Mississippian Culture

Inhabitants of the Etowah village were part of a much larger group known as the Mississippian culture.  This period, or culture, was named because it originated along the Mississippi River.  It began approximately 700 A.D. long before their descendants (the Creek ) and the Cherokee populated this area.

In the 1880's the bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution recovered many spectacular artifacts from Mound C and the village.  During the late 1920's, Phillips academy of Andover, Massachusetts, made three excavations, uncovering exotic and interesting specimens, which were distributed to various U.S. museums.

In 1953 the Georgia Historical Commission purchased the Etowah property from the Tumlin family who had owned it since 1838.  Archaeologists continued the excavation of Mound C and some limited excavations in the village area, Mound C was the site of the mortuary temple and excavations yielded information about burials as well as social organization.

In 1965 the Etowah Mounds Archaeological Area was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior.

Photo courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources

In 1994 a team of archaeologists conducted a survey of the Mound A ramp to measure the impact of a new stairway to be constructed on the mound.  They unearthed the original clay steps, with impressions of the long risers, built by the Etowah villagers approximately 800 years ago.  These were re-covered and now lie below the staircase that visitors use to ascend the mound.