Starr Village and Mound Group

Starr Village and Mound Group
(11 MP 3)

Location in Illinois today
Location	Southwest of Carlinville in Macoupin County, Illinois.
Region	Central Illinois
Coordinates	39.20055°N 90.01369°W / 39.20055; -90.01369
History
Cultures	Mississippian culture
Architecture
Architectural details	Number of monuments:

The Starr Village and Mound Group (11MP3), is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located on a bluff overlooking Macoupin Creek southwest of Carlinville in Macoupin County, Illinois.^[1]

Artifacts

The "Macoupin Creek figurine" (formerly the "Piasa Creek Figure pipe") is a Mississippian stone statue found at the site in a stone box grave sometime late in the nineteenth century. It measures 20.3 centimeters (8.0 in) in height^[2] and depicts a shaman kneeling with a gourd rattle in one hand and a snake or snakeskin wrapped around his neck.^[3] The figure also has conch shell and bead ear ornaments and a raccoon skin headdress.

Because of the age of the burial (Early Sand Prairie Phase 1250 CE) and the time of the statue's believed manufacture (Stirling Phase 1050 to 1200 CE), it is posited that the figure was a curated heirloom, buried long after its manufacture.^[4] It is now in the collection of the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma.^[2]

See also

• Cahokia
• Emerald Mound and Village Site
• Ware Mounds and Village Site

References

1. Conrad, Lawrence A. (2000-06-30). "The Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Central Illinois River Valley". In Emerson, Thomas E.; Lewis, R. Barry (eds.). Cahokia and the Hinterlands: Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest. University of Illinois Press. pp. 90–100. ISBN 978-0-252-06878-2.
2. Townsend, Richard F.; Sharp, Richard V., eds. (2004-10-11). Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300106015.
3. Emerson, Thomas E. (1997). Cahokia and the Archaeology of Power. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 978-0817308889.
4. Emerson, Thomas E.; Lewis, R. Barry, eds. (October 15, 1999). Cahokia and the Hinterlands: Middle Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest. University of Illinois Press. pp. 89–91. ISBN 978-0-252-06878-2.