Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center, Oklahoma, United States

3kevan j 5:00 PM Jan 14, 2022

Nice facility...but don't expect too much.
I was very excited to visit this place after seeing a huge exhibit at the Western Heritage Museum. I thought there would be lots of additional artifacts. Unfortunately, they had almost no actual artifacts...almost everything in the exhibit was a replica. Even the Craig mound was rebuilt to look like the original (the other mounds are real). Having said that, the facility is very nice and everything is well-presented. Be sure to watch the introductory slide show. Also the fellow running the place is very knowledgeable and very helpful. He told us a lot about the peoples here and answered all our questions. The trails out to the mounds are mostly paved, and we enjoyed the self-guiding tour, with signs along the way. Overall, we enjoyed our visit.

3Adrian W 5:00 PM Apr 12, 2020

Potentially very interesting, but also problematic
It was a cold and blustery day with some rain the day we visited, which limited the time we spent outside, so most of these comments refer to the visitor centre. There are some interesting exhibits, but given the afore-mentioned weather it seemed a little odd that the representations of the inhabitants had them almost naked (especially the women) which seemed unlikely and unnecessarily voyeuristic, reminiscent of the out-dated attitudes of National Geographic years ago. The warden we spoke to was certainly opinionated, and on topics other than his expertise which he should learn to leave out of his presentations, but I am afraid I was not convinced of the veracity of everything that he said. Certainly worth a slight detour,and most people's knowledge of the earlier inhabitants of the area is sadly lacking, but take what you see and hear and with a pinch of salt.