Moundville is located 14 miles south of Tuscaloosa, Alabama on a bluff overlooking the Black Warrior River. The Moundville site was occupied from around A.D. 1000 until A.D. 1450. There was 1,000 inhabitants within the fortification and another 9,000 in the rest of the valley. The fortification was protected on three sides by wooden palisades. The defining characteristic of Moundville Archaeological Park is the twenty-six Mississippian-era earthen mounds. The Jones Archaeological Museum showcases exhibits reconstructing the prehistoric occupation and artifacts that were uncovered during excavations dating back to the 1930's.
The Bessemer Mounds are located at a bend of Valley Creek within the city limits of present day Bessemer, Alabama. The Bessemer Mounds were first occupied during Late Woodland between 800 A.D. and 1000 A.D. From 100 A.D to 1500 A.D., three Missisippean phase mounds were built over the Woodland village. The Bessemer Mounds are approximately 400 years older than the mounds at Moundville.
The actual mounds were destroyed during excavations and the village site has been greatly affected by development. The site is not accessible to the public.
The Dauphin Island Shell Mounds are located on Dauphin Island off the coast of Mobile, Alabama. Basically a fishing camp, archaelogists believe it was inhabited only in late winter and early spring. Six oyster shell middens are on the site.
Indian Mound Park is administered by the Marine Resources Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and is accessible to the public.
The Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter is located in northwest Alabama near present day Tuscumbia, Alabama. The site is a sandstone overhang forming a shelter, fifty feet out from the rear wall. A living space of 8,000 square feet was created by nature. A small creek and several springs are in the vicinity, providing a permanent water source. First occupied during the nomadic Paleo period, it was inhabited for eight thousand years.
