Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site
Overview
Home to several thousand Native Americans from 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D.�� this 54-acre site protects six earthen mounds, a plaza, village site, borrow pits and defensive ditch. Etowah Mounds is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeast. Artifacts in the museum show how natives of this political and religious center decorated themselves with shell beads, paint, complicated hairdos, feathers and copper ear ornaments. Hand-carved stone effigies weighing 125 pounds still bear some original pigments. Objects made of wood, seashells and stone are also displayed. Visitors can follow a nature trail along the Etowah River where they can view a v-shaped fish trap used for catching fish. The trail also highlights how early civilizations used native trees for food and medicine.