Spiro was known locally as a prehistoric Indian site as early as the late nineteenth century. However, it was not until 1933 that the Spiro Mounds attracted national and worldwide attention. In that year, a group of treasure hunters leased the site and began excavating the largest mound. They discovered rich troves of spectacular artifacts, including objects of wood, cloth, copper, shell, basketry and stone. Unfortunately, the diggers were only concerned with finding and selling the relics, not with preserving or recording their significance or their context. Consequently, not only were important prehistoric artifacts looted and sold out of Oklahoma, but, like pages ripped from a rare book, irreplaceable information about Oklahoma’s past was lost forever. [Illustration: _Pot hunters digging Craig Mound, 1933_ Robert E. Bell] [Illustration: _Works Progress Administration controlled excavations, 1936-1941_ Robert E. Bell] In an effort to prevent repetition of the tragedy at Spiro Mounds, the Oklahoma legislature passed the state’s first antiquities preservation law in 1936. At the same time, state leaders worked to initiate a joint research venture by the University of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Historical Society, and the University of Tulsa to scientifically excavate the Spiro Mounds site. Between 1936 and 1941, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers, under the supervision of University of Oklahoma archaeologists, conducted a systematic excavation of the remainder of the Spiro Mounds. The WPA crews and archaeologists excavated and recorded the stratigraphy (sequence of deposit), burials, crematory pits and other features which remained in the largest and most severely damaged mound. Called the Craig Mound, this earthwork was 33 feet high and 400 feet long. Study revealed that Craig Mound, which was actually four joined mounds, had been constructed between A.D. 800 and circa 1350 to cover the graves of the society’s most important leaders. Besides the Craig Mound, WPA workers excavated the remains of other mounds, the locations of several prehistoric houses, and other features at many nearby village sites. [Illustration: OU Electronic Media and Photo Services—Gilbert A. Jain] Since 1964, the Spiro Mounds and other related sites in eastern Oklahoma have become points of renewed interest to archaeologists. Spurred to salvage important information from areas threatened by construction and development, archaeologists recognized an unparalleled opportunity to document and explain the rise and decline of a remarkable prehistoric society. Thus, for the past 20 years, archaeologists have re-examined the WPA records, studied newly excavated sites and patiently pieced together artifacts to determine the lifeways of these prehistoric Oklahomans.