Traveling Through Nebraska: Roadside Attractions -
Kinkaider Mounds
The Kinkaider Mounds are a series of prehistoric earthworks and a former roadside attraction located in Hastings, Nebraska. The site is situated near 27th Street and Baltimore Avenue. The mounds were built by the Hopewell culture between 300 BCE and 400 CE. These mounds take the form of a quadruped animal, likely a buffalo, and are aligned with the rising of the constellation Scorpius.
As a former roadside attraction, the site offers a glimpse into a forgotten era of Nebraska tourism. At its peak in the mid-20th century, the site was paired with a collection of other oddities, such as a rock shop and a museum. In addition to the Kinkaider Mounds, a gift shop was once built on-site; the structure took the shape of an old Native American earthlodge. The once-thriving roadside stop fell into disrepair and is now marked with a historical marker along U.S. Route 6 and protected by the state.
The unique geography of the mounds speaks to the site's original purpose as an astronomical and calendrical center for local Native American tribes. By building the mounds in relation to specific alignments with the stars, the early inhabitants of the region could likely determine when to plant and harvest crops, thus establishing the Kinkaider Mounds' importance to early farmers. Alongside their agricultural uses, the mounds were also likely used for ceremonial purposes.
As an archaeological site, the Kinkaider Mounds are essential to understanding the lives and traditions of North America's earliest inhabitants. Scholars can still analyze these alignments and date the mounds accurately with high levels of accuracy. One of the most meaningful techniques used is called the 'Three Sisters' method, so named due to its study of changes in vegetation, astronomical alinement, and overall structure.
Alongside their significance within local agricultural communities, their overall composition offers important information about regional patterns of monument construction within the Hopewell exchange network. Across various North American landscapes similar to this in design - the Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois or Ohio's Mound City, for instance, we find such geometric pattern replication speaking of larger groups interconnected via a common trade network.
Tension has arisen between conservation needs and the mounds' long-term vitality and what it means to maintain - the site's dilapidation has led to more local preservation efforts in recent years. Preservation proponents are deeply concerned that they are close to being lost as the adjacent town has rapidly grown over recent years; some proponents even worry about similar regional destruction going on, specifically that at this rate most if not all major archeological sites will be completely destroyed, as the population of Nebraska's local residents increases.
In recent years, while regional activists and preservationists have claimed a small spot for posterity in regards to Kinkaider Mounds' preservation the most modern re-excavation attempt initiated across the past five years brought about debate. One research institution requested to conduct - still on-going on-site analyses in the interest of 'seeing what state preservationists can still utilize.' By bringing to light long dormant information and ancient insights lying hidden this renewed zeal might forge possible knowledge contributions.
Evidence of archaeological analysis recently carried out suggests that indeed parts of the earthwork survive undismantled along Baltimore Avenue; thanks to what's now viewed regionally as a largely grassroots-led, local support phenomenon over years residents continue efforts and even strive to seek means in continuing scientific restoration pursuits in order to document parts of the archaeological record that might well prove invaluable.
The Kinkaider Mounds are a series of prehistoric earthworks and a former roadside attraction located in Hastings, Nebraska. The site is situated near 27th Street and Baltimore Avenue. The mounds were built by the Hopewell culture between 300 BCE and 400 CE. These mounds take the form of a quadruped animal, likely a buffalo, and are aligned with the rising of the constellation Scorpius.
As a former roadside attraction, the site offers a glimpse into a forgotten era of Nebraska tourism. At its peak in the mid-20th century, the site was paired with a collection of other oddities, such as a rock shop and a museum. In addition to the Kinkaider Mounds, a gift shop was once built on-site; the structure took the shape of an old Native American earthlodge. The once-thriving roadside stop fell into disrepair and is now marked with a historical marker along U.S. Route 6 and protected by the state.
The unique geography of the mounds speaks to the site's original purpose as an astronomical and calendrical center for local Native American tribes. By building the mounds in relation to specific alignments with the stars, the early inhabitants of the region could likely determine when to plant and harvest crops, thus establishing the Kinkaider Mounds' importance to early farmers. Alongside their agricultural uses, the mounds were also likely used for ceremonial purposes.
As an archaeological site, the Kinkaider Mounds are essential to understanding the lives and traditions of North America's earliest inhabitants. Scholars can still analyze these alignments and date the mounds accurately with high levels of accuracy. One of the most meaningful techniques used is called the 'Three Sisters' method, so named due to its study of changes in vegetation, astronomical alinement, and overall structure.
Alongside their significance within local agricultural communities, their overall composition offers important information about regional patterns of monument construction within the Hopewell exchange network. Across various North American landscapes similar to this in design - the Cahokia Mounds in southern Illinois or Ohio's Mound City, for instance, we find such geometric pattern replication speaking of larger groups interconnected via a common trade network.
Tension has arisen between conservation needs and the mounds' long-term vitality and what it means to maintain - the site's dilapidation has led to more local preservation efforts in recent years. Preservation proponents are deeply concerned that they are close to being lost as the adjacent town has rapidly grown over recent years; some proponents even worry about similar regional destruction going on, specifically that at this rate most if not all major archeological sites will be completely destroyed, as the population of Nebraska's local residents increases.
In recent years, while regional activists and preservationists have claimed a small spot for posterity in regards to Kinkaider Mounds' preservation the most modern re-excavation attempt initiated across the past five years brought about debate. One research institution requested to conduct - still on-going on-site analyses in the interest of 'seeing what state preservationists can still utilize.' By bringing to light long dormant information and ancient insights lying hidden this renewed zeal might forge possible knowledge contributions.
Evidence of archaeological analysis recently carried out suggests that indeed parts of the earthwork survive undismantled along Baltimore Avenue; thanks to what's now viewed regionally as a largely grassroots-led, local support phenomenon over years residents continue efforts and even strive to seek means in continuing scientific restoration pursuits in order to document parts of the archaeological record that might well prove invaluable.
