Cahokia and the Mississippi Mound Builders
Moundville

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Moundville is located along a 40 km stretch of Black Warrior River Valley Floodplain in Alabama.  There are ten sites with single mounds within 25 km of the main ceremonial mounds of Moundville.

The mounds of Moundville have been excavated for over 140 years.  Moundville may have flourished in part due to the availability of abundant sources of multiple types of woods, fertile soil, relatively long growing season (estimated to average 200 days per year) and typically adequate (although not always in the summertime) rainfall of the area.

It is believed that Moundville was populated from A.D. 1100 or 1200 to 1500 or 1550, and may have had a population as large as Cahokia at its peak.  These dates are based on ceramic chronology and seriation of vessels from grave lots, conducted by Christopher Peebles and Vincas Steponaitis.   Moundville Society has been divided into three phases:

Paul Welch, in Moundville's Economy (1991), discusses the difference between structural and secular change.  The nature and extent of each have been studied relevant to Moundville and are still being debated.

Structural Change
Fundamental change in the organization of the economy, i.e., change in the ways persons and groups are interrelated (p. 191).

Secular Change
Change of the particular persons or groups occupying specific structural positions, without any modification of the overall economic structure (p. 191).

The internal political collapse of Moundville is believed to be due to changes in the military balance of the region.  During Moundville III, palisades were not built and maintained.  Although much is still not known about what occurred, Paul Welch indicated that enough was known to suggest that "something about regional political dynamics change and that change was probably not in Moundville's favor."   For example, a lack of imported items during the Moundville III phase suggests an economic decline.

Link

Moundville Archaeological Park of the University of Alabama
This site gives general information about Moundville, as well as directions and information about visiting the Archaeological Park.
 


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