Mound E

     Mound E is one of the earliest mounds at the site. A low, flat-topped, and roughly rectangular mound, it reaches 13 feet tall and has sides that are about 360 feet wide by 300 feet long. American Indians built the mound around the same time as Mound B, almost 3,700 years ago. Mound E is due south of Mound B. American Indians later built Mound A between these two mounds.

     Archaeologists almost classified Mound E as a knoll by mistake. They had drawn soil samples from the mound, which they interpreted as natural and not made by people. Plus, they did not find any artifacts in the mound, further leading them to think it was a natural part of the landscape. In 1993, however, archaeologists

found proof that people had made the feature. Later, research showed it was built in five stages. Like Mound B, people had removed the original topsoil before building the mound. Unlike Mound B, however, they did not add a final layer to "cap" Mound E.

     Researchers have had a hard time figuring out the age of the mound. They did not find any charred material that could be radiocarbon dated. Their attempts at other methods of absolute dating also failed. Instead, they used relative dating, comparing certain traits of the soils in the mounds at the site. The soils from Mound E most closely resemble those from Mound B. This led archaeologists to conclude that they were built around the same time.