Everything about Platform Mound totally explained
A
Platform Mound is any
earthwork or
mound intended to support a structure or activity.
The Mississippian Native American Platform Mound
Specifically, the
Mississippian culture is well known for using platform mounds as a central aspect of their overarching
religious beliefs. Mississippian platform mounds are usually four-sided truncated pyramids, steeply sided, with steps built of wooden logs ascending one side.
A long-standing interpretation of Mississippian mounds comes from Vernon James Knight, who stated that the Mississippian platform mounds were one of the three "sacra," or objects of sacred display, of the Mississippian religion (also see
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex). His
logic is based on
analogy to
ethnographic and
historic data on related
Native American tribal groups in the Southeastern United States.
Knight suggests a microcosmic ritual organization based around a “native earth” autochthony, agriculture, fertility, and purification scheme, in which mounds and the site layout replicate
cosmology. Mounds rebuilding episodes are construed as rituals of burial and renewal, while the four-sided construction acts to replicate the flat earth and the four quarters of the earth.
Documented uses for Mississippian platform mounds include semi-public
chief’s house platforms, public
temple platforms,
mortuary platforms,
charnal house platforms,
earth lodge/town house platforms, residence platforms, square ground and rotunda platforms, and dance platforms.
Platform Mounds Around the World
The use of platform mounds is documented elsewhere in the world, including among the
Olmec and other groups in
Mesoamerica, the
Hohokam, and in periods of
Ancient China.
Further Information
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