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 The Funeral Mound, on the other hand, has been completely excavated and some of North America's most important Mississippian artifacts have been discovered there. (View 3D Animation) Among these were ceremonial copper axes, copper-covered earspools, necklaces and pendants of shell and engraved shell gorgets. These shell gorgets were circular medallions worn around the neck made from large seashells and inscribed or carved with various designs. (They were the Mississippian equivalent of what today we refer to as "bling-bling.")
Many of these shell gorget designs belong to a complex known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, once referred to as the Southern Cult or Southern Death Cult. It has been repeatedly noted that many of these Southeastern Ceremonial Complex designs have strong Mesoamerican influences such as the Long Nosed God and the Bird Man or Eagle Warrior. It should be remembered that if the Creek Migration Legend is correct, the Muscogean tribe did have its origin in Mexico. Yet by the time of Etowah's major construction period these people had not lived in Mexico for over 500 years. The original Mesoamerican ideas would have evolved in that amount of time and would have been influenced by the people they had come into contact with in the eastern woodlands. Thus ideas such as the Feathered Serpent remained but evolved into their own unique expression. Likewise for the Long Nosed God and the Eagle Warrior.
These symbols were also portrayed on copper breastplates worn by high status individuals. One such copper breastplate was found buried with an  individual in Mound C, the burial mound. It shows an Eagle Warrior dancing. Amazingly, dancers at modern powwows can be seen performing dances that look remarkably similar to the dances portrayed in these copper designs.
The most important artifacts discovered at the Etowah Mounds site are undoubtedly the two carved marble statues of a man and woman. They are each about two feet  tall and are in sitting positions. Early Spanish explorers noted that similar statues were part of an ancestor worship cult and were housed in Funerary Temples where offerings were made to them. These particular statues were discovered buried in their own grave at the base of Mound C. It appears that they were hastily buried without a lot of care since they were broken into pieces when discovered.
This hasty burial corresponds with another piece of archaeological evidence: the palisade wall appears to have burned down. Often times Native Americans would bury important objects when they came under attack in order to keep the items out of the hands of their enemies. It is probable that an attack serious enough to burn down the major defensive work of the massive Etowah Mounds site would have been the inspiration for such a hasty burial of these important objects. It is also possible that the attackers smashed the statues, thereby ritually killing them, and buried them to prevent them from ever being used again. (This burning of the town and smashing of statue gods seems eerily similar to the events at Teotihuacan that may have inspired the Muscogeans to migrate out of central Mexico in the first place.)
 As stated in the previous discussion on the Ocmulgee Mounds, it appears that the Muscogeans migrated from western Mexico into central Mexico where they came under the influence of Teotihuacan. Interestingly, very similar male and female effigy statues have been discovered in similar graves in western Mexico. Notice how the male statue sits cross-legged with his hands on his knees nearly identical to the Etowah male effigy figure and both female statues sit on their knees. Also notice how the face painting represented in both sets of statues are incredibly similar. The effigies at left come from the Chinesco culture found in the western Mexican state of Nayarit. Thus a western Mexican origin for Georgia's Moundbuilders is certainly possible.
Warfare seems to always have been a major threat to Mississippian culture.  Mississippians required tribute from the lesser tribes in their chiefdoms which undoubtedly inspired much hostility. The strict social classes and hereditary nature of high status political positions inspired even more hostility. Social practices such as human sacrifice would have invoked further anger. Trade disputes and unfair exchange rates probably caused problems as well. Thus it seems the enormous amount of energy expended in building moats and walls was necessary in order to maintain their particular social order.
(Even today elites choose to live in walled, gated communities to protect and separate themselves from the perceived "hostile" locals. Other elites choose to live in the penthouse suites at the top of skyscrapers to also remove themselves from the hostile locals. It seems Etowah's elites wanted the best of both worlds: to live at the top of the tallest structures in their own gated, private community.)
Interestingly, the Cherokee have an old story relating to a hereditary priestly clan named the Ani-Kutani who held exclusive supervision of all religious ceremonies. In fact, from the legends it seems this clan was not even Cherokee but an outside "missionary" group whose great spiritual power was used to control the tribe. This clan was violently overthrown and massacred when they abused their great power. (Part of these abuses included demanding sexual rights to all females in the village whether they were already married or not.) The Cherokee then returned to a more egalitarian society and all religious ceremonies were conducted by common medicine men. This oral tradition perhaps offers a glimpse into the fall of Mississippian societies across the southeast and leaves open an intriguing possibility: did the Mississippians missionize local tribes in order to control them in much the same way the Spanish and other Europeans would do centuries later? Also, did Etowah fall due to an attack by outsiders or was it an internal revolt against similar priestly abuses? (If so, this would be very similar to the fall of Teotihuacan from whence these priests originally came.)
After the devastating attack at Etowah, it appears that the Etowah Mounds site was abandoned. The greatest Mississippian center in Georgia was now in ruins and no site in Georgia would ever again rise to the heights it had achieved. (Interestingly, the great Native American metropolis of Cahokia also collapsed around the same time period.) It seems the locals had finally had enough of being dominated by outsiders and struck a mighty blow against them. Interestingly, the site had only lasted about 200 years (1250 A.D. - 1375 A.D.) which is very similar to the length of time that Ocmulgee prospered. This suggests that 200 years is the length of time that it takes for an outside power to grow to a point where its ever increasing demands are no longer tolerable to the locals. This same pattern holds true for the British invasion of America. Jamestown was begun in 1607 and by 1808, after two hundred years of warfare and encroachment, the Native American leader Tecumseh attempted to create a pan-Indian movement to seriously resist the ever increasing power of the Americans. The invading force, the Americans, was pondering the question of what to do about the "Indian problem." Tecumseh failed and Removal was the solution the Americans decided upon regarding the "Indian problem."
The Creek Migration Legend tells how they were faced with the same question. It tells how after many years of warfare with the local population, the leaders held a council to decide how to deal with the hostile locals. Some wanted to completely annihilate the hostile tribes. Eventually, though, they agreed to follow the path of peace. This may indicate the birth of the Creek Confederacy.
Once again, the archaeological record seems to back up the migration legend. After the fall of Etowah trade goods that once were only found in the graves of elites became more frequently found in the graves of non-elites. Likewise, the mythological symbols associated with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex faded away. These foreign religious symbols and ideas helped the Mississippian invaders justify their ruling status over the indigenous Woodland peoples. But after the fall of Etowah, it seems a great social revolution occurred and elitist symbols were rejected.
Also artifacts from this period seem to indicate a merging of Woodland and Mississippian cultures. Mississippian pottery would be decorated with Woodland designs. It also appears that the Mississippian/Muscogean practice of hereditary status would be replaced by the Hitchiti/Woodland tradition of earned status.
 It also may be during this period that the Mississippians tried to redirect their hostility into less destructive activities such as ballgames. These ballgames, referred to as "the little brother of war," were ways in which disputes between tribes could be settled without the social disruption brought by warfare. These ballgames were played in the central plazas that were a part of every Mississippian village. These games were rather violent affairs and injuries, even deaths, were common. Participants and spectators often placed large bets on the outcome.
It's interesting to note that Americans began playing ballgames in earnest after the Civil War which coincidentally featured the burning of Atlanta and a good portion of Georgia. Perhaps our own ballgames served a similar role as a more positive outlet of aggression and a less destructive form of dispute resolution than warfare. Historic Creek ballgames were often played on a field which was 100 yards long and at each end of the field incorporated goal posts constructed from two vertical posts with a horizontal post between them. Sounds very much like a modern American football field (except the game played was more similar to lacrosse).
Etowah Mounds would eventually be reinhabited but never again would it regain the power and the glory of its hey days. Yet the Muscogeans would remain one of the most powerful and organized tribal groups in the southeast even into the historic period and contact with Europeans. Even as the Creek Confederacy fell apart and Yuchis, Seminoles, Hitchitis and other original Woodland members went their separate ways, the Muscogeans stayed together and moved to Oklahoma where they created a new nation with a capital named Okmulgee. Interestingly, early observers of the Creeks noted that the Muscogean speakers referred to themselves as "those who stick together" and the other members as "those of a different language." It would seem that this ability to "stick together" would allow this immigrant group to dominate Georgia for nearly 900 years until another equally unified immigrant group arrived from the British Isles and forced them back towards the west from whence they had originally come.
Resources & Further Reading:
King, Adam. Etowah: The Political History of a Chiefdom Capital. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2003.
Moorehead, Warren K. Exploration of the Etowah Site in Georgia: The Etowah Papers. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2000.
Hudson, Charles. The Southeastern Indians. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1976.
"Ancestor Pair." Timeline of Art History. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Power, Susan C. Early Art of the Southeastern Indians: Feathered Serpents & Winged Beings. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004.
Morgan, Willaim N. Pre-Columbian Architecture in Eastern North America. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1999.
White, Max E. The Archaeology and History of the Georgia Native Tribes. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2002.
Larson, Lewis. "Etowah Mounds." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 2002.
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Mississippian sites along with Moundville in Alabama, Spiro in Oklahoma, and Cahokia in Illinois. The Etowah Mounds complex consists of six earthen mounds all in the traditional Mississippian truncated pyramid shape. These Indian mounds were built between 950 A.D. and 1450 A.D. although major construction didn't truly begin until around A.D. 1250. The Etowah Indian Mounds site is surrounded by a deep moat on three sides and the Etowah River on the fourth. A palisade wall stood just behind the moat adding further protection to the site. Just like our previous site, 
