Bessemer in Jefferson County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)
The Bessemer Site
Alabama Indigenous Mound Trail
Photographed by Mark Hilton, January 26, 2020
1. The Bessemer Site Marker
Inscription.
The Bessemer Site was the largest indigenous mound site in what is now Jefferson County, and it once dominated a large territory in what became north-central Alabama. Occupied from about AD 1150 to 1250 during the early Mississippian period, the site included three mounds near the confluence of Halls Mill Creek and Valley Creek about two miles west of Downtown Bessemer.
In the 1930s, archaeologists completely excavated all three mounds, so no above-ground evidence of them remains. These mounds included a residential mound, a small burial mound, and a large ceremonial mound. The two-tiered ceremonial mound was built atop an unusual stone foundation that is rarely seen associated with mounds in the Southeast. Other unique features included preserved stair-steps on the residential mound and the remnants of a double-walled palisade encircling the burial mound.
During the mounds' occupation, an active village surrounded the site where people lived in rectangular wattle and daub houses with thatched roofs. In the bottomlands along Valley Creek beyond the mound center, people cultivated corn, beans, squash, amaranth, and sunflower, and supplemented these crops by gathering fruits and nuts, hunting game, and fishing.
This site is very important to numerous Southeastern indigenous tribes who assert an ancestral connection with those who built and occupied Alabama's ancient mounds. The earthwork landscapes and the objects and information recovered from them reveal a rich cultural tradition that still thrives today among these tribes. Our indigenous mound sites represent a heritage for all Alabamians to cherish, and it is important that we protect and preserve them for future generations.
How do you celebrate your ancestors?
The Bessemer Site was the largest
indigenous mound site in what is now
Jefferson County, and it once dominated
a large territory in what became
north-central Alabama. Occupied from
about AD 1150 to 1250 during the early
Mississippian period, the site included
three mounds near the confluence of
Halls Mill Creek and Valley Creek about
two miles west of Downtown Bessemer.
In the 1930s, archaeologists completely
excavated all three mounds, so no
above-ground evidence of them remains.
These mounds included a residential
mound, a small burial mound, and a large
ceremonial mound. The two-tiered
ceremonial mound was built atop an
unusual stone foundation that is rarely
seen associated with mounds in the
Southeast. Other unique features
included preserved stair-steps on the
residential mound and the remnants of a
double-walled palisade encircling the
burial mound.
During the mounds' occupation, an
active village surrounded the site where
people lived in rectangular wattle and
daub houses with thatched roofs. In the
bottomlands along Valley Creek beyond
the mound center, people cultivated
corn, beans, squash, amaranth, and
sunflower, and supplemented these
crops by gathering fruits and nuts,
hunting game, and fishing.
This site is very important to numerous
Southeastern indigenous tribes who
assert
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an ancestral connection with those
who built and occupied Alabama's
ancient mounds. The earthwork
landscapes and the objects and
information recovered from them reveal a
rich cultural tradition that still thrives
today among these tribes. Our
indigenous mound sites represent a
heritage for all Alabamians to cherish,
and it is important that we protect and
preserve them for future generations.
How do you celebrate your ancestors?
Erected 2019 by the Bessemer Hall of History Museum, the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development, the University of Alabama Museums.
Location. 33° 24.076′ N, 86° 57.013′ W. Marker is in Bessemer, Alabama, in Jefferson County. It is on Alabama Avenue north of 19th Street N, on the right when traveling north. Located in the breezeway of the Bessemer Hall of History Museum behind a locked gate. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1905 Alabama Avenue, Bessemer AL 35020, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Birmingham Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Deep South. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
2. Birmingham Wiki site on the mounds. The Bessemer Mounds were known as the Talley Mounds, Tally Mounds or the Jonesboro Mounds. (Submitted on January 26, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)
Photographed by Mark Hilton, January 19, 2020
3. Marker is on the left side of this building.
Photographed by Mark Hilton, January 26, 2020
4. The Bessemer Site Marker in the old train depot breezeway.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 27, 2020. It was originally submitted on January 26, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 2,397 times since then and 103 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on January 26, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
