Tracing History Part 2

The Natchez Trace Parkway

We're journeying up the Natchez Trace Parkway, starting at Natchez State Park in Natchez, MS. A little background:

The 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River to salt licks in todays central Tennessee.

Over the centuries, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and other American Indians left their marks on the Trace. The Natchez Trace experienced its heaviest use from 1785 to 1820 by the Kaintuck boatmen that floated the Ohio and Miss[issippi] rivers to markets in Natchez and New Orleans. They sold their cargo and boats and began the trek back north on foot to Nashville and points beyond.  

Source: http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/natchez-trace-parkway#

The original trail, or trace, now called The Old Trace, started as an animal trail some 8,000 years ago. The mammals that inhabited North America during prehistory, some, quite large like mammoths, bison and giant ground sloths formed the trail as they traveled to the salt licks to get nutrients that their everyday diets didn't provide. The animals instinctively traveled along any high ground or ridges to make it easier to spot predators and stay out of the muddy lowlands. And where there are animals, men will follow to hunt them. 

The original inhabitants of the area, known only as Paleo-Indians, followed the game up and down the trace. After the Paleo-Indians, came the Mississippians. Theirs was a mound building culture, and they began to construct settlements along near this ready source of food and raw materials. To this day, the mounds they built can still be found adjacent to The Old Trace.

Our first stop was at The Emerald Mounds. I'll let this lovely National Park Service sign tell you about the site.

Here you can see the main mound complex. It has multiple levels not unlike a step pyramid.

 Here's a shot from the top of the main mound. You can see one of the secondary mounds.

It doesn't seem real high when you look at it this way ...

... but when you look down the stairs, you can get a feel of the height and just how steep it is.

There was no active archeology going on at the site, and that was disappointing to me. Having lived most of my life in Illinois, I'm no stranger to Indian mounds. The Dixon mounds in Western Illinois has active excavations that the public can see and learn from. There are several other mound complexes along the Trace, but those are all small and not very impressive. We stopped at the one below, and just drove past the remaining ones.

What do you prefer, Almond Joy or Mounds?