The Big Picture at Hollywood: Geophysical and Archaeological Investigations at a Mississippian Mound Centre

Abstract

Hollywood Mounds is a late Mississippian mound centre located in northwestern Mississippi, USA. Although only four mounds are visible today topographically, prospection techniques have revealed additional mounds and other buried features that extend well beyond the site core. These features were burned, which allows them to produce highcontrast magnetic gradient anomalies. By augmenting this data with an efficient excavation strategy, the sequence of this unique cultural landscape has been reconstructed. These findings provide insight into the development of a Mississippian mound centre in this arearesults that would not be possible without archaeological prospection.

Mound building and summit architecture at the Carson site, a Mississippian mound center in the southeastern United States

“…These lines of evidence point to the strategies employed by emergent elites to enact their will and accomplish their goals. During the Mississippi period, competition among mounded villages and polities in the northern Yazoo Basin was intense, and occupations were short, sometimes as little as one hundred years (Connaway, 1984; Haley, 2014; Kassabaum et al., 2011; Nelson, 2014; Stevens, 2006). However, occupation and mound building at Carson span the entire Mississippi period, over 400 years of mound construction and village life out of a settlement spanning 1.6 km with evidence of well over 80 earthen mounds.…”

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Reveal and Interpret ‘Missing’ Archaeological Features at the Masseria Pantano Site in Apulia (Southern Italy)

“…have magnetic properties that differ from those of the surrounding medium, this method can prove successful in their detection (e.g. Becker, ; Aspinall et al ., ; Caggiani et al ., ; Bescoby and Bowden, ; Dirix et al ., ; De Smedt et al ., ; Haley, ).…”

Using Multistaged Magnetic Survey and Excavation to Assess Community Settlement Organization: A Case Study from the Central Peninsular Gulf Coast of Florida

“…Magnetometry is frequently the preferred geophysical technique for investigating prehistoric sites in North America, especially in the southern United States, where the magnetic properties of natural sediments provide a strong contrast with burning and pit features (Gaffney and Gater 2003:141; Johnson 2006:311–332). Magnetometry has proven useful in the detection of house remains and earthworks throughout the Southeast (e.g., Haley 2014; Henry et al 2014; Horsley et al 2014). However, landscapes such as wooded areas that cannot be traversed at a consistent pace along straight lines are difficult to survey effectively with magnetometers (Hodgetts et al 2016; Kvamme 2006:224).…”