 Overview of the site, looking west | |
  Location in Indiana today | |
| Location | Mt. Vernon, Indiana, Posey County, Indiana,  USA |
|---|---|
| Region | Posey County, Indiana |
| Coordinates | 37°54′44.5″N87°50′20″W / 37.912361°N 87.83889°W /37.912361; -87.83889 |
| History | |
| Cultures | Crab Orchard culture |
| Site notes | |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural details | Number of temples: |
Mann Site | |
| Area | 300 acres (120 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000018[1] |
| Added to NRHP | October 01, 1974 |
| Responsible body: Private | |
TheMann Site (12 Po 2) is aCrab Orchard culture site located off Indian Mound Road inMount Vernon,Posey County,Indiana. It was placed on theNational Historic Register on October 1, 1974.[1] Exotic ceramics and other artifacts found at the site reflect contact withOhio Hopewell people, in addition to more distant peoples in the Southeast of theSwift Creek culture of theGeorgia Piedmont andGulf Coastal Plain.
In addition, the scale and complexity of works here suggests that the population was larger than at comparable Ohio sites. It may have been the largest Hopewell site in theMidwest.
The site is a large lateMiddle Woodland period multicomponent complex ofmounds, geometricearthworks, and habitation sites near the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers in extreme southwestern Indiana, dating between about 100 and 500 CE. It is located on a highriver terrace.[2]
The scale and complexity of mounds and other earthworks at the Mann Site is rivaled in the Midwest only by the Hopewell sites of southern Ohio. Its population size may have been on a scale unparalleled by any of the Ohio centers and perhaps by any other Hopewell site in theMidwest.[2]
Many artifacts of exotic raw materials and foreign manufacture recovered from the site reflect participation in Hopewell ceremonialism and status differentiation. A unique aspect of the materials found is the large amount of complicated stamped, simple stamped, and tetrapodal vessels. Vessels such as these are commonly found in contemporary sites from the southeastern United States, but are rare in theOhio Valley. These ceramics are stylistically similar to EarlySwift Creek culture ceramics commonly found in the Georgia Piedmont and Gulf Coastal Plain. Some of the design motifs documented at the Mann Site are identical to examples found inGeorgia.
Microscopic andx-ray diffraction analysis of these artifacts shows the most likely source for these exotic ceramics lies in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian Piedmont Provinces. Investigations in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian Piedmont Provinces show that sites from the Middle WoodlandConnestee phase were in contact with Ohio Hopewell populations between about 200 and 500 CE. Evidence for this contact comes from similarities in vessel form, decoration, surface treatment and tempering agents. These attributes are also shared with stamped sherds from the Mann Site. This suggests that the fine simple stamped sherds at the Mann Site were manufactured by Connestee phase populations in the Appalachian Summit area.
The rarity of these artifacts suggests that at Ohio Hopewell interactions with populations in theAppalachian Summit area,Georgia Piedmont andGulf Coastal Plain were uncommon occurrences, characterized by the occasional northern movement of ceramics. Another unusual occurrence at the Mann Site is the local production of vessels using Georgian Piedmont designs in significant numbers.[3] Examples of a type of pottery decoration consisting of a diamond-shaped checks found at the Mann Site are also known from Hopewell sites in Ohio (such asSeip Earthworks, Rockhold, Harness, and Turner), as well as from Southeastern sites with Hopewellian assemblages, such as theMiner's Creek site,Leake Mounds, 9HY98, andMandeville site in Georgia, and theYearwood site in southernTennessee.[4]
