The Oxford Mound Builders Of The Cenozoic Era, The Quaternary Period, The Holocene Epoch: in other words, people in Oxford are fashioning what is to crudely represent an Indian mound in our days. Right now. 2011.
And that just seems terribly fake. Especially considering that all this began in the city’s quest for fill-dirt for a shopping area (they hoped it would be a Sam’s Club but that never materialized) in which the earth beneath a stone mound was taken — see pic above. And then remains were found across, ahem, Leon Smith Parkway, where the Davis Farm had stood, which was earlier a center of Indian life since the 12th century when various mounds were built, including a ceremonial mound. The Davis Farm home was even built atop one of the mounds. So when human remains were found on site…
From the AP article:
Dump trucks loaded with stones from atop a hill behind a shopping center transported their cargo to a site across Leon Smith Parkway on Thursday. The move fulfilled part of an agreement between Oxford and a federally recognized American Indian tribe — an agreement the city needed to proceed with a construction project at the site. It also represented the end of a nearly three-year-long controversy regarding the city’s treatment of an alleged ancient Indian stone burial mound.
Fred Denney, Oxford’s city project manager, said the transport of rocks from the hill to an adjacent site near the city’s proposed sports complex was part of Oxford’s memorandum of agreement with the Muscogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Alabama Historical Commission.
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Under the agreement, approved in June, the city had to move the stones to an undisclosed location where ancient American Indian remains were discovered last year during construction of the sports complex. At the site, the city must use the rocks to construct a mound approximately 32 meters by 16 meters by 1.6 meters.
((Really? The idea that a *city* makes amends by building a new mound…))
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The corps halted the sports complex project in February 2010 after the human remains were found at the site, located at the historic Davis Farms.
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Once the stones are moved, the city has the go-ahead from the Muscogee Creeks to do whatever it wants with the land behind the shopping center.
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The city filed a $2 million lawsuit in October against the Tennessee architectural firm Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon, which designed the sports complex. The lawsuit alleges the firm was negligent and breached its contract with the city by failing to properly advise, supervise and manage the project, resulting in the discovery of the remains. It adds that the firm knew the project site was known for containing historical artifacts and that substantial engineering and technical advice in site preparation would be required.
((*Love* this whole last paragraph.))