Pinson Mounds in recorded history Pinson Mounds

the mound 14 sector

at request of jackson archaeological society , national park service, in december 1961 university of tennessee archaeologists fred fisher , charles mcnutt carried out first major excavation of pinson mounds. in mound 14 sector, fisher , mcnutt discovered remains of 21 18 feet (6.4 m × 5.5 m) house surrounded posthole-lined wall-trench , containing central hearth , storage pits. based on vast amount of pre-mississippian culture debris found @ site , radiocarbon dating of charcoal, fisher , mcnutt concluded pinson mounds built during middle woodland period, c. 1-500 ad.

mound 12

excavations dan morse , richard polhemus in 1963 uncovered believed oval-shaped house, large hearth, , various refuse pits. morse , polhemus agreed mounds built during middle woodland period. state purchased prehistoric property in 1965 williams , saul families. added national register of historic places same year.

in 1970s, john broster of tennessee division of archaeology carried out extensive investigations of site s western section , mound 12 sector. broster uncovered human cremation pit , evidence of woodland-period habitation @ mound 12. broster s team found number of exotic artifacts @ cochran area. suggested pinson mounds may have been manufacture area grave goods, or regional trade center.

in 1980s, robert mainfort discovered 6 tombs in twin mounds, 1 of contained remains of 8 young women wearing headdresses copper adornments. tomb had 4 older men, 1 of whom had been buried 2 round rattles bearing abstract designs. mainfort uncovered single burial in mound 31 , evidence of food offerings @ base of mounds.

excavations carried out prior construction of park facilities uncovered possible habitation area @ mound 11 , large number of 19th-century artifacts. in late 1990s, 4 additional mounds verified prehistoric, bringing total 17.

the function of pinson mounds

the southwest corner of mound 28

the middle woodland natives built pinson mounds religious ceremonial purposes, although motives have yet established definitively. ozier mound contains no burials , because of shape, ramped , flat-topped, used ceremonial platform. 1 of oldest such mounds in eastern woodlands region. @ least 3 of mounds— 6, 12, , 31— contain burials or cremations. excavations have turned relatively scant amount of cultural material (e.g., arrowheads , pottery fragments), points lack of permanent habitation @ pinson mounds site.

some evidence suggests layout of pinson mounds might due astronomical alignment, , expresses people s cosmology, case @ later mound complexes, such cahokia. corners of sauls mound, instance, face 4 cardinal directions. eastern , western sections of complex equidistant (appx. 1,500 meters) inner complex, although alignment not exact. mound 29 in eastern section aligned sauls mound in direction of equinox sunrise, , mound 28 aligned sauls in direction of summer solstice sunrise. date, no mound has been found in direction of winter solstice sunrise.