Holly Bluff Site

Holly Bluff Site 22 YZ 557
An illustration of what the Holly Bluff Site may have looked like. Artist Herb Roe
Holly Bluff Site 22 YZ 557 Location within Mississippi
Location
Coordinates	32°48′50.77″N 90°40′58.62″W / 32.8141028°N 90.6829500°W / 32.8141028; -90.6829500
Country	USA
Region	Yazoo County, Mississippi
Nearest town	Holly Bluff, Mississippi
History
Culture	Plaquemine culture
First occupied	800
Period	Plaquemine Mississippian
Abandoned	1500
Excavation and maintenance
Responsible body	Private
Dates excavated	1908, 1928, 1936, 1949, 1958-1960
Notable archaeologists	Clarence Bloomfield Moore, Philip Phillips, James A. Ford, Paul Gebhard, Nick Zeigler in
Architecture
Architectural styles	platform mound
Number of temples	25
Holly Bluff Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
NRHP Reference #	66000412
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966[1]
Designated NHL	July 19, 1964[2]

The Holly Bluff Site (22 YZ 557), sometimes known as the Lake George Site, and locally as “The Mound Place,”) is an archaeological site that is a type site for the Lake George phase of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture period of the area. The site is on the southern margin of the Mississippian cultural advance down the Mississippi River and on the northern edge of that of the Cole's Creek and Plaquemine cultures of the South."^[2] The site was first excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1908 and tested by Philip Phillips, Paul Gebhard and Nick Zeigler in 1949.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.^[2]

Location

One of the half dozen really big sites in the State of Mississippi, the Holly Bluff Site is located on the south bank of George Lake, or Lake George as it is sometimes known, a half mile east of its confluence with the Sunflower River and a mile and a half southeast of the village of Holly Bluff, Yazoo County. Today the site is bisected by a county road and is used as a plantation headquarters but still clearly visible are the numerous large mounds and the remains of a surrounding wall.

Prehistoric Timeline

Early Mississippian influence on the Yazoo Basin area

The sites occupation begins with a Jaketown Phase occupation evidenced by a scattering of Poverty Point objects in the lowest levels of excavations. This is followed, after a hiatus evidenced by a complete lack of Tuscola Phase materials, by an early Marksville period component tentatively assigned an early Anderson Landing Phase that may have lasted into an early Issaquena times. The succeeding late Issaquena Phase and Deasonville Phases are virtually unrepresented at Holly Bluff. The site was again occupied from the lower half of the Baytown period up to the late prehistoric times. All phases of the local sequence from the Bayland on through the Lake George Phase (1350-1500)(of which the site is the type site for the Lower Yazoo Basin Plaquemine chronology) are abundantly documented. Materials of the Crippen Point Phase of the Late Coles Creek appear to be most widely spread, and it may have been at this time that the settlement attained its greatest size. In the final Lake George Phase additions were made to some of the mounds, especially Mound A, and the enclosing embankment was built, but the total area occupied was perhaps not as large as in the preceding period.^[3]

Site Description

It will be noted that Mound A is almost the exact center of the site, a most unusual location for the dominant mound in ceremonial centers of the Coles Creek and Mississippi periods. In the case of centers the plaza is normally the central feature with the principal "temple mound" located on one side, usually but not always the west, its principal ramp giving access from the plaza on the east side of the mound. In the case of Holly Bluff there seems to have been two plazas to the east and west of the Mound A respectively.

Sampling evidence supports the theory that Mound A was originally part of a group (including mounds B, C, D, E, and F) surrounding the western plaza possibly as early as the Bayland phase(but more likely the Aden phase), and certainly established by the Kings Crossing phase. Mound A may or may not have been the principal structure at this time. This plan may have carried on into the Crippen Point phase, but the evidence strongly suggests that either then or in the succeeding Mayersville phase site reorientation took place. Mound A becoming the principle feature of an east plaza assemblage (with mounds F', G, G', H, U, and V) which remained the ritual center of the site throughout the remainder of its history.^[4]

The twenty-five mounds that are now recognized range from barely noticeable rises to the massive Mound A, which is 55 feet (17 m) high and covers nearly two acres. It is believed that the lower rises were used as house substructures and repeatedly reconstructed. The larger mounds were most likely used for ceremonial purposes rather than residential. Until recent erosion, earthen ramps could be seen climbing to the summits of these large mounds. Seven of the mounds are situated along the bank of George Lake and six more are located within the embankment. The remaining twelve mounds are positioned around the two plazas situated to the east and west of Mound A. This design is unusual and extremely large for the area; the closest in size and layout being the Winterville Site.^[5]

The final major feature of the site is the earthen wall and the trench that surrounds it on three sides. In the earliest survey of the site, C. B. Moore reported that the wall was four to 6 feet (1.8 m) high and still reached this height although large sections have now been destroyed. It is likely that the ditch, which was filled with water from George Lake, supplied the dirt for the wall. The one side that was not protected by the wall was the lake side of the site, the lake bank creating a steep enough boundary on this northern side to provide protection.

Besides topographical settings, the environment of the Lake George site was extremely favorable for occupation. In prehistoric times the rich soils and the varying ecologies supported a vast array of plant and animal species.^[5] The natural levees created by deposits from the Mississippi were made of rich sandy and silty loams which allowed the common Southeastern deciduous hardwoods, such as hickory, elm, ash, cottonwood, maple, pecan, hackberry, honey locust, sycamore, and even gums and oaks to flourish. The swamps surrounding the site supported an entirely different ecosystem including alligators, small reptiles and aquatic plants.^[5] The streams and rivers also provided fish, shellfish, and other aquatic fauna, which can be seen from excavations of shell middens and deposits of the site.^[5] These waterways also provided a major form of communication. This abundant region was obviously utilized by many different peoples over the course of prehistory as the Holly Bluff Site shows.

Excavations

Looting, erosion and cultivation have extensively damaged the Holy Bluff site over the years. This has caused some debate over the form and degree of some of the earthworks. Clarence B. Moore noted in 1908, following a visit, that some thirty rises and mounds, small and large, could be counted within the enclosure. Nine years later Calvin S. Brown visited and counted only twenty-five or so mounds within the wall.^[5] In 1928 and again in 1936 James A. Ford recorded only twenty-two mounds. In a site report in January 1941, Jesse D. Jennings described twenty-seven mounds and some questionable rises.^[5] C. B. Moore’s original estimate is believed to most accurately reflect the situation; many of the smaller earthworks have been lost to recent and intense cultivation.

In January and February 1908, Clarence Bloomfield Moore received permission from the then owner Judge William Andrew Henry of Yazoo City to excavate the sites along the Yazoo River and its tributary the Sunflower River in his steamboat, The Gopher.^[5] On his excavation Moore recorded eleven sites and partially excavated eight, including Holly Bluff: “with a large force to dig, including May who had been in our service before, we go directly to work on such mounds”.^[6] Moore commented on the physical appearance of the site: “Strewn over the enclosed area, among the mounds and on them…are chert pebbles; fragments of chert; bits of mussel shell; and small parts of earthenware vessels"^[6] Most of the earthenware was undecorated, he recorded, and mostly shell tempered with some stone tempering which is common in the Yazoo-Sunflower region.^[5] C. B. Moore’s excavations produced various small artifacts including projectile points, a pebble ax of fossilized wood, a chert hammerstone, and a zoomorphic effigy pipe of shell-tempered pottery. He was disappointed, however, in finding nothing of great importance other than two disturbed burials in a mound on the lake front.^[5] Moore’s disappointment was evident in his failing to map the site and his statement, “it having become evident to us that our search was inadequately rewarded”.^[6]

Numerous other archaeologists with varying degrees of success followed up Moore’s excavations. Each of the later excavations found an extremely different system of mounds. In the 1920s the site was damaged by the then-plantation owner Mr. Charles W. Perry who pastured cattle on the large mounds and cultivated the smaller mounds.^[5] The cattle foraged the cover of the larger mounds and their trampling eroded much of the site, erasing the ramps described by Moore. In 1949 Philip Phillips, Paul Gebhard and Nick Zeigler began performing test excavations of the Holly Bluff site. These were the first truly scientific excavations carried out at the site. The interpretations of the data provided the first reliable conclusions of the culture history.^[5] These tests finally provided evidence that the Holly Bluff site had been occupied for approximately one millennium.^[5] The conclusions proved that the Holly Bluff site was an important phase of the Coles Creek culture. From 1958 to 1960, “hundreds of skeletons were removed” from Mound C.^[5]

See also

• Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
• List of Mississippian sites
• List of burial mounds in the United States

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Holly Bluff Site.

• UM Museum of Anthropology

Mississippian and related cultures List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley Middle Mississippian American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Mound and Village Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Dogtooth Bend Kincaid Mounds Marshall Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Twin Mounds Ware Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Mound Bottom Riverview Mounds Archaeological Site Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Campbell Chucalissa Eaker Menard-Hodges Murphy Mound Parkin Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase South Appalachian Mississippian Adamson Mounds Site Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Bussell Island Chauga Mound Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa chiefdom Dallas Phase Dyar Etowah Mounds Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar Phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Site Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek Phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Mound Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah Phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Mounds Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Mound Summerour Toqua Town Creek Indian Mound Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks Fort Walton culture Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin-Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Mounds Leon-Jefferson Culture Letchworth Mounds Velda Mound Yon Pensacola culture Bottle Creek Indian Mounds Dauphin Island Fort Walton Mound Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people Plaquemine Mississippian Anna Emerald Mound Fitzhugh Mounds Flowery Mound Foster's Mound Ghost Site Mounds Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Mounds Julice Mound Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Mounds Natchez Pocahontas Mounds Routh Mounds Scott Place Mounds Sims Taensa Transylvania Mounds Venable Mound Winterville Caddoan Mississippian Battle Mound Belcher Mound Bluffton Mound Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Mounds Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Spiro Mounds Upper Mississippian cultures Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village Culture Artwork Emmons mask Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian stone statuary Shell gorget Languages Caddoan languages Central Algonquian languages Cherokee language Mobilian Jargon Muskogean languages Natchez language Siouan languages Timucua language Tunica language Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Maize Mill Creek chert de Soto Expedition

Baytown and Troyville cultures Late Woodland period List of archaeological periods (North America) Baytown sites Baytown Site Holly Bluff Site Roland Site Winterville Mounds Troyville sites DePrato Mounds Greenhouse Site Marsden Mounds Mott Archaeological Preserve Peck Mounds Troyville Earthworks Venable Mound Related topics Coles Creek culture Eastern Agricultural Complex Fourche Maline culture Marksville culture Platform mound Plum Bayou culture

Pre-Columbian North America Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic Archaeological cultures Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Archaeological State Park Eaker Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Marksville Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Winterville Wupatki National Monument Miscellaneous Black drink Buhl Woman Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kennewick Man Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of the Americas Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Related Genetic history Portal of Indigenous peoples of North America Pre-Columbian era