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Aerial View of Emerald Mound
Site, the second largest ceremonial mound in the United States
Courtesy of Natchez Trace Parkway, National Park Service
National Park Service excavation at Emerald Mound,
c1948
Courtesy of Natchez Trace Parkway, National Park Service
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Designated a National Historic Landmark, Emerald is one of the
largest mounds in North America. Covering eight acres, Emerald
Mound measures 770 by 435 feet at the base and is 35 feet high.
The mound was built by depositing earth along the sides of a natural
hill, thus reshaping it and creating an enormous artificial plateau.
Two smaller mounds sit atop the expansive summit platform of the
primary mound. The larger of the two, at the west end, measures
190 by 160 feet and is 30 feet high. Several additional smaller
mounds were once located along the edges of the primary mound
summit, but were destroyed in the 19th century by plowing and
erosion. Emerald Mound, built and used during the Mississippian
period between 1250 and 1600 A.D.,was a ceremonial center for
the local population, which resided in outlying villages and hamlets.
Its builders were ancestors of the Natchez Indians. By the late
1600s, the Natchez had abandoned Emerald and established their
capital at the Grand Village some 12 miles
to the southwest.
Emerald Mound Site, near Natchez Trace Parkway, is about
10 miles northeast of Natchez, Mississippi (milepost 10.3). Exit
parkway at Rte. 553 intersection; follow signs to mound, about
1 mile. Open to the public daily, free of charge.
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