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Lower Appalachian Site
The Ocmulgee (pronounced oak-mull-ghee) mound site consist of a large group of mounds located along the Ocmulgee river just northeast of Macon, Georgia on what is called the Macon Plateau at the Fall Line, a physiographic region where the rolling hills of the Piedmont meet the lower relief area along the eastern coastal plain.
Although there is indication that this site was occupied during both the
Wayfarer Period (2000-1000 BCE) and the
Woodland Period (1000 BCE - 1000 CE), the major occupation and construction of the earthworks mounds were not built until the Early Mississippian Phase.
Too, Ocumlgee, although considered part of the Lower Appalachian Cultures, was settled by Wayfarers from Tennessee or farther west who moved into the area bringing with them a type of pottery uncommon to others who lived in the Lower Appalachian area but more like those sites northwest of present day Georgia.
These people built many flat topped earthen mounds, council chambers, and defensive structures in an area of about a square mile.
The Mounds
The Great temple Mound stands 55 feet high on a bluff over looking the floodplain of the Ocmulgee river. However, because this mound was constructed on the edge of the plateau and the edge was terraced and filed with clay to match the mound, the Temple Mound rises ninety feet above the river bank below. Because most trade and travel was conducted in canoes along the river, visitors saw a massive nearly one hundred foot mound from the river bank upon arrival.
The top of Great Temple Mound is higher than the surrounding tree and enables visitors to have a commanding view of the countryside for miles as well as an unobstructed view of the sky for astronomical observations.
As it′s name implies, there was a large temple, likely used as the chief priest′s home, where a perpetual fire was kept burning, an important element of their religious belief. Other earthworks indicate at least one burial mound.
In a separate village to the southeast, three miles downstream of these mounds, two additional mounds were built in what is now called Lamar mounds and village.
The Council House
Archaeological excavations discovered a unique council house floor, which has since had a protective roof built over it to become an archaeological exhibition and now is located within the national monument close to the visitors center.
The People
Although considered part of the
Lower Appalachian Cultures, Ocumlgee was settled by Wayfarers from the northwest who moved into the area bringing with them a type of pottery more common to sites in Tennessee or farther west and entirely uncommon with other sites in present day Georgia.
These Wayfayers from the northwest brought with them, not just pottery but also corn agriculture, new types of arrowheads and a more complex economic, religious and political system. These are believed to have been Muskogean language people who are the ancestors of Creek Indians.
According to Creek tradition, Ocmulgee mounds are where they First sat down after their long migration from the west. There are many interpretations as to the possible meaning of long migration, but what ever the truth is, one thing is certain, the Ocmulgee were Wayfarers from the west.
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