BGuthrie Photos: GA -- Macon -- Ocmulgee Natl Monument

GA -- Macon -- Ocmulgee Natl Monument:

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[1] OCM_030829_001_STITCH.JPG

[2]

OCM_030829_002_STITCH.JPG

[3] OCM_030829_005_STITCH.JPG

[4] OCM_030829_011.JPG	[5] OCM_030829_029.JPG	[6] OCM_030829_034.JPG
[7] OCM_030829_047.JPG	[8] OCM_030829_062.JPG	[9] OCM_030829_080.JPG
[10] OCM_030829_105.JPG	[11] OCM_030829_109.JPG	[12] OCM_030829_118.JPG
[13] OCM_030829_125.JPG	[14] OCM_030829_138.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. OCM_030829_002_STITCH.JPG: The big structure (with the staircase) on the left is the Great Temple Mound. On the right is a smaller mound. The sign says: Lesser Temple Mound (Mound B) Archeologists estimate about three-fourths of this mound was removed by railroad construction in the early 1840's. It is a truncated (flat-topped) pyramid originally about 120 feet in diameter at its widest point and almost 12 feet high. A soil profile taken on the northern face suggests the mound was constructed in four distinct phases.
2. OCM_030829_029.JPG: Earth Lodge: This structure burned and collapsed about one thousand years ago and was reconstructed in the 1930's. Forty-two feet in diameter, it is the largest of eight earth lodges discovered on the Macon Plateau. People of this plateau probably used the earth lodge for ceremonies and meetings.
3. OCM_030829_047.JPG: The lodge itself, which is very dark, is sealed off from the visitor area with glass. It's hard to tell but the shape on the floor is an eagle and, presumably, the leader of the group would sit here. While the walls and ceilings are reconstructions, the floor is original.
4. OCM_030829_062.JPG: The outline indicates the old trading stockade. As the sign says: Trade with the British 1690-1750 The Creek Trading Path, the Trading Post Site and Civil War (1864) Trenches Almost 100 years before the American Revolution was fought, the Creeks traded with the British at Ocmulgee. In 1690, an English trader from Charleston built a trading store adjacent to the traditional Creek trading path that went from Augusta Georgia to the lower Creek Towns along the Chattahoochee River. A stockade wall and a shallow ditch surrounded the trading store for protection from attack. The Creeks traded for European goods of guns, iron pots, knives and cotton cloth in exchange for fur and skins. The Creeks moved back to the Chattahoochee River and abandoned the village after the Yamassee War erupted in 1715 in protest against the British corruption related to fur trade practices, including the taking of Indians as slaves to work in the Caribbean sugar plantations. ... Archeological excavations have located the sites of the trading post store, the stockade walls, and the Creek trading path. A Civil War trench was also identified that bisected both the trading post and the path, probably constructed in 1864 by conscripted slave labor when then Governor Brown called upon the citizens of Macon to protect the city from oncoming forces of Union General WT Sherman.
5. OCM_030829_080.JPG: It looks pretty but the biting bugs from here were horrible
6. OCM_030829_118.JPG: The Funeral Mound of the Mississippians Archeological Evidence Reveals the Past This mound was the burial place for village leaders and important personages. Over 100 burials were discovered with the mound as well as log tombs and other structures at different levels. Archeological evidence suggests that this mound was built in seven stages. A structure was built on top of each stage, probably to prepare the dead for burial and the accompanying ceremonies. The present height is as the third [of seven] stages. At the seventh and final stage of construction, it is estimated the at [sic] the mound may have measured as much as 280 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 25 feet high. Significant artifacts found during the archeological investigations of the 1930's uncovered a part of a human figure effigy and the remnant (reconstructed) of a neck piece, called a gorgel. These suggest that a high ranking personage was buried here. ... These artifacts are housed in the Visitor Center Museum. Before the park was established in 1936, the Central of Georgia Railroad destroyed a portion of the northeast corner of the mound during its construction in the 1870's. The present roadway [which is located beyond the fence] replaced the railroad.
7. OCM_030829_125.JPG: These are reconstructed artifacts found in the funeral mound
8. OCM_030829_138.JPG: On the right is the Great Temple Mound. On the left is a smaller mound, described elsewhere as the Lesser Temple Mound (Mound B). The sign for the Great Temple Mound says the following: The Great Temple Mound and Town Site Capital of a Thriving Civilization Relatively little is known about these mounds except that there [sic] were topped by rectangular wooden structures probably used for religious and ceremonial purposes. A stepped rampway descended from the summit of the mount to the plaza level below. Its size and presence is another indication of the advanced society that built and used it, probably for the important ceremonies and rituals. Scientists can only suggest what might have been true; archeological proof does not exist. What conclusions can we draw about the Mississippians? They were Master Farmers as evidenced by the extensive old fields that remain. The number of mounds suggests that a large number of healthy individuals labored intensely to build the village and structures and to produce the food necessary to sustain a large population. There had to be strong leaders present in their society to organize and to maintain such a large population. The successive stages of the development of the mounds suggest a long period of occupation. The recovered artifacts further suggest an elite class of priests and/or chieftains who were carefully honored in their death, another sign of the advanced culture of the Mississippians.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Ocmulgee National Monument
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ocmulgee National Monument preserves traces of over ten millennia of native Southeastern culture, including Mississippian mounds. It is located just east of Macon, Georgia.

History:

Ocmulgee is a memorial to the antiquity of people in Southeastern North America. From Ice Age hunters to the Creek Indians of historic times, there is evidence of at least 10,000 years of human habitation. Between 900-1150, an elite society supported by skillful farmers lived on this site near the Ocmulgee River. They constructed a town of rectangular wooden buildings, huge pyramidal temple mounds, and at least one burial mound. Circular earthlodges served as places to conduct meetings and ceremonies.

After this large early ceremonial center declined, other villages were built in the area by the later Mississippian "Lamar" Culture. These were the people encountered by Spaniard Hernando de Soto in 1540. During historic times, the great mounds continued to evoke awe and admiration. Naturalist William Bartram journeyed through Ocmulgee in the 1770s and described the "wonderful remains of the power and grandeur of the ancients in this part of America." In the early 1900s, the area was put into a large renovation, and the site was made into its present manisfestation.

National Monument:

On June 14, 1934 the park was authorized as a National Monument, which was formally established on December 23, 1936 under the National Park Service. As an historic unit of the Park Service, the National Monument was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Ocmulgee has a visitor center that houses an archaeological museum that interprets the cultures of the American Indians who had inhabited the site. A short orientation film and gift shop are also available in the visitor center.

The park has 5-1/2 miles (9 km) of walking trails. Near the visitor center is a reconstructed thousand-year-old ceremonial earthlodge. Visitors can reach the Great Temple Mound via a half mile walk or the park road. Other features in the park include a burial mound, temple mounds, prehistoric trenches, and the site of a colonial British trading post.

The main section of Ocmulgee National Monument is accessible from U.S. Route 80, off of Interstate 16 (which passes through southwest edge of the monument). It is open daily except Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Lamar Mounds is an isolated unit of the monument, located in the swamps about 3 miles (5 km) south of Macon. The Lamar Unit is open on a limited basis.
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