5-24-2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha

The May 24, 2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha opened with a prayer, pledge and songs.

Guests included Logan Tibbetts.

Prayer concerns include Bill and Janice McVey and Karen Zeisets' mother.

Bob Usery of the Norman Club encouraged our Club to find nominees or this summer's RYLA camps. Applicants must have completed junior year in high school.

Kory Kirkland thanked club members for coming out in force to make the 2012 Rotary Run successful. Kory said about 160 people participated in this year's run which added a 10K and a one-mile fun run to the tradition 5K race.

Rotarian of the Day was Mike Nunamaker who couldn't attend. President Michael Oberlender handled the introduction of Dr. Robert Brooks, a professor of archaeology and member of the OU Speaker's Bureau, as our guest speaker.

Dr. Brooks spoke about the Spiro Indian Mounds.

The mounds site, located seven miles outside of Spiro, OK, is the only prehistoric, Native American archaeological site in Oklahoma open to the public.

Archaeologists first began studying the mounds around 1920. In 193, vandalism just about destroyed the mounds and led to the passage of the state's antiquities law.

There are several Indian mounds throughout the Arkansas River Valley. There are 12 mounds near Spiro, spread over 80 acres. 

Brooks said the mounds were built in 1150-1450 AD and were the burial grounds for primarily elite rulers and attendants. Also buried are numerous relics such as pipes, ceramic pottery, weaved basked, shells, textiles, arrow points and ceremonial masks left as offerings for the deceased.

Brooks said a visit to the Spiro is a nice day trip. You can go to http://www.okhistory.org/sites/spiromounds for additional information. There is a nominal charge for admission.

The meeting adjourned following recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.