Indian Mound Archaeology at the farm

So, our farm in SW MS has some Indian Mounds.

Since 2013 a major research University on the East Coast (I won't dox them for now) has been doing some excavation work on the place.

The head archaeologist is the girl in the baseball cap. Really professional and bright. She's doing her PhD dissertation on our site, and some related sites in SW MS.

This weekend she gave my family a tour and showed us some of the things she has found.

FAQs

This is the Coles Creek band of the Natchez Indians. Or, more accurately "Coles Creek Culture" .

Natives have been in the area for about 10,000 years. But they didn't start building Mounds until about 1000-1200 years ago.

These were ceremonial mounds. Not burial mounds. They used them for feasts and religious ceremonies.

They hunted as well as farmed corn, beans, and small grains.

The main thing she's interested in is their diet. She determines this by collecting the black soil in the layers. This is where they burned the food offerings. Or where they burned their trash after a feast (not sure which).

She takes this soil back to the lab, and basically boils it in a solution. And then analyzes the fat that bubbles up and can determine a lot about their diet (how much deer, bear, fish, corn).

There's also lots of pottery in the mounds. Lots of flakes and a few projectile points.

The grinding stones were found by a neighbor. Not on our mounds. They're used for grinding corn and acorns into flour.

The round stone is a Chunky stone. From a game they played where they would roll the stone along a flat course and throw spears at it.

That's about it. Just thought you guys would enjoy.