The Uses of Platform-Mound Summits at a Coles Creek Site in Southwest Mississippi

Summary

Excavations at Feltus (Jefferson County, Mississippi) have yielded considerable evidence on how the summits of platform mounds constructed during the middle Coles Creek period (AD 900-1100) were used. These summits showed multiple veneers of black and yellow sediments, portions of which were heavily burned. Also present were small pits that may have been votive deposits, as well as large, bathtub-shaped cooking pits. The summits were kept clean, but dense middens accumulated on their flanks. Charred posts may or may not indicate the presence of roofed buildings. All in all, these summits reveal very complex histories of ritual use.

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Cite this Record

The Uses of Platform-Mound Summits at a Coles Creek Site in Southwest Mississippi. Vincas Steponaitis, Megan Kassabaum, John O'Hear. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 398241)

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Keywords

Geographic Keywords
North America - Southeast

Spatial Coverage

min long: -91.274; min lat: 24.847 ; max long: -72.642; max lat: 36.386 ;