Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park

(Redirected from Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park) Archaeological site from the Late Woodland period in Arkansas

Plum Bayou Mounds
3 LN 42
History
Artist's conception of the archaeological site
Location in North America
Alternative name	Toltec Mounds
Location	Lonoke County, Arkansas, US
Region	Central Arkansas
Coordinates	34°38′49″N 92°3′55″W / 34.64694°N 92.06528°W / 34.64694; -92.06528
Type	Settlement
Founded	7th century
Abandoned	11th century
Cultures	Plum Bayou culture
Site notes
Ownership	Government of Arkansas
Management	Arkansas State Parks
Public access	Yes
Website	Official website
Architecture
Architectural styles	platform mounds, burial mounds, plazas
Architectural details	Number of monuments:

Plum Bayou Mounds Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

NRHP reference No.	73000382
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 12, 1973
Designated NHL	June 2, 1978

Responsible body: State

Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park (3 LN 42), formerly known as "Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park", also known as Knapp Mounds, Toltec Mounds or Toltec Mounds site, is an archaeological site from the Late Woodland period in Arkansas that protects an 18-mound complex with the tallest surviving prehistoric mounds in Arkansas. The site is on the banks of Mound Lake, an oxbow lake of the Arkansas River. It was occupied by its original inhabitants from the 7th to the 11th century. The site is designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Name

The identification of the site with the Toltec of Mexico was a 19th century misinterpretation. It was thought that the Toltec people lived in North America and built the mounds. Mary Knapp was the co-owner of the land from 1849 to 1905. She and her first husband purchased the land in 1849 and the land passed to her after his death. She and her second husband made subsequent land purchases near the site. Mary was interested in archeology and had become acquainted with Dr. William Barry who was also interested in Native American artefacts and customs. Mary entered into correspondence with Barry discussing the "Toltec Mounds" site and Barry passed her letter on to Joseph Henry, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Mary would go on to correspond directly with Henry as well as forward artefacts she had collected from the site to the Smithsonian.

This would lead to investigations at the site by archaeologist Edward Palmer from the Smithsonian Institutions Bureau of American Ethnology in 1883 as well as by others which proved that the indigenous ancestors of regional Native Americans built these mounds and all other mounds within the present-day United States. They were part of mound building cultures that flourished from the Late Archaic period into the Protohistoric period. They built earthwork mounds for religious, political and ceremonial purposes, connecting them to their cosmology.

Originally, the name Plum Bayou was borrowed from a nearby waterway and applied to the distinctive culture of the site, discussed below. The site was officially renamed in November 2022 following consultation with the Quapaw Nation and the Arkansas Archaeological Survey.

Plum Bayou culture

The people who built the mounds at Plum Bayou Mounds had a culture distinct from other contemporary Native American groups in the Mississippi Valley. Plum Bayou sites are found throughout the White River and Arkansas River floodplains of central and eastern Arkansas, but are also found as far west as the eastern Ozark Mountains. Plum Bayou Mounds is the largest site of the eponymous culture. Their relationships with neighboring cultures such as the Coles Creek culture to the south and Fourche Maline culture to the southwest are still under investigation. The people lived in permanent villages and hamlets throughout the countryside. They built sturdy houses, farmed, gathered wild plants, fished, and hunted.

Plum Bayou Mounds Site

Mound groups, such as this one, were religious and social centers for people living in the surrounding countryside. Plum Bayou Mounds itself had a small population, made up primarily of political and religious leaders of the community and their families. This center was occupied from the 7th to the 11th century.

Located on the banks of an oxbow lake, the archaeological site once had an 8–10-foot-high (2.4–3.0 m) and 5,298-foot-long (1,615 m) earthen embankment and ditch on three sides. The other side was the lake, now called Mound Pond. Eighteen mounds were built inside the high curving 1 mile embankment, and two were originally 38 and 49 feet (12 and 15 m) high. Mounds were placed along the edges of two open areas (plazas) which were used for political, religious, and social activities attended by people from the vicinity. At least two mounds were used for feasting, as indicated by discarded food remains. Deer were a favorite food. Mound locations seem to have been planned using principles based on the alignment with important solar positions and standardized units of measurement. Most of the mounds were flat-topped platform mounds with buildings on them. Other Native Americans lived on the site in the 15th century, but they did not build the mounds.

The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.,

Culture, phase and chronological table for the Plum Bayou Mound site

Period	Lower Yazoo Phase	Dates	Tensas/Natchez Phase	Toltec Phase	Dates
Historic	Russell	1650–1750 CE	Tensas/Natchez	Quapaw ?	1673
Plaquemine/Mississippian culture Late Plaquemine/Mississippian Middle Plaquemine/Mississippian Early Plaquemine/Mississippian	Wasp Lake	1400–1650 CE	Transylvania/Emerald	Quapaw ?	1650
	Lake George	1300–1400 CE	Fitzhugh/Foster	–	–
	Winterville	1200–1300 CE	Routh/Anna	–	–
Transitional Coles Creek	Crippen Point	1050–1200 CE	Preston/Gordon	–	–
Coles Creek culture Late Coles Creek Middle Coles Creek Early Coles Creek	Kings Crossing	950–1050 CE	Balmoral	–	–
	Aden	800–950 CE	Ballina	Steele Bend	750–900 CE
	Bayland	600–800 CE	Sundown	Dortch Bend	600–750 CE
Baytown culture Baytown 2 Baytown 1	Deasonville	500–600 CE	Marsden	Dooley Bend	400–600 CE
Baytown culture Baytown 2 Baytown 1	Little Sunflower	400–500 CE	Indian Bayou	–	–
Marksville culture Late Marksville Early Marksville	Issaquena	200–400 CE	Issaquena	–	–
Marksville culture Late Marksville Early Marksville	Anderson Landing	0–200 CE	Point Lake/Grand Gulf	–	–
Tchefuncte culture	Tuscola	400 BCE–0 CE	Panther Lake	–	–

Table taken from "Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project", by Martha Ann Rolingson, 1982.

References

"National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ "Toltec Mounds Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 26, 2007.
^ "Toltec Mounds renamed Plum Bayou Mounds". November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
^ Rolingson, Martha Ann (1982). Emerging Patterns of Plum Bayou Culture:Preliminary Investigations of the Toltec Mounds Research Project. Arkansas Archaeological Survey. ISBN 1-56349-042-0.
Rolingson, Martha Ann (November 9, 2022). "Toltec Mounds Site". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
^ Arkansas archaeology : essays in honor of Dan and Phyllis Morse. Robert C. Mainfort, Marvin D. Jeter, Dan F. Morse, Phyllis A. Morse. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. 1999. pp. 127–128. ISBN 978-1-61075-029-5. OCLC 609350684.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Knapp, Mary Eliza (1877). "EARTH WORKS OX THE ARKANSAS RIVER, SIXTEEN MILES BELOW LITTLE ROCK". Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 1877: 251 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Moss, Theresa (November 3, 2022). "State renames Toltec Mounds park to Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"National Historic Landmark Nomination" (PDF). National Park Service. February 8, 1978.

External links

v t e Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures
Late Woodland period List of archaeological periods (North America)
Coles Creek sites	Aden site Balmoral Mounds Boone's Mounds Churupa Plantation Mound Coles Creek Site Crippen Point site Cypress Grove Mound DePrato Mounds Feltus Mound Site Filhiol Mound Site Fisher site Flowery Mound Frogmore Mound Site Ghost Site Mounds Greenhouse site Insley Mounds Kings Crossing site Lamarque Landing Mound Marsden Mounds Mazique Archeological Site Mott Mounds Mound Plantation Peck Mounds Raffman site Scott Place Mounds Shackleford Church Mounds Spanish Fort Sundown Mounds Transylvania Mounds Troyville Earthworks Venable Mound Wade Landing Mound
Coastal Coles Creek sites	Atchafalaya Basin Mounds Bayou Black Mound (16TR78) Bayou Cypremont (16SMY7) Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds Bayou L’Ours Site Bayou Portage Mounds Bayou Sorrel Mounds (16IV4) Clovelly Site (16LF64) Cypress Point Site (16VM112) Eagle Point Site (16IB123) Gibson Mounds (16TR5) Greenwood Cemetery Site (16SMY10) Kleinpeter Mounds Little Cheniere Site (16CM22) Little Pecan Island Site Jerry Haas Site (16SJ51) Machias Lake (16SB2) Morgan Mounds Pecan Mounds (16SM37) Pennison Mounds (16AS16) Portage Mounds (16SM5) Richeau Field Site (16TR82) Schwing Place Mound (16IV13) Sims site Southwest of Cut Off Lagoon (16SB50) St. Gabriel Mounds (16IV128) Temple Mounds Site (16LF4)
Plum Bayou sites	Baytown Site Chandler Landing Site Coy Site Dogtown Site Hayes site Maberry Site Plum Bayou Mounds Roland Site
Related topics Eastern Agricultural Complex Fourche Maline culture Mississippian culture Natchez Plaquemine culture Platform mound Taensa Troyville culture

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era

Protected areas in Arkansas

Federal

National Park	Hot Springs
National Historic Sites	Fort Smith Little Rock Central High School President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home
National Forests	Ouachita Ozark–St. Francis
National Memorial	Arkansas Post
National Military Park	Pea Ridge
National River	Buffalo
National Wildlife Refuges	Bald Knob Big Lake Cache River Felsenthal Holla Bend Logan Cave Overflow Pond Creek Wapanocca White River
Wilderness Areas	Big Lake Black Fork Mountain Buffalo National River Caney Creek Dry Creek East Fork Flatside Hurricane Creek Leatherwood Poteau Mountain Richland Creek Upper Buffalo
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Big Piney Creek Cossatot Hurricane Creek Little Missouri Mulberry North Sylamore Creek Richland Creek

State

State Parks	Arkansas Post Museum Bull Shoals-White River Cane Creek Conway Cemetery Cossatot River Crater of Diamonds Crowley's Ridge Daisy Davidsonville DeGray Lake Delta Heritage Trail Devil's Den Hampson Archeological Museum Herman Davis Historic Washington Hobbs Jacksonport Jenkins' Ferry Battleground Lake Catherine Lake Charles Lake Chicot Lake Dardanelle Lake Fort Smith Lake Frierson Lake Ouachita Lake Poinsett Logoly Louisiana Purchase Lower White River Museum Mammoth Spring Marks' Mills Battleground Millwood Mississippi River Moro Bay Mount Magazine Mount Nebo Museum of Natural Resources Ozark Folk Center Parkin Mounds Petit Jean Pinnacle Mountain Plantation Agriculture Museum Plum Bayou Mounds Poison Springs Battleground Powhatan Prairie Grove Battlefield Queen Wilhelmina South Arkansas Arboretum Village Creek White Oak Lake Withrow Springs Woolly Hollow
State Forest	Poison Springs State Forest
Wildlife Management Areas	List
Arkansas portal

Links to related articles

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear spear-thrower baton harpoon Schöningen woomera
Projectile points	Arrowhead Transverse Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Mastodon Plano
Systems	Game drive system Buffalo jump

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Kiva Pyramid Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge
Dwellings	Neolithic architecture long house British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mudbrick Mehrgarh Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Stone roof Wattle and daub
Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Well
Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Megalithic architectural elements Midden Oldest extant buildings Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Cord-marked Grooved ware Jōmon Linear Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine winery wine press
Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Cairn Carved stone balls Cave paintings Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Hill figure Golden hats Guardian stones Gwion Gwion rock paintings painting pigment Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Rock cupule Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurine
Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Cotswold-Severn Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court cairn Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Unchambered long cairn
Other cultural	Archaeoastronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Evolutionary origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Origin of language Prehistoric counting Prehistoric medicine trepanning Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

Portals:

Categories:

Misplaced Pages