How many Indian 'rock mounds' are hidden in the woodlands of Conecuh County, Alabama?

An example of a common Indian rock mound.

Going all the way back to an elementary school field trip to the Moundville Archaeological Park in Hale County, I’ve been fascinated by Indian mounds. The mounds at Moundville are classic examples of the large earthen mounds that were made by Indians across the Southeast. Most of these mounds are made out of packed clay and topsoil.

A few weeks ago, I was looking over a recent issue of “Stones & Bones,” the newsletter published by the Alabama Archaeological Society, and read a fascinating story by Jacksonville State University Professor Emeritus Harry Holstein. Holstein’s article was about “Memorial Stone Mounds,” a subject he devoted much of his long career to studying. His article included photos of some of the stone mounds he encountered over the years, and it was only then that I realized that I’d actually seen this type of thing in the woods before. I just didn’t know what I was looking at.

Holstein wrote that Indians would build these loose stone mounds for different reasons. They were either used as burial mounds or to memorialize a relative or an important tribal member. At other times, Indians built these mounds as a way to mark a border or to remember where a significant event occurred, for example, an important battle, a religious event or where someone important was killed or died.

Holstein noted that Indians in North America began constructing stone mounds in early prehistoric times, and stone structure sites can be found throughout Alabama and the Southeast. Often, these mounds would be built up over time as passing Indians would add stones to an already existing mound. In addition to stone mounds, Indians also built stone walls, stone prayer seats and other stone structures.

There is no doubt that there are a few earthen Indian mounds in Conecuh County, but most of them are deep in the woods on private property. Also, I don’t know if it’s an urban legend or not, but I’ve heard it told that when I-65 was being built through Conecuh County, workers cut a path through Indian mounds to make way for the highway. Some even say that this is why so many accidents occur on I-65, that is, these wrecks are the result of some type of curse brought on by the desecration of Indian burial sites.

I’m sure that at some point in the state’s past, a survey was done to locate and identify Indian mounds statewide. It would be interesting to know what this survey has to say about Indian mounds in Conecuh County. More than likely, we’d learn that we drive by or live near Indian sites that we’ve forgotten or failed to recognize over the years.

But what about stone mounds? It’s well documented that Indians were living in what is now Conecuh County thousands of years ago, so they would have had ample time to build all sorts of structures, including stone mounds. With that said, the Conecuh County woods and countryside could be full of these undocumented stone mounds.

In the end, let me hear from you if you think you’ve ever run across one of these stone mounds while out walking in the woods. If you are like me, you may not have realized what you were looking at. Thanks to Holstein’s recent article, maybe more of these ancient sites will be documented in our neck of the woods.