Winterville site

TheWinterville site(22 WS 500) is a majorarchaeological siteinunincorporatedWashington County, Mississippi,north ofGreenvilleand along the river. It consists of major earthwork monuments, including more than twelve largeplatform moundsand cleared and filledplazas.It is thetype sitefor theWinterville Phase (1200 to 1400)of the Lower Yazoo Basin region of thePlaquemine Mississippian culture.Protected as a state park, it has been designated as aNational Historic Landmark.

Winterville site
22 WS 500

Artist's conception of the Winterville site
Location in Mississippi today
Location	Washington County, Mississippi,USA
Region	Washington County, Mississippi
Coordinates	33°29′9″N91°3′40″W
History
Abandoned	1450
Periods	Winterville Phase
Cultures	Plaquemine Mississippian culture
Site notes
Excavation dates	1967
Archaeologists	Jeffrey P. Brain
Architecture
Architectural styles	platform mounds,plazas
Architectural details	Number of mounds: 23
Winterville site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
NRHP referenceNo.	73001031
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 17, 1973
Designated NHL	September 14, 1993
Responsible body: State

In June 2015 the state authorized $300,000 to restore the mounds to their pre-Columbian condition and add walking trails to the park.The site also includes a museum.

Winterville Mounds

Winterville Mounds, named for the nearby town ofWinterville, Mississippi,is the site of a prehistoric ceremonial center built byNative Americansof thePlaquemine culture,the regional variation of theMississippian culture.This civilization thrived from about 1000 to 1450CE. The earthworkmounds,an expression of the Winterville society's religious and political system, were the site of sacred structures and ceremonies. They were built between 1200 and 1250.Archaeologicalevidence indicates that the Winterville people lived away from the mound center on family farms in scattered settlement districts throughout theYazoo-Mississippi RiverDelta basin. Only a few of the higher-ranking tribal officials lived at this mound complex.

The Winterville ceremonial center originally contained at least twenty-threeplatform moundssurrounding several large, filled and smoothedplazas.Some of the mounds located outside current park boundaries were leveled by farming and highway construction before the site became protected as Winterville State Park.

Twelve of the site's largest mounds, including the 55 feet (17 m) high Temple Mound, are the focus in the early 21st century of a long-range preservation plan being developed by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and theUniversity of Mississippi's Center for Archaeological Research. In June 2015 the state legislature authorized $300,000 for a project to restore the mounds to their pre-Columbian condition. Trees and brush will be removed. In addition, two walking trails will be added to the park.

Mound A, the largest mound at the site

Archaeological evidence indicates that there are continuities in culture between the residents of the Winterville Mounds and the laterNatchez Indians,a Mississippi tribe documented by French explorers and settlers in the early 18th century. The Natchez Indians' society was divided into upper and lower ranks, with a person's social rank determined byheredity through the female linein their matrilineal kinship system. The chief and other tribal officials inherited their positions as members of the royal family. Such an elaborate leadership network was able to direct the mound building at Winterville by an organized civilian labor force. But, there is no evidence of a large residential population at this site or other similar sites. This lack of artifacts and remains indicates that this site was mostly used for ceremonial purposes.

A great fire during the late 14th century consumed the original building on the Temple Mound at Winterville. According to archaeological evidence, the cause of the fire remains a mystery. The site continued to be used afterward, but no more mounds were built or maintained. Although the site continued to be occupied after the fire, the general population declined at Winterville while increasing at settlements and mound sites 50 miles to the south, in the lower Yazoo River basin. By AD 1450 the Winterville Mound site appears to have been abandoned completely. The period of the site's greatest florescence was used by archaeologists as the basis for describing theWinterville Phase (1200 to 1400 CE)of the Lower Yazoo Basin region.

The first modern archaeological excavations at the Winterville site were conducted in the 1940s by theNational Park ServiceandHarvard University's Lower Mississippi Survey.Jeffrey P. Braindirected excavations at Winterville in 1967 and his report,Winterville: Late Prehistoric Culture Contact in the Lower Mississippi Valley,was published in 1989 by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Burials and structural remains were found at the site, along with items such as ceramic and stone artifacts; the latter can be seen at the Winterville Museum in the park.

Winterville Mounds was dedicated as aMississippi state parkin March 1969.The site was designated as aNational Historic Landmarkin 1993.The mounds are listed on theMississippi Mound Trail.

Culture, phase and chronological table for the Winterville site

Illustrated aerial view of the Winterville site

Culture or cultural tradition	Phase	Dates
Mississippian	Russell(Tunica)	1650 CE to 1750 CE
	Wasp Lake	1500 to 1650 CE
	Lake George	1400 to 1500 CE
Plaquemine	Winterville	1200 to 1400 CE
Coles Creek	Crippen Point	1050 CE to 1200 CE
	Kings Crossing	950 CE to 1050 CE
	Aden	800 CE to 950 CE
Baytown	Bayland	600 to 800 CE
	Deasonville	400 CE to 600 CE?
Marksville	Issaquena/Paxton	200 to 400 CE?
	Anderson Landing	0 CE to 200 CE?
Tchefuncte	Tuscola	400 to 0 CE?
Poverty Point	McGary	900 BCE to 400 BCE?
	Jaketown	2000 BCE to 900 BCE?

Brain, Jeffrey P.(1989).Winterville-Late Prehistoric Culture Contact In the Lower Mississippi Valley.Mississippi Department of Archives and History. p. 93.ISBN0-938896-58-X.

Pottery

Main articles:Plaquemine culture potteryandMississippian culture pottery

An assortment of pottery found at the site, on display at the site museum.

The Winterville people made pottery by building up strips of clay, and then smoothing them out, much like otherpotteryin the Eastern American area where thepotter's wheelwas unknown. They tempered the pottery with groundmusselshell, grit,grog,and angular bits of clay. Surface treatment ranged from carelessly polished to very finely polished. Forms for the pottery range from shallow plate like bowls to beakers and jars, with some pieces having animal effigies for handles. Surface decorations range from plain to incisedS.E.C.C.designs.

Most pottery found at the Winterville site are of the kinds known as Addis Plainvar. Addis,Addis Plainvar. Greenvilleand Addis Plainvar. Holly Bluff.Some of theMississippian culture potteryfound at the Winterville site is believed to have been imported from other Mississippian societies (possibly fromCahokiaor Cahokian-influenced peoples). Examples of these are pieces of pottery from theNodenaRed and Whitevar. DumondandWallsEngravedvar. Walls.These examples have distinctive red and white slips, thinner walls, and more finely finished surfaces than locally produced wares and may have been valued for their exotic qualities and fine workmanship.

See also

• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
• List of Mississippian sites
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi

External links

• Animation: Towns and Temples of the Mississippian Culture-5 Sites
• Winterville Mounds page,Mississippi Department of Archives and History
• Winterville site,National Park Service
• The 2006 excavations at Winterville Mounds (22WS500) Washington County, Mississippi,University of Southern Mississippi
• UM Museum of Anthropology