The Moundville phase polity, which was known to the early European explorers as the 'Province' of Pa'sfalaya/Pafalaya, was a major Mississippian polity in the U.S. state of Alabama. Centered in the Black Warrior River valley, the Mico (or "great cacique") of Moundville held enormous amounts of power over its people. When its much more diminished descendants were encountered by a Spanish expedition, even they (called "lords" by the chroniclers) were able to manage and relocate whole granaries, mobilize forces, organize expedition parties and hire guides to help the Spanish. A large portion of the chiefdom split off in 1450 for a variety of reasons. Crop failure, political infighting, end of the Moundville lineage, disagreements on the polity's future, or even violent civil war all could have contributed to the split of Pafalaya. This successor was the Tascalusa chiefdom, who had migrated east to the Alabama River. Its capital was located at Atahachi, and is known archaeologically as the "Big Eddy phase."Jenkins, Ned J. “Tracing the Origins of the Early Creeks, 1050–1700 CE.” In Mapping the Mississippian Shatter Zone: The Colonial Indian Slave Trade and Regional Instability in the American South, edited by Robbie Ethridge and Sheri M. Shuck-Hall, 188–249. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
The beginning of Mississippian influence is considered to have been established under the West Jefferson phase, but the Moundville phase only began around 1120, founded by a group who split away from the Shiloh phase.
Over the course of a century, the Moundville phase polity would rise to great heights. At least 29 mounds in its capital, and a population in its core region of around 1,000 people.Steponaitis, Vincas P., and C. Margaret Scarry, eds. Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland. Foreword by Henry T. Wright III. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016 p. 150. By 1250, it likely held regional primacy over neighboring mound sites, notably ChakchiumaClark, Emily. The Analysis of Contact-Era Settlements in Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha Counties in Northeast Mississippi. Master’s thesis, University of Mississippi, 2017. (at the Butler mound), and Talapatica (possibly located at the Lubbub Creek mound).Livingood, Patrick C. Mississippian Polity and Politics on the Gulf Coastal Plain: A View from the Pearl River, Mississippi. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2011. Prestige goods from all over the Southeast arrived in the grand plaza of moundville for the elite and the Mico of Moundville, Appalachian copper, Lower Mississippian art, Cahokian stones, pearls and shells from the coast, colorful gemstones, and Datura substances from New Mexico all coming together to be used in ceremonies and to boost the seeming divinity of Moundville elite.Steponaitis, Vincas P., and C. Margaret Scarry, eds. Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland. Foreword by Henry T. Wright III. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016.
Moundville phase continued to prosper somewhat during the early 14th century and prestige goods might've even increased in the region, despite mounds on the Moundville site itself being slowly abandoned.Knight, Vernon J., and Vincas P. Steponaitis. “A New History of Moundville.” In Archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom, 1–25. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. After however, it is certain that by 1400 Moundville began to decline in long-distance prestige goods exchange. High status individuals began to be buried away from the mounds, and by the late 15th century most mounds in the valley had stopped being built.Steponaitis, Vincas P., and C. Margaret Scarry, eds. Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland. Foreword by Henry T. Wright III. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016 pp. 36, 158.
Several scholars have proposed that the religious leader of Moundville still held a de jure sovereignty among the inhabitants of the Black Warrior River Valley. Interestingly, the various De Soto chronicles seem to identifiy a de facto ruler in the region, who met with the expedition at the 15th-16th century Snow's Bend Site (town of Apafalaya?) in the northern area of the Moundville phase.Snow’s Bend (1TU2/3) and the Landscapes of the Moundville Chiefdom: A Multi-Method Geophysical SurveyHudson, Charles. Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South’s Ancient Chiefdoms. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
The first group that separated from Shiloh had separated at the same time as another group, the Apalachicola, eventually known archaeologically as the Rood phase. Possibly even splitting for the same reason, the people of Moundville likely remained amicable with Apalachicola throughout the centuries, and reunited with them under the Creek Confederacy in the 1600s-1700s.
Nomenclature The archaeological manifestation of the Moundville phase and its namesake most famous site, was named such for its large earthen pyramids. Charles Hudson, leading expert on the De Soto Expedition, identifies the Moundville site as Zabusta "The Place of Burr-Oaks."Hudson, Charles M., Marvin T. Smith, and Chester B. DePratter. The Hernando de Soto Expedition: From Mabila to the Mississippi River. Alabama De Soto Commission, 1987. The region as a whole was called variously by the De Soto Chronicles as The Province of Pafalaya, Pafallaya. It's believed that Pafalaya or Pafallaya was identical to the name used by neighboring tribes to call the Choctaws, Pa'sfalaya, or the long-haired ones. This is because of the Eastern Division of the Choctaws, likely the continuation of the Province of Pafalaya.Dye, David H. "Continuity, resilience, and transformation in Choctaw ritual practice." Landscapes of Ritual Performance in Eastern North America (2023): 53.
History
Pre-Moundville initial Mississippianization (1070–1120)
The Mississippian Era was defined by intense maize agriculture (brought by the Corn Mother religious movementButler, Amanda J. "Mississippian missionaries: bundling a Cahokian religious movement." PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021.), temple mounds, and theocratic-aristocratic "theater states."Holt, Julie Zimmermann. "Rethinking the ramey state: was cahokia the center of a theater state?." American Antiquity 74, no. 2 (2009): 231-254. Among Muscogee-speakers (whom are one of the descended groups of Moundville and Mississippians), the base government subdivision was the Talwa or Okla,Blitz, John H. "Mississippian chiefdoms and the fission-fusion process." American Antiquity 64, no. 4 (1999): 577-592. the greater town or chiefdom, ruled by a Mico.Hudson, Charles. The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566-1568. University of Alabama Press, 2005. The beginnings of Mississippian influence in the Black Warrior River Valley began in the 1070s, when the West Jefferson phase emerged. the West Jefferson phase is viewed as a Woodland group in the process of Mississippianization, transition to a Mississippian culture. It held some Mississippian traits such as shell-working industry, chunkey-stone manufacturing and the presence of foreign Mississippian green-stones. The not yet consolidated, but partially Mississippianized made it a perfect destination for a certain group of Mississippians coming out from the Shiloh phase.Steponaitis, Vincas P., and C. Margaret Scarry, eds. Rethinking Moundville and Its Hinterland. Foreword by Henry T. Wright III. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016 p. 8.
Founding and initial consolidation (1120–1200) The transition from West Jefferson to the Moundville I phase is dated to around 1120. The establishment of the Moundville phase is thought to be an exodus coming out from the Shiloh site, perhaps leaving due to a Cahokian relationship to Shiloh around this time, the product of which were the first mounds at Shiloh. Another group that left around this time, perhaps even for the same reason as Moundville, was the ancestors of the Rood phase, or the Province of Apalachicola. This ancestral tie between the Apalachicola and Moundville came into use centuries down the line, when the Moundville-descended Alabama River Province, the Moundville-descended Cusseta Province, and Apalachicola Province allied to form the Muscogee Confederacy.
Regional dominance and elaboration of power (1200–1300)
Starting from 1200, Moundville grew rapidly. At its peak there were at least 29 earthen pyramids in its capital of Moundville (possibly known as Zabusta). This core population was spread out in many small farming settlements, grouped and governed by a dozen or more administrative mound centers home to only some bureaucrats and the Mico (chief or lord)'s immediate family. The nucleated center at it all, Zabusta/Moundville, was only home to around 1,000-1,700 people permanently,Steponaitis, Vincas P. . “Population Trends at Moundville” In Archaeology of the Moundville Chiefdom, 26–43. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998. but likely held elaborate and large festivities seasonally that included most of the province, much like other Mississippian capitals, such as Ivitachuco in Apalachee which assembled at least 30,000 people at a time for certain, possibly religious, events (in that case Catholic Spaniards).Hann, J. H. (1988). Apalachee: The Land Between the Rivers. University Presses of Florida. p. 164. This limitation in a nucleated residential population comes from a mixture of factors, like lack of modes of transportation for firewood and food.
By 1250, its sociopolitical influence reached beyond its core province, notably at Chakchiuma (Administratively based at the Butler mound), Talapatica (possibly based at the Lubbub Creek mound) and the 1GR2 mound chiefdom. Considering the relationship of Chakchiuma with the Chickasaw and Alabama Micoships during contact period, and the general distance that other Mississippian polities extended,Clark, Emily. The Analysis of Contact-Era Settlements in Clay, Lowndes, and Oktibbeha Counties in Northeast Mississippi. Master’s thesis, University of Mississippi, 2017. it's likely that the Chickasaw and Alabama also had some sort of tributary relationship with Moundville.
The Moundville Province became so large that groups began to split from Moundville, like Moundville did from Shiloh. One chiefly lineage is thought to have left to the Bottle Creek Mounds north of Mobile Bay during this period and another to the Cedar Creek Mound site on the Alabama River. The Bottle Creek Mounds was the capital of a kingdom unrivaled across the entire Gulf Coast with subsidiary centers like the Crossroads Mounds site in the vicinity of Lower Halls Landing, Baldwin County, likely ancestral to the Chickasawhays that moved west to join the Choctaw Confederacy after contact.Galloway, Patricia. Choctaw Genesis, 1500-1700. U of Nebraska Press, 1998. This intrusion was the beginning of a Gulf Coast manifestation of the Mississippian culture, known as the Pensacola Culture, composed principally of influences from Moundville and the Lower Mississippi Valley. The Cedar Creek mound site, near Elm Bluff, Alabama, was another intrusion of Moundvillians, this time to the Alabama River. They became a regional center for the local woodland White Oak phase, reflecting a mix of both White Oak and Moundville I designs in their ceramics.Regnier, Amanda Leigh. An Examination of the Social Composition of Late Mississippian Towns in the Alabama River Valley through Ceramic Styles. PhD diss., University of Alabama, 2006.
Necropolis and decentralized stage (1300–1530)