Destruction of Powell Mound showing stratigraphic . zones indicative of different phases of mound construction. For most American Bottom mounds we have little more than this very general understanding of mound construction, however. Work on the largest mound in North America, Monks Mound, for example, has been limited to a few excavations on platform surfaces (Benchley 1975), the Reed, Bennet and Porter (1968) solid cores, and testing of areas near the 1984 slump of the east face (McGimsey and Wiant 1984). Although limited, these studies hint at the wealth of information contained in the remaining mounds. Benchley, for example, has shown that additional thin layers of earth were added, perhaps on a yearly basis, to the conical mound on the first platform. This construction history is suggestive of a yearly renewal ritual.

From what data exist for the few proper excavations of Mississippian mounds in the American Bottom, it appears that construction techniques here differ little from mound construction in other parts of Eastern North America. Like earthen mounds from the Archaic and Woodland periods, Mississippian earthen mounds were constructed with basket loads of dirt carried on the backs of Native Americans. Although faint, the outlines of individual basket loads of dirt are apparent in stratigraphic profiles of some mound excavations. Historic photographs of mounds destroyed prior to cultural resource protection laws clearly show stratigraphic changes indicative of construction episodes. Basketloading in Monks Mound profile.

Solid cores taken by Reed et al. span the entire height of Monks Mound. On the basis of distinct bands of limonite staining, they inferred that the limonite layers represent stable surfaces, hiatuses in mound construction, and that the mound was built in up to 9 separate construction episodes. Major slumping of the east face of Monks Mound offered an opportunity to examine large stratigraphic exposures. Natural exposures and limited testing of this slump area revealed numerous sporadic and discontinuous bands of limonite staining. This condition is consistent with iron coming out of solution when iron-rich water passing through permeable sediment runs into less permeable sediments.

More recently, Wiant and M. Schroeder have examined botanical remains from Monks Mound solid cores. While the results of this work are preliminary and incomplete, they do suggest a technique for defining sediment provenance (i.e., borrow fill, dry land, swamp, and wetlands) and thus construction phases.

Unfortunately, however, we have few other details of mound construction. Such detail could potentially yeild data on the function of mounds, and the age of major mound construction phases. As temple excavations in Mesoamerica and elsewhere have shown, dating mound construction episodes are vital to understanding socio-political developments of early complex societies.

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