Spiro And The Art Of The Mississippian World

IN 1914, OUTSIDE OF SPIRO, OKLAHOMA, NOT FAR from Fort Smith, Arkansas, near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, something suspicious attracted the attention of Choctaw farmers. A distinguished-looking white man was buzzing around the area, tramping across their farms, looking over the earthen mounds on their property, and asking a lot of questions.

The stranger, University of Oklahoma archaeologist Joseph Thoburn, asked if he could photograph and take measurements of the mounds. They said yes. He asked if he could dig into the mounds to see what was buried under them. They said no.

Choctaws had farmed in the area since 1832. After the Civil War, the land where the mounds are located was allotted to Choctaw Freedmen, who began clearing the dense overgrowth to farm. They would have had an idea about the mounds