Spiro mounds, located in eastern Oklahoma and dating from roughly AD 950 to 1450, have been called “an American King Tut's Tomb” (David La Vere, Looting Spiro Mounds: An American King Tut's Tomb, 2007). Howard Carter, when asked if he could see anything when peering through the doorway of the tomb of King Tutankhamun in Egypt, is purported to have said, “Yes, wonderful things” (Ben Morales-Correa, World History Encyclopedia, 2014). It is fitting that this catalog of the exhibit showcases many of the “wonderful things” that came out of Spiro mounds.

I read this book in three different ways. First, I glanced through the book in one sitting, looking at the color photographs of the objects from Spiro and other Mississippian locations, reproductions of early historic paintings depicting the remnants of “Mississippian cultures” in the US Southeast encountered by early European explorers, and the works of the 14 artists based on their interpretations of the Mississippian culture world. Second, I read the introductory essay and 14 chapters and made notes of the authors’ interpretations. Last, I looked at the artifacts through “new” eyes, informed by new interpretations buoyed by my own previously held ideas.

The organization of the book is well thought out. Eric Singleton and Kent Reilly's introduction provides the overall historical, geographical, and cultural contexts of the Mississippian (and Spiro) world. Perhaps more importantly, “by presenting both Native American and scholarly views about the Mississippian world, we are able to connect contemporary Native American communities with their ancestral past” (p. 15). Although the artists’ works echo their views on the Mississippian world, I would have welcomed invitations of Native American scholars recognized within the dominant academic world. Voices such as those of Osage archaeologist Andrea Hunter, Lakota-Muscogee archaeologist and textile expert Edward Jolie, and other American Indian archaeologists could have contributed other perspectives on the interpretation of the Spiro world. Still, even without these voices, the volume is superb.

The first three essays offer the reader a history of Spiro from the plunder of the Pocola Mining Company and the archaeological work that has been conducted there. The newer work at the site has offered opportunities to reinterpret information that may (or may not) have been available in the initial destructive pothunting events of the 1930s. The subsequent chapters on the climatic changes associated with the Little Ice Age and its possible implications for the religious practices form the background for what is thought to have transpired at Spiro. A bit of detective work, based on a reexamination of old photographic records, led to more information on the “Spirit Lodge” of the Craig Mound and its role in an attempted “cosmic renewal.” This discussion sets the stage for the chapters on the “turtle warrior” and the role of the sacred bundles that were considered to have been placed in the mound.

The third section offers interpretations and discussion of the stylistic weaponry found across the Mississippian world, as well as the earspools that seem to have been more than just ornaments. I wear mine today as a sign of status. The fourth section considers the Braden and Craig styles of iconography, visible principally on engraved marine shell items, with the Craig style present at Spiro itself, and the Braden style associated more commonly with the Cahokia mounds and American Bottom region of Illinois.

The closing essay on the narrative symbology of Native American art speaks to the general structure of what is seen to be Native American (broadly speaking) artistic style. Whether or not a continent-wide overarching “structure” to Native American art—broadly written—can be seen, Singleton notes that when viewing the objects found at Spiro and other precontact Mississippian centers, “we describe it as art” (p. 255). He also says that because the artifacts are meant to be used rather than merely looked at, they are “more closely associated with craft” (p. 255). That is the dichotomy within which American Indian art has often been placed. People who used what was generally encountered and painted in European worlds were call “artists,” whereas those who created beautiful (but functional) works from natural materials found within the Native American worlds were labeled “crafts persons.” This dichotomy has been applied to so-called primitive cultures throughout time by members of dominant cultures and used to denigrate the importance of those objects and materials.

This book will be a must-have item for a large variety of people. For the archaeologist and the art historian, the series of essays on the various aspects of the material culture represented by the objects will add to the corpus of scholarship in Mississippian archaeology. For American Indians, it will give a glimpse of the artistic and technological accomplishments of the people who created Spiro. For the art lover, the objects will draw appreciative looks of amazement and astonishment. The book will serve its title well—it will help all of us “recover” the ancient art and knowledge Spiro holds.