Shiloh_Indian_Mounds_Site References

	Shiloh Indian Mounds National Historic Landmark; 40 HR 7
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
	Aerial illustration of the Shiloh Mounds Site
Location	Hardin County, Tennessee
Nearest city	Savannah, Tennessee
Coordinates	35°08′29″N 88°19′15″W / 35.14139°N 88.32083°W
Area	81 acres (33 ha)
Architect	Mississippian culture
Architectural style	Mounds
NRHP reference No.	79000279
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	April 27, 1979
Designated NHL	May 5, 1989

Shiloh Indian Mounds Site ( 40HR7) is an archaeological site of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture (a regional variation of the Mississippian culture).^[3] It is located beside the Tennessee River on the grounds of the Shiloh National Military Park, in Hardin County of southwestern Tennessee. A National Historic Landmark, it is one of the largest Woodland era sites in the southeastern United States.

History

The site was inhabited starting around 1000 CE by a Late Woodland culture indigenous peoples, and then later by those of an Early Mississippian culture, until it was abandoned in approximately 1350 CE.^[4]

Site

The Shiloh Indian National Historic Landmark is situated on a high bluff, between two ravines, overlooking the Tennessee River at the edge of the Shiloh Plateau. The village was encircled by a wooden palisade, while the village itself consisted of more than 100 wattle and daub houses, over three dozen individual house mounds,^[5] and eight mounds.^[4] Seven of the mounds were substructure platform mounds and the seventh was a Woodland period conical burial mound.^[2] It was the largest site in the region and probably functioned as the center of a paramount chiefdom that occupied 20 miles (32 km) stretch of the Tennessee River Valley. The chiefdom held sway over six smaller villages, each with a mound or two, and many scattered farmsteads up and down the valley.^[6] The southernmost mound served as a burial place for leaders and other important people. This mound was oval shaped with a round top.^[7] A map of the site can be found on the Shiloh Indian Mounds website.^[8]

Shiloh Indian Mounds: Community center (looking east).

Agriculture and food

Maize was the main foodstuff grown by the peoples of Shiloh Mounds

The people of Shiloh Mounds were intensely involved in maize agriculture, as well as other food crops originating in the Americas, such as squash, sunflowers, goosefoot, marshelder, and maygrass. They also gathered wild foodstuffs such as acorns and hickory nuts. The hunting of whitetail deer, squirrel, rabbit, turkey, and raccoon as well as fishing were also important.^[6]

Contemporaries

In addition to the Shiloh site, the chiefdom included six smaller towns (each with one or two mounds such as the Swallow Bluff Island Mounds site), and isolated farmsteads scattered on higher ground in the river valley. Downstream on the river's eastern bank, at the present location of Savannah, Tennessee, was another palisaded multiple mound settlement, although it is still unclear if the sites were occupied at the same time. Other neighbors had communities all along the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers, with sites in Alabama, Mississippi, and western Tennessee. Archaeologists think the presence of prestige goods from the Cahokia site in Illinois means the people of Shiloh Mounds were more closely tied politically to that area than to chiefdoms in the Middle Tennessee area.^[6]

Archaeology

Because the site has been included within the Shiloh National Military Park boundaries for so long it has never been disturbed by modern farming techniques. The remains of the original structures of wattle and daub are still visible as low rings or mounds. It is one of the few places in the eastern U.S. where such remains are still visible.^[5]^[6] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979,^[1] and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.^[2]

Excavations

Cornelius Cadle, chairman of the Shiloh Park Commission, undertook the first archaeological excavations at Shiloh in 1899. He had a trench dug into the conical burial mound, Mound C. Amongst the discoveries was a large stone effigy pipe in the shape of a kneeling man. It has since become the site's most famous artifact and is on display in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah, Tennessee. The pipe is carved from a distinctive material, Missouri flint clay, and in the same style as other statuettes from the Cahokia site in Collinsville, Illinois.^[6]

In the winter of 1933-34 survey work was undertaken at the site and many 10 feet (3.0 m) to 20 feet (6.1 m) diameter house mounds were discovered. Many contained the remains of wattle and daub houses, which had been built with walls of vertical posts interlaced with branches and coated with a thick layer of clay. It was at this time that the encircling palisade was also discovered.^[6]

Temple Mound
Two House platforms, lower mound (left center), higher mound center back
Tennessee River from Temple Mound

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Shiloh Indian Mounds Site". National Historic Landmark summary. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
^ "Southeastern Prehistory:Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period". National Park Service. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Paul D. Welch (2005). Archaeology at Shiloh Indian Mounds, 1899-1999. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-1481-1.
^ ^a ^b "Shiloh Indian Mounds - National Historic Landmark". Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Shiloh Indian Mounds History". Retrieved July 7, 2010.
^ "Shiloh Indian Mounds". National Park Service. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
^ "Shiloh Indian Mounds Map". National Park Service. Retrieved April 8, 2012.

External links

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[NHLSUM-2] "Shiloh Indian Mounds Site". National Historic Landmark summary. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2010.

[SEAC-3] "Southeastern Prehistory:Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period". National Park Service. Retrieved June 16, 2011.

[WELCH-4] Paul D. Welch (2005). Archaeology at Shiloh Indian Mounds, 1899-1999. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0-8173-1481-1.

[TOURHARDINGCOUNTY-5] "Shiloh Indian Mounds - National Historic Landmark". Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2015.

[NPSGOV-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Shiloh Indian Mounds History". Retrieved July 7, 2010.

[7] "Shiloh Indian Mounds". National Park Service. Retrieved April 8, 2012.

[8] "Shiloh Indian Mounds Map". National Park Service. Retrieved April 8, 2012.

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v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era

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