Imagine a small army of workers toiling from dawn to dust, gathering baskets of dirt. They carry their burdens to a clearing, dump the soil and tamp it down with their feet. They retrace their footsteps many times. Days pass, and as the ribbon of workers relentlessly empties baskets, a shape emerges and grows to great height. Variations of this scene were repeated for some 5,500 years throughout the bottomlands of the Lower Mississippi Valley.
Mounds differ in shape and number.
They can be flat-topped, pyramids, cones, ovals, and barely perceptible rises on the landscape. Mounds can stand along or be in clusters of as many as 20 constructions. Some mounds are clustered around broad plazas, while earthwork ridges connect others. Signs of stockades and ditch fortifications enclosing some mounds imply warfare. The lack of discernible defenses at other sites suggests peaceful periods.