A Walk Among The Ancients

AS THE WINTER SOLSTICE SUN DIPPED IN BLAZING FIRE BEHIND ONE of the 12 burial, temple, and house mounds at the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center in eastern Oklahoma, I tried to imagine the scene as it would have been centuries ago.

More than 1,000 years ago, the field where I stood was a thriving prehistoric Native American city and one of the largest and most important Native American centers in the Mississippian region. Up to 10,000 people lived in and around the main city area, and the winter and summer solstices attracted thousands for three days of religious ceremony.

Just a three-and-a-half-hour drive from my hometown of Oklahoma City — where the exhibit Spiro and the Art of the Mississippian World runs through May 14 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum — the site invited a road trip that would let me explore this important culture for myself.

My friend Emily and I loaded a few things into the car and headed east along Interstate 40, wending through the winter-yellowed