Abandoned Mound

The Abandoned Mound (designated “Mound A”) remains a mystery. Numerous French colonial narratives describe the other two mounds at the Grand Village but fail to mention this mound. The Natchez Indians apparently stopped using this mound sometime before Europeans arrived in the area at the end of the seventeenth century. The reason for the mound's abandonment is not known. Part of this mound may have been lost to erosion from nearby St. Catherine Creek.These photographs looking toward Mound A were taken while the site was being cleared for the 1962 excavations. Note the forested appearance of the Grand Village at that time. The 1962 excavations at Mound A failed to reveal how the Natchez Indians may have used this mound. Shortly after these photographs were taken, archaeological work at Mound A ended. Most of the 1962 excavations focused on Mounds B and C. Archaeologists have not resumed work here, and the unexcavated portion of Mound A represents a time capsule of the Natchez Indians' past. . This historical marker is in Natchez in Adams County Mississippi