Caddo Mounds State Historic Site
Entrance to Caddo Mound State Historic Site
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 Location within Texas today
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| Location |
Weeping Mary, Texas, Cherokee County, Texas,  USA
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| Region | Weeping Mary, Texas |
| Coordinates | 31°35′49″N 95°9′2″W / 31.59694°N 95.15056°W |
| History | |
| Founded | 780 CE |
| Abandoned | 1260 CE |
| Cultures | Caddoan Mississippian culture |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1919, 1933, 1960s–1980s |
| Archaeologists | James Edwin Pearce, E. B. Sayles, H. Perry Newell |
| Responsible body: Texas Historical Commission | |
Caddo Mounds State Historic Site (41CE19) (also known as the George C. Davis Site) is an archaeological site in Weeping Mary, Texas. This Caddoan Mississippian culture site includes a and is composed of a village and ceremonial center that features two platform mounds and one burial mound. Located on the original El Camino Real de los Tejas trail, the settlement predates European and African exploration arrival to the region. Archaeologists believe the site was founded in approximately 800, with most major construction taking place between 1100 and 1300.
The Caddo Mounds site is located 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Alto, Texas on Texas State Highway 21 near its intersection with U.S. Route 69 in the Piney Woods region of east Texas. Operated by the Texas Historical Commission, the museum had its grand reopening in October 2015. The new museum offers visitors a chance to explore a replica Caddo village, and all exhibits are hands-on. Visitors can walk the 0.7 miles (1.1 km) self-guided interpretive trail to see the Caddo’s burial, low temple, and ceremonial mounds. An additional trail along the El Camino Real is also available.
The site began with the founding of a permanent village by the Hasinai, who moved into the region from the Red River area to the northeast, in roughly 850 to 900. The region possessed ideal qualities for the establishment of a village: good soil, abundant food resources, and a permanent water source that flowed into the Neches River. What eventually became the largest mound, Mound A, was begun at this time. It is at the southern edge of the site and was surrounded by about 40 houses. In 1100 a new mound was begun near the center of the site, Mound B, and would eventually measure roughly 175 feet (55 meters) north-south and 115 feet (35 meters) east-west. Mound C, the northernmost mound of the three, was used as a burial mound, not for elite residences or temples like the other two. The site was the southwestern-most ceremonial mound center of all the great mound building cultures of North America.
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