Etowah Indian Mounds

                                  ETOWAH  INDIAN  MOUNDS

                                             Cartersville, Georgia

     The Etowah Mounds are the final and possibly the greatest accomplishments of the ancient mound builders in Georgia. This is one of the most important mound sites created by the Mississippian civilization. These are one of the four most important sites. The other three closely related sites are Moundville in Alabama, Spiro in Oklahoma, and Cahokia in Illinois.

The Etowah Mounds complex consists of six earthen Indian mounds. The mound builders sites are all built in the traditional Mississippian pyramid shape. The Etowah mounds were constructed between 950 A.D. and 1450 A.D. It wasn’t until 1250 A.D. that the mound building really became their specialty. Like the other three sites, the Etowah site is surrounded by a palisade wall on three sides, which are surrounded by a moat on three sides and the river on the fourth which is the Etowah River on the fourth side.

     Currently, this is the closest active archaeological dig site to me. It is one of only two active digs in the State of Georgia currently.

     The weather at this site ranges from the upper 90’s with 80 percent humidity, during the summer (which begins in mid May through the end of September)to winter temperatures that average around 35 degrees (this lasts from the end of December until the first of February).

     Among the artifacts found on site are a man and woman statues carved from marble. Each stand around two foot tall and are in a sitting position. These were discovered by early Spanish explorers who noted similar statues used in ancestral worship. The statues were usually housed in a Funerary Temple on top of the burial mound. These two statues were found buried in their own grave at the base of a burial mound (mound C). There seems to have been reason for their burial to have been done in haste; both statues were broken during burial, as well as evidence that the palisades were burnt.

     It is probable that an attack serious enough to burn down the major defensive work of the massive Etowah Mounds site would have been the inspiration for such a hasty burial of these important objects. It is also possible that the attackers smashed the statues, thereby ritually killing them, and buried them to prevent them from ever being used again.

     All six mounds at the site have been inspected with GPR, ground penetrating radar, and only the burial mound was found to hold a large stash of artifacts. The burial mound has been completely excavated. The findings from the site are housed in the Etowah Indian Mounds Museum in nearby Cartersville, Georgia.

     It appears that the Etowah mound builders traded with the mound builders in Oklahoma, Illinois, and Missouri. This tread network also appears to have been linked by a ruling elite family. The ruling class at each site may have been closely related. Many oral traditions from the four major mound building areas, talk about a family of rulers from a distant land. It is now believed that the ruling class may have come from western Mexico, moving up into the South West United States, and traveling eastward. They were thought to be Muskogee Creek Indians that came from Mexico.

      I would like to see the Etowah Indian Mounds reopened to new investigations. New minds may come up with new ideas.