August 7, 2014

Ocmulgee National Monument

“From Ice Age hunters to Creek Indians of historic time, Ocmulgee testifies to 10,000 years of people living in this corner of North America.  Between 900 and 1100 CE (Common Era) a skillful farming people lived here.  Known as Mississippians they were part of a distinctive culture that crystallized about 750 in the middle Mississippi Valley, spreading over the next 700 years along riverways throughout the central and eastern United States.

 

They built a compact town of thatched huts on the bluff overlooking the river.  For public ceremonies they leveled an area near the river and built a series of earth mounds-places important in their religion and politics.”

Exhibits in the visitor center describe the human habitation of the area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The physical requirements of mound building-dig 30 to 60 pounds of clay and carry it up the mound in a woven basket on your head or back.  Repeat until the mound has its new cap.

 

 

 

 

 

Earthlodge-This is a reconstruction of a ceremonial building that stood on the north side of the village.

  It was probably a meeting place for the town’s political and religious leaders. 

The original clay floor is about 1,000 years old.

Great Mound-Little is known about the mound except that it was topped by rectangular wooden structures. 

 

The Great Temple Mound is the largest Mississippian mound on the Macon Plateau. 

Funeral Mound-Village leaders were buried in this mound.  More than 100 burials have been uncovered.  Like the Temple Mound, this mound was built in successive stages.

For Natives, the arrival of Europeans was catastrophic.  Disease caused staggering losses.   Within a century there were few vestiges of Mississippian life anywhere.

It was so hot and we were really glad to find a place to sit down in the shade for a few minutes before taking the mile walk back to the Visitor Center.