Bottle Creek Indian Mounds

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Bottle Creek Site
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
The approach to Mound Island, site is on the left.
The approach to Mound Island, site is on the left.
Nearest city: Stockton, Alabama
Coordinates: 30°59′44″N 87°56′15.5″W / 30.99556, -87.937639Coordinates: 30°59′44″N 87°56′15.5″W / 30.99556, -87.937639
Designated as NHL: April 19, 1994[1]
Added to NRHP: December 02, 1974[2]
NRHP Reference#: 74000398
Governing body: Alabama Historical
Commission

Bottle Creek Indian Mounds is an archaeological site within the Mobile-Tensaw River delta near Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was occupied by a Mississippian culture and is important to understanding the history and culture of the Mobile-Tensaw delta in late prehistoric times.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The site was occupied between AD 1250 and 1550, and served as the focal point for interaction with other Mississippian culture areas along the coast and the interior of the Southeastern United States. It is located on Mound Island in the Mobile-Tensaw River delta and includes 18 earthen mounds, the tallest being roughly 45 feet high. It was the largest Mississippian chiefdom on the north-central Gulf Coast. Scholars believe that it functioned as a social, political, religious, and trade center for the Mobile Delta region and the central Gulf Coast.[1]

Bottle Creek site was first mapped in the 1880s, but its location in middle of the delta, completely surrounded by swamp, made it inaccessible and protected it from most of the plunder experienced by similar sites in the Southeast. It was first professionally investigated in 1932 when David L. DeJarnette of the Alabama Museum of Natural History began his work there to determine if the site had a cultural relationship with Moundville, connected to the north by a river system.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Bottle Creek Site. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
  2. ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).

[edit] External links

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