Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site

Home to several thousand Native Americans between 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D., this 54-acre site contains six earthen mounds, a plaza, village area, borrow pits and a defensive ditch. This is the most intact Mississippian culture site in the southeastern United States. 

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.

They were a society rich in ritual. Towering over the community, the 63-foot, flat-topped earthen knoll was likely used as a platform for the home of the priest-chief. In another mound, nobility were buried in elaborate costumes accompanied by items they would need in their after-lives.