A Smithsonian trinomial (formally the Smithsonian Institution Trinomial System , abbreviated SITS ) is a unique identifier assigned to archaeological sites in many states in the United States . Trinomials are composed of a one or two digit coding for the state, typically two letters coding for the county or county-equivalent within the state, and one or more sequential digits representing the order in which the site was listed in that county. The Smithsonian Institution developed the site number system in the 1930s and 1940s, but it no longer maintains the system. Trinomials are now assigned by the individual states. The 48 states then in the union were assigned numbers in alphabetical order. Alaska was assigned number 49 and Hawaii was assigned number 50, after those states were admitted to the union. There is no Smithsonian trinomial number assigned for the District of Columbia or any United States territory.
8-487: Pyramid Mound , designated 12k14 , is a locally important archaeological site at the city of Vincennes in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Indiana . Located on the city's edge, this substantial loess hill bears evidence of prehistoric occupation, and it is a landmark to the city's contemporary residents. A survey conducted by the Illinois State Museum in the early 1960s demonstrate that
16-604: Is an important archaeological site , and because of its archaeological importance, the "mound" was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is the center of a park operated by the Knox County Parks and Recreation Department. Smithsonian trinomial Most states use trinomials of the form "nnAAnnnn", but some specify a space or dash between parts of the identifier, i.e., "nn AA nnnn" or "nn-AA-nnnn". Some states use variations of
24-633: The Hopewell built in Ohio, he suggested that Pyramid and several other mounds near Vincennes marked the northeastern boundary of a confederacy that was centered at the Mississippian city of Cahokia near St. Louis, Missouri , although he appeared not to understand the substantial cultural differences between the two peoples of " Mound Builders ." Two different histories of Vincennes and its vicinity, published in 1886 and 1911, regarded Pyramid Mound and
32-616: The Woodland period chose to use as cemeteries. Contributing to this conclusion is the fact that these hills are consistently of similar sizes, composed of the same sorts of soil, located on the eastern edge of the Wabash River valley, and shaped to be in line with the prevailing winds . Consequently, although these hills are definitely shaped like artificial burial mounds and consistently called "mounds", they are not truly mounds of any sort. Despite its natural origins, Pyramid Mound
40-525: The other nearby flat-topped mounds as evidence of prehistoric religious sites comparable to the pyramids of the Aztecs in Mexico City. Later archaeological work, conducted by professionals in the late twentieth century, has largely discounted earlier conclusions. Accounts published in the 1970s and 1998 concluded that Pyramid and comparable sites nearby were actually natural loess hills that Indians of
48-457: The rectangle, and a code identifying the agency issuing the sequential number. California uses a three-letter abbreviation for counties. Connecticut and Rhode Island do not use any sub-state codes, with site identifiers consisting of the state abbreviation and a sequential number series for the whole state. Delaware uses a single letter code for counties and adds a block code (A-K) within each county, with sequential numbers for each block. Hawaii uses
56-477: The region surrounding Vincennes was the homeland of a Mississippian group of people known as the Vincennes culture . Based upon the published results of the 1874 Smithsonian survey, an amateur antiquarian writing in the 1890s remarked on the relationship of Pyramid Mound to larger archaeological sites in the east central United States. Besides proposing that it was related to the large geometric earthworks that
64-469: The trinomial system. Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont use two-letter abbreviations of the state name instead of the Smithsonian number. Alaska uses three-letter abbreviations for USGS map quadrangles in place of the county code. Arizona uses a five-part identifier based on USGS maps, specifying quadrangles, then rectangles within a quadrangle, a sequential number within
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