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Although it is far removed from most of the large mound groups of the Southeastern
United States, the Spiro Mounds site had an enormous impact on the culture that
created many of these ceremonial complexes.

Regarded by many archaeologists as one of the four most important prehistoric
Indian sites east of the Rocky Mountains, Spiro was a center of culture during the
so-called Mississippian era. This era was signified by the spread of a common,
organized religion across much of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States.
This was the Native American culture that early Spanish explorers like Hernando de
Soto encountered when they came ashore and is exemplified by sites like Etowah
and Ocmulgee in Georgia, Moundville in Alabama, Cahokia in Illinois, and Spiro in
Oklahoma.

No one knows exactly where this culture began, but there is general agreement that
it spread eastward from the Mississippi during the century or two before 1000 A.D.
Sites like Spiro clearly played a significant role in the development and spread of the
religious culture, called the "Southern Cult" by some researchers.

Archaeologists believe the Spiro Mounds site was occupied from around 850 A.D. to
around 1450 A.D. What led to its demise is unknown, although there is
circumstantial evidence that its leaders may have lost their influence due to a severe
drought. What is known, however, is that for much of its existence, the site was a
center for ceremony and trade with influences and contacts extending out for
thousands of miles. Conch shells found at Spiro undoubtedly came from as far away
as South Florida, while other materials undoubtedly came from locations as far flung
as Illinois, Tennessee and Texas. In turn, sites across the Southeast have produced
artifacts with designs extremely similar to those found at Spiro.

Also fascinating is the fact that several of the 12 known mounds at Spiro form a sort
of giant calender for tracking the seasons. The mounds were constructed to create
unique alignments when the sun rose and set on solstice and equinox days marking
the key seasons.

The location of the Spiro site has been known since the early 1800s, when Choctaw
families settled in the vicinity at the end of the Trail of Tears. Over time, artifact
hunters became aware of the mounds and during the early 20th Century a
locally-formed "mining" company set about the systematic looting of the site in order
to obtain high-quality artifacts for sale to the highest bidder.

These "miners" destroyed large portions of the two key mounds, recklessly pulling
artifacts from the ground and scattering the bones of hundreds of Native American
religious and political leaders who were buried at the site. The wanton destruction at
Spiro so alarmed and infuriated the general public in Oklahoma that the state
legislature passed measures outlawing such looting. The mounds are now owned
and preserved by the Oklahoma Historical Society.