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Matt's avatar

I grew up in Ohio, and in high school had a friend from Chillicothe, a small, rural city which is surrounded by several ancient mound sites; I was amazed that we weren't taught this history in grade school. In the US we often come to know about Mesoamerican monumental pyramids of the Maya and Aztecs, but there's not nearly as much awareness of the moundbuilding civilizations whose ceremonial precincts can still be found across a huge part of the United States.

I just started reading "Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present" by Jerald Milanich, which begins with several chapters of the state's precolonial societies. He suggests a progression from the shell middens—huge piles of shellfish refuse, essentially garbage heaps, many of which remain across the state today—which eventually became ceremonial mounds, elite burial sites containing copper artworks and other precious artifacts, and/or elevated platforms for religious rites.

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Timber Fox's avatar

I visited Poverty Point, and you get a feeling there. Nothing mystical, but it’s quiet and a little remote, and peaceful if you climb up the mound.

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