Spiro, a site on the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, is integral to understanding the Mississippian Period (AD 900-1500) in the eastern United States. As a site devastated by looting in the 1930s, Spiro served as a test case in the development of state-level legislation to protect antiquities, bringing artifact looting into the public eye.
This monograph documents and describes more than 20,000 artifacts from Spiros Craig Mound held at the Smithsonian Institution. With links to other major Mississippian sites such as Cahokia, artifacts from the Craig Mound have become nearly legendary in the annals of 20th century archaeology for their state of preservation, workmanship, and the images they offer about ceremonial life and creative expression of people poised on the edges of the Plains at the eve on contact.
The College of Arts