas, April 3, 1885