Bottle Creek Indian Mounds, Archaeological site in Mobile-Tensaw Delta, Alabama.
Bottle Creek Indian Mounds is an archaeological site in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta swamp featuring eighteen earth mounds arranged around a central plaza. The tallest of these structures rises approximately 52 feet (16 m) above the surrounding wetland.
This location served as the major center of the Pensacola culture from 1250 to 1550, a period when it functioned as a key political and economic hub. Early French explorers documented the site in the early 1700s, creating some of the first written records about the place.
The residents of this location were part of extensive trade networks that connected coastal and inland communities across the region. Objects found here show trade relationships that spanned hundreds of kilometers and included goods from the Gulf coast and distant northern areas.
Access to this site requires a guided boat tour departing from Stockton, Alabama, with trips typically lasting between four to eight hours depending on water levels and conditions. Visitors should prepare for navigation through dense cypress stands and bring appropriate clothing for a journey in a swampy environment.
The site's location surrounded by dense cypress forest has kept the mounds remarkably well preserved, making it the most intact archaeological complex of its kind on the northern Gulf coastal plain. This natural protection from the swampland allowed structures and artifacts to survive largely undisturbed for over a thousand years.
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