"The Great Temple Mound", Spiro Mounds. Le Flore County, Oklahoma. (Photo taken by Dr. Robert E. Bell, 1936)

Spiro. Its story conjures images of an American King Tut’s Tomb. Its excavation yielded some of the most important prehistoric artifacts ever found in North America. However, the true story of this great prehistoric American site has in some ways given way to legend.

The mounds are nestled along a river terrace near the banks of the Arkansas River in present-day Le Flore County, Oklahoma. They consisted of four adjacent earthen mounds built in a north/south alignment. The largest mound has been known by different names: Spiro, The Great Temple Mound and Craig Mound. The largest mound stood 33 feet high and 112 feet in diameter. The three adjacent mounds were about one half the height of the largest mound and approximately 188 feet long.

In the early 1900’s, William Craig purchased the land upon which the mounds sat from a black member of the local Choctaw tribe. William Craig and the prior owner refused to permit digging on the mounds. When Craig died around 1930, he left two minor children as his heirs. The children’s maternal grandfather, George Evans, was appointed the conservator of the children’s land, and it was George Evans who later permitted the initial excavation at the mounds in 1933. The mounds’ folklore began in the early 1930’s when six local men, known as the Pocola Mining Company, obtained a two-year lease to excavate artifacts from the mounds. The mining company was named after the community of Pocola, which was near the Oklahoma/Arkansas border and close to the mounds. Soon after digging began on November 27, 1933, rumors quickly spread that an important Mississippian mound complex in eastern Oklahoma was yielding beautiful and important ceremonial artifacts.

Ceremonial Objects from Spiro Mounds (Photo by J. G. Braecklein, 1936)

Digging began in the middle of the largest mound. The diggers were quickly rewarded and the mounds began yielding some of its treasures. By December, 1933, artifacts were being sold through curio shops along the East Coast. The digging quickly came to the attention of the University of Oklahoma and certain professional archaeologists, most notably Dr. Carl Guthe, Chairman of the National Research Council Committee on State Archaeology Surveys and Forrest E. Clements who, in 1945, wrote the first professional account of the excavations while writing for the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. It is noteworthy that the University of Oklahoma worked to maintain good relations with the diggers and did nothing to disturb the diggers’ legal right to continue digging at the mounds during the lease period. Robert E. Bell, of Marion, Ohio also visited the mounds from 1934 through 1937. The excavations inspired young Bell to later obtain his Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Chicago. Many of Bell’s early photographs of the excavation are the best contemporary records of those early days.

For two years, the six diggers worked feverishly to find as many salable artifacts as they could. It was, after all, nothing more than a depression-era commercial venture between the six partners. Those artifacts deemed unmarketable were discarded regardless of their ethnographic value. Adjacent to the mounds, the diggers erected a tent to house the artifacts. The Pocola group also hired a caretaker who stayed in the tent to watch over the site during the diggers’ absence. Any of the six diggers could sell artifacts to any buyer who happened to visit the site. Although each digger was entitled to a one-sixth share of the profits, the profit agreement implied that each would work an equal amount of time. However, as time passed, Hobbs and the two MacKenzies did most of the digging. The unequal workload created resentment, which in turn caused some of the diggers to discretely sell some artifacts unreported to the other partners. However, the diggers were honest with buyers when selling Spiro artifacts to buyers who frequently visited the site. They would not salt in non-Spiro artifacts and misrepresent any non-Spiro artifacts as having been found at Spiro. The diggers understood that if buyer confidence eroded due to fraudulent sales tactics, then buying interest in authentic artifacts would subside.

As November 27, 1935 approached, the diggers intensified their work efforts. Their attention focused on Craig Mound and the ceremonial objects found within it. After the diggers discovered approximately two gallons of fresh water pearl beads resting in a copper vessel deep in the large mound, jewelers began spreading false rumors that the pearls could be commercially cleaned and sold for tens of thousands of dollars. These rumors got back to George Evans who declined the Pocola group’s attempts to extend the lease term. To reach the choicest ceremonial objects thought to be in the core of the Great Temple Mound, the group dug a horizontal tunnel into the center beginning at the north edge of the mound. There were no supports of any kind within the tunnel, and there was a constant fear that the tunnel would collapse. Only the Pocola group entered the tunnel, and requests by outsiders to enter the tunnel were always denied.

When the diggers reached the center of the Temple Mound, they discovered one of the great archaeological finds of prehistoric North America. Deep within the largest mound, the diggers found an inner tomb laden with fantastic tribute offerings. Later called the "King’s Chamber", the inner tomb was formed when cedar poles were arranged into a conical structure. The chamber floor was made from two layers of cedar poles. Before the cedar structure was sealed by the surrounding earthen mound, the Spiro Mississippians placed within the tomb lavish objects of great craftsmanship and importance. These ceremonial objects were often made from non-local materials and in a manner suggesting that the Spiro Mississippians had an extensive trade network throughout the Mississippian world. Two of the seven flint maces found within the King’s Chamber were made from a southern Illinois material called Kaolin flint. Three other polished flint maces were made from Tennessee Dover flint. These exotic materials bear strong evidence that Spiro was an important place in the Mississippian world.

The Pocola diggers reported that when they first breached the cedar tomb walls, they heard the sound of air rushing in, and they could smell a foul odor. The seven hundred year old vacuum is an important reason why these tribute offerings were in such good condition when they were discovered. Although highly perishable, garments with exotic feathers were also found within the King’s Chamber. Regrettably, the diggers considered these perishable objects not salable, so they were discarded. Some of the cedar poles were saved, but most were simply used as firewood on cold nights.

Sometime after the lease term ended on November 27, 1935, local citizens complained that the tunnels left behind were an attractive danger to children playing at the mounds, so the tunnels were exploded to eliminate the danger of a collapse.

The excitement of the private excavation was instrumental in causing a major legal change in Oklahoma. After the Pocola lease expired, no private archaeological excavation could be carried out in Oklahoma without a state-issued permit. The first professional archaeological excavation at Spiro commencing in 1936 after many legal and financial obstacle were resolved. The 1936 excavation was carried on as a WPA project under the professional supervision of the Universities of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Much of the funding necessary to carry out the professional excavation came from private sources, most notably Frank Phillips of the Phillips Petroleum Company. The WPA excavation lasted until 1938. During the three-year excavation, Craig Mound and the other three smaller mounds were systematically sliced away by vertical cuts. Eventually, all four mounds were gone. The mounds now sitting at the Spiro state park are mere 20^th Century recreations of the 700 year-old Mississippian mounds.