Spiro Mounds

Our latest field trip was to Spiro Mounds. Despite the fact that my "Indian Relations" have lived at Spiro for as long as anyone can remember, I had never been to see the Mounds. It was quite a trip, and quite an educational experience for all of us. The Mounds themselves weren't especially impressive to me...they pretty much look like overgrown hills. But as our guide described the history and significance of the Mounds to us, I was very impressed. The history of this area as the hub of the Americas prior to Columbus is quite amazing. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more on that soon, but for now, I'm going to caption these pictures and head to bed. :)
Partial re-creation of a "leader's" home...

The "historical interpretation" got a bit long for the girls at times. Here they had plopped down in the grass to rest.

Burial mound. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to post a bit about the burial process. I'll try to leave out the goriest details, though. :)

Grinning girls, joined at the hip as usual :-D...

Our guide was excellent, if a bit talkative for the younger ones. If I understood correctly, he has been with the site 18+ years. He may have been there when it opened to the public in 1978; I wasn't clear on that. I gathered that he actually has a background in archaeology. Peter was completely fascinated with the whole thing and I think could have talked to him for hours.

The girls resting again...:)

Another shot of the burial mound...

The visitor's center...

The walk back to the visitor's center...

I was fascinated by this boat hollowed out of a tree...

Conch shells. Hopefully I'll be able to tell what I remember about their significance in another post. :)

I also thought it was very interesting that in this matriarchal society where the men worked 3-4 hours per day hunting, and the women worked 8+ hours a day farming, etc., one of the men's activities was jewelry making.

An axe-head? I think...

After the tour was over, the kids and I drove into Spiro so I could "show them the sights". ;-) We're going to have to make another trip when I have addresses so that I can show them where some of our relatives lived, but I did show them a few landmarks I remember fondly from my trips there with Granny Marks. More on that in another post, too. :)

Thanks, Kim, for planning yet another great trip!