The Importance of the Center: Exploring Circular Spaces in the Lower Mississippi Valley

Summary

The mound-and-plaza complex is a hallmark of late prehistoric sites in the Lower Mississippi Valley. While these mounds and the spaces between them have been the focus of much productive research, many mound-and-plaza centers began as circular or oval-shaped middens and only later incorporated mounds. Moreover, sites organized around central "empty" spaces are common starting in the Archaic period. I argue that by examining these earlier and less frequently studied examples of "plazas," we can increase our understanding of how later mound-and-plaza centers are used and specifically, their functions as gathering places and locations of communal ritual activity.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Mind the Gap: Archaeological Approaches to Null Data Spaces   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage