Wilcox County sites included in 'Native American Mounds in Alabama' by Dr. Gregory L. Little

Longtime readers of this column will know that I’ve had a long-standing interest in Indian mounds. As best that I can remember, this goes back to when I was around 10 years old, when my parents took us to see the famous mounds at Moundville. Since then, I’ve read everything I’ve come across about Indian mounds in Alabama.

During the past week, a buddy of mine loaned me a copy of a great book called “Native American Mounds In Alabama: An Illustrated Guide to Public Sites” by Dr. Gregory L. Little. Published in 2017 by Archetype Books in Memphis, this 68-page book contains a wealth of information about Alabama Indian mounds, artifacts, standing stones, stone memorials, caves, stone effigies, shell heaps and other archaeological sites. The book is also chock full of interesting maps, illustrations, aerial photos and pictures taken by Little’s wife, Dr. Lora Little.

As you might have imagined, this book also contains information about Indians mounds in Wilcox County. The first of these is what the author calls the “Furman Site,” a small Mississippian era village with two low platform mounds on the east side of the Alabama River, about eight miles west of Camden. This site, which was excavated by C.B. Moore, consists of a platform mound that was utilized over a long time period for intrusive burials.

Just a few notes about some of the finer points mentioned above. The Mississippian era lasted from about 800 A.D. to 1600 A.D. and saw the development of some of the most complex Indian societies in the Southeast. C.B. Moore was Clarence Bloomfield Moore of Philadelphia, an archaeologist who studied and excavated Indian sites throughout the Southeast before his death in 1936. Intrusive burials were burials that occurred at sites with much earlier, pre-existing burials.

Another Wilcox County site mentioned in the book is the Liddell Archaeological Site, which is on private property near Camden. This ancient village, another Mississippian site, was occupied as early as 9,000 B.C. To put this into perspective, this was about 6,500 years before the pyramids were built in Egypt and about 4,000 years before the beginnings of Stonehenge in England.

The Liddell Site has yielded up several burial urns and some researchers believe that this site was close to the famous walled village of Maubila. Many of you will remember from Alabama History class that Maubila was where Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto fought Chief Tuscaloosa in 1540. According to Little’s book, excavations at the Liddell Site have also shown that the village houses were rectangular with packed clay floors.

In the end, I highly recommend that anyone interested in reading more about Indian mounds in Alabama, procure a copy of this book. The above information is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s between the covers of this book. The book may be only 68 pages long, but it’s jammed packed full of information, and it’s a must-read for anyone interested in Alabama history.