New excavations at Town Creek Indian Mound by
archaeologist Tony Boudreaux of East Carolina University challenge the
idea that the site served strictly as a ceremonial center inhabited by
priests and visited once a year by local people. “Early on, when the
Mississippian community was first founded, there seemed to be a village
of at least ten houses, maybe more. There was no mound yet. There were
public buildings in the area where the mound would be built,” Boudreaux
explained to
The News Observer.
He suggests that as the residents died, they were buried in the floors
of their homes until the area became a cemetery containing the remains
of more than 500 people. Eventually the mound and the temple on top of
it were constructed. “That’s the place where the ancestors live, where
the chief is on the mound performing ceremonial activities that will
help keep the universe spinning,” he said. To read about a recent
discovery near Cahokia, see "
Mississippian Burning."
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