Burial Mound

When the village was abandoned, this burial mound stood about 20 feet tall and 90 feet in diameter. Archeological excavations beginning in 1939 found that it had been built in successive stages over about 700 years, ending around 1300 A.D. The mound contained around 90 bodies in about 30 burial pits. Burial there was reserved for community leaders, and evidence suggests that family members or servants may have been sacrificed and interred with them. For several days after a burial, people brought food, water, fire, and tobacco to the grave to help the deceased arrive safely at "the other house," or afterlife. Refined objects placed in burials included stone and copper ornaments and fine locally made ceramic vessels.

Texas · United States