Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site

Wickliffe Mounds is the site of a Native American village of the Mississippian mound building culture, located in Ballard County, Kentucky.  This archaeological site was first occupied by the Mississippian Native Americans from A.D. 1100 to 1350.  Around 900 years ago, Mississippian people moved to this bluff which overlooks the Mississippi River and built a village with earthen mounds, houses and buildings all surrounding a central plaza. The Native People at the Wickliffe site were typical of a vast culture that archaeologists call the Mississippians.  Peaceful farmers, they grew corn and squash, hunted in the neighboring forests and fished the river; they made pottery from shell-tempered clay with elaborate designs and decorations; they participated in a vast trade network up and down the rivers; they had stone, shell and bone tools; they had a complex chiefdom level society; they lived in permanent style houses made of wattle and daub; and they built flat topped platform style mounds.  For reasons yet unknown, the village was abandoned after the 1350s.  Wickliffe Mounds was one of many Mississippian towns built along the river and was a residential and ceremonial center.