2009 Annual Report

Mississippi Mound Trail Spotlights Nationally Significant Native American Sites

MDAH has joined with the Lower Mississippi Delta Partnership to develop a Mississippi Mound Trail throughout western Mississippi. This area of the state contains some of the largest and oldest Native American mounds and mound groups in the world—yet most of the sites are unmarked and lack interpretation. Through a Transportation Enhancement Grant from the Department of Transportation, MDAH will work with the Lower Mississippi Delta Partnership to place interpretive markers at thirty mound sites. In addition to interpretive markers, kiosks will be erected at four significant sites for which there is more known history. A printed brochure and Web site will also be developed to provide more extensive information for the public.

A significant mound site in Coahoma County is now the focus of study by MDAH and the University of Mississippi. The Carson Site is the largest Mississippian mound center in the state, once consisting of more than 85 mounds. After multiple American Indian burials were exposed by construction activities, MDAH was allowed to salvage the exposed burials. This site had never been studied and the information gained will be invaluable to pre-contact Southeastern American Indians' settlement patterns, dietary, mortuary, and cultural practices.

Eudora Welty Centennial Attracts International Attention