Painted bottle, blackware, spiral motif. Moundville Museum.
Note the similarity to a Nautilus shell found at the same
site
|
|
|
Slate monolithic axe. This axe is
not only found in Mississippian sites such as Moundville
and Etowah, but also in Eastern Tennessee, as well as clearly
represented on Spiro shell engravings. It is very probably
a feature of the Southern Cult rather than a Mississippian
one. Heye Foundation. |
Etowah, Cartersville, Georgia. Etowah
was peripheral to the central Mississippian area, but it
shares many Mississippian attributes. Covering 52 acres,
Etowah was surrounded on three sides by a moat or a ditch.
The fourth side was bounded by the Etowah River. This is
part of the ditch, which was 9 to 10 feet deep and in some
places 31 feet wide at the top. Remains of a 12 foot high
palisade are found inside the moat. |
|
|
Plaza and Mound A on right, Mound
B in the background. Seen from the ditch, the plaza is a
slightly raised area. |
Mound A from south.
Mound A appears to have been a platform mound which like
other Mississippian mounds was built over a period of many
years. Etowah was a center of the Southern Cult, as was Moundville
and Spiro. |
|
|
Mound C. Most of the elaborate
burials come from Mound C. |
Forward to the next page of this essay
Back to the previous page
Back to Online Essays |
