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3 unusual facts about Spiro Mounds


Spiro Mounds

Antonio Waring and Preston Holder first defined the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the 1940s, according to a series of distinct cultural traits.

The conch shells were fashioned into gorgets and drinking cups engraved with intricate designs representing costumed men, real and mythical animals, and geometric motifs, all of which had profound symbolic significance.

Pauketat, Timothy R. The Ascent of Chiefs: Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in Native North America, Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama, 1994.


Mississippian culture

Major sites such as Spiro and the Battle Mound Site are in the Arkansas River and Red River Valleys, the largest and most fertile of the waterways in the Caddoan region, where maize agriculture would have been the most productive.


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