[16], Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the U.S. Federal government, cultural anthropologists, and archaeologists as the cultural descendants of the builders of Spiro Mounds.[17]. The LeFlore County Museum and other artifact sites Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter called "The Essential List". These sacred Mesoamerican ruins feature peculiar petroglyphs hidden in the stones. During this period, known as the Mississippian period, Spiro leaders were developing political, religious, and economic ties with people from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Mexico and from the coast of Virginia to the Great Lakes. The Spiro mound collection in the Museum The site known as Spiro Mounds was a major location of the Caddoan Mississippian culture in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Spiro Mound. purposefully blew up the central chamber of the mound for unknown reasons. It's one of the finest Viking artifacts ever discovered. Townsend collection in Mr. Onkens Legends of Prehistoric Once the seat of power during the Mississippian period (circa 800-1500 AD), the Spiro people ruled over a confederation of more than 60 North American tribes, influencing trade, religion and the political structure of the Southwest United States. Witnesses say the air hissed as it escaped from a burial chamber that had been sealed for 500 years. . Spiro Mounds: North America's lost civilisation - BBC Travel Spiro Mounds | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture The mounds site, located seven miles outside of Spiro, Oklahoma, is the only prehistoric, American Indian archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public. Artifacts from the Craig Mound at Spiro, Oklahoma A.T. Wehrle from Lear Howell. Recent excavations have revealed more cultural diversity than scholars had expected within that region. Together it included about 3 million people from more than 60 . On exhibit through May 14 at the National Cowboy Museum. Spiro is one of the key sites known for the Mississippian Period (ad 900-1500) of the eastern United States. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, preventing collapse. Etowah was a large Mississippian center constructed about the same time as Cahokia and Moundville. The picture was shown to Mr. Schwem who managed [6] The mound area was abandoned about 1450, but nearby communities persisted until 1600. 14 Hamilton, Henry H. 1952 The Spiro Mound. Read about our approach to external linking. One of the most important American Indian sites in the nation, the Spiro Mounds are world renowned for the high volume of art and artifacts dug from the Craig Mound, the site's only burial mound. This new chiefdom was visited by Hernando de Soto in August 1540. . C. It has burial artifacts that date to earlier than 10,000 BCE. The Treasure of Spiro Mounds - 405 Magazine They uncovered more than six hundred complete or partial burials and created what is the greatest collection of prehistoric Native American artifacts in the United States. Objects created in this style are found at other large ceremonial centers across the eastern half of North Americaincluding Moundville in Alabama, Etowah in Georgia, and Spiro It was concluded that the Spiro people had created a civilization equal to that of the Aztec or Maya. The Spiro people probably were speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages. Why the Spiro culture disappeared and why the site was abandoned remain a mystery, although the Caddoan language lived on with the modern Wichita, Kichai, Caddo, Pawnee, and Arikara, suggesting that the Spiro people broke off into smaller tribes. A nearly forgotten people who created one of the most highly-developed civilizations in the Americas. In a cavity of the Craig Mound ("The Spiro Mound"), the only burial mound of the Spiro site, archaeologists excavated many artifacts . The longest blade in this But visitors to Spiro Mounds can be forgiven if they don't immediately sense the importance of the site, located off a quiet farm road that zig-zags by former cotton fields. Today the site is owned and operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. The people of Spiro people relied on a wide variety of animals for meat, including deer, elk, turkey, fish, turtles, geese, ducks, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and other small mammals. photograph shows seven of the long narrow blades, also called Spiro Mound Village pamphlet . base. Inside were elaborate special burials and jumbled human bones accompanied by . When looting threatened to destroy and disperse everything at the mounds, Oklahoma became one of the first states to preserve and scientifically research archaeological sites. By 1935, most of the Spiro Mounds had been riddled with pits and tunnels, but the largest known as the "Craig Mound" remained largely intact. Located on a bend of the Arkansas River, the site was a natural gateway from which the Spiro people exerted their influence.