Nanih Waiya Cave Mound
The Nanih Waiya Cave Mound is an ancient Native American burial mound located in Neshoba County, Mississippi, northeast of the city of Philadelphia. The exact construction date of the mound is uncertain. Similar burial mounds in the region, featuring flat tops and rectangular forms, date from 1000 to 1600 AD; but pottery shards found near the site indicate an earlier construction date, possibly 100 BC to 400 AD.
The mound has lost a significant portion of its original form due to land clearing and cultivation. It is now preserved in a national park as part of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' cultural heritage. Though the mound was constructed by the Nanih Waiya tribe, the culture of those native peoples has become ingrained in the traditional history of the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe. Due to preservation efforts, the mound itself is currently not accessible to the public—despite a staircase having been erected in the past for public viewing—and can now only be viewed from behind a fence on the roadside. The site is included in the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
References
- ↑ National Park Service, Indian Mounds of Mississippi, A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary, Nanih Waiya Mound and Village