This mound was originally at least three times its current length and reached 35 feet tall, serving as the spiritual and political center of the village with buildings for worship or government. Archeological evidence suggests that the buildings on top were periodically ceremonially destroyed by fire and then rebuilt on a layer of fresh dirt covering the charred remains. In the Caddo account of creation, the first man and woman brought fire, a tobacco pipe, a drum, and seeds for planting into this world, and these items appeared in Caddo ceremonial life, with fire especially prominent. Along with the ceremonial burning of structures, at least one village structure may have housed a perpetual fire tended by the xinesi, or priest, a feature also common to later Caddo groups. During the 1940 excavation of this mound, archeologists unearthed the remains of a very unique structure they called the Maze, approximately 30 feet in diameter, whose specialized construction indicates that it was a ceremonial or ritualistic space, though its exact use remains unknown.