View source for Leake Mounds

{{Short description|Archaeological site in Georgia, U.S.}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name           = Leake Mounds<br>(9 BR 2)
| alternate_name = 
| image          = Leake Mounds site 2015.JPG
| image_size     = 250px
| alt            = 
| caption        = Leake Mounds site in 2015
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| map_type       = USA Georgia
| map_alt        = 
| map_caption    = Location within Georgia today
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| coordinates             = {{coord|34|8|21.55|N|84|50|46.03|W|display=inline}}
| map_dot_label  = 
| location       = [[Cartersville, Georgia]],&nbsp;[[Bartow County, Georgia]],&nbsp;{{flag|USA}}
| region         = [[Bartow County, Georgia]]
| built          = 300 BCE
| abandoned      = 1500 CE
| epochs         = [[Woodland period#Middle Woodland period (1–500 CE)|Middle Woodland]], [[Lamar phase]]
| cultures       = [[Swift Creek Culture]], [[South Appalachian Mississippian culture]]
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Number of temples: 3
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| precolumbian = yes <!-- non-functional tracking parameter, do not remove/change -->
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'''Leake Mounds''' ([[Smithsonian trinomial|9BR2]]) is an important [[archaeological site]] in [[Bartow County, Georgia]] built and used by peoples of the [[Swift Creek Culture]]. The site is {{convert|2|mi|km}} west of the well-known [[Etowah Mounds]] on the [[Etowah River]]. It predates that site by hundreds of years. 

Excavation of nearly {{convert|50000|sqft|m2}} on the site showed that Leake Mounds was one of the most important [[Woodland period#Middle Woodland period (1–500 CE)|Middle Woodland period]] site in this area from around 300 BCE to 650 [[Common Era|CE]]. It was a center with ties throughout the Southeast and Midwest. It was abandoned about 650 CE. It was not occupied again for nearly nine hundred years, until about 1500, by different peoples near the end of the [[Mississippian culture]] period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartowdig.com/|title=What is the Leake site and why is it significant?|publisher = Southern Research, Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc}}</ref>

The site includes at least three major platform [[mound]]s and a large semi-circular moat/ditch. While much of the mounds were razed to be used as road fill for the expansion of the [[Georgia State Route 113]] and [[Georgia State Route 61]] in the 1940s, significant portions of the site remain. Several sites on nearby Ladds Mountain were integrally associated with Leake, including Shaw Mound, a stone burial mound; Indian Fort, a stone wall enclosure; and Ladds Cave, a large cave.

Examples of a type of pottery decoration consisting of a diamond-shaped checks found at Leake Mounds are also known from Hopewell sites in Ohio (such as Seip, Rockhold, Harness, and Turner), the [[Mann site]] in southern [[Indiana]]. This style has also been found on pottery at other sites in the South, such as the [[Miner's Creek site]], 9HY98, and [[Mandeville site]] in Georgia, and the [[Yearwood site]] in southern [[Tennessee]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bartowdig.com/Mannsite.html|title=Excavation and Archaeological Investigation at Bartow County's Leake Site-Evidence for Interaction|accessdate=2010-01-03|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707213207/http://www.bartowdig.com/Mannsite.html|archivedate=2011-07-07}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Etowah Indian Mounds]] (9BR1)
* [[King Archaeological Site]]
* [[List of burial mounds in the United States]]
* [[List of Hopewell sites]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.bartowdig.com/index.html Excavation and Archaeological Investigation at Bartow County's Leake Site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012175918/http://bartowga.org/profileInfo/History.htm Bartow County Georgia Profile and Information Guide]
* [https://independent.academia.edu/ScotKeith/Papers/595707/The_Woodland_Period_Cultural_Landscape_of_the_Leake_Site_Complex The Woodland Period Cultural Landscape of the Leake Site Complex: Encompassing the Diversity of Human Action]
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/55573528/The-Mann-Site-the-Leake-Site-Linking-the-Midwest-and-the-Southeast-During-the-Middle-Woodland-Period THE MANN SITE AND THE LEAKE SITE : LINKING THE MIDWEST AND THE SOUTHEAST DURING THE MIDDLE WOODLAND PERIOD]

{{Hopewellian peoples}}
{{Mississippian and related cultures}}
{{Pre-Columbian North America}}

[[Category:Swift Creek culture]]
[[Category:South Appalachian Mississippian culture]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Geography of Bartow County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Mounds in Georgia (U.S. state)]]