The Mounds at Ocmulgee

Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park Map

The earth lodge at Ocmulgee was used as a council house for meetings. It was built of logs, river cane, and clay and was not originally covered with grass.

After passing through the log doorway of the council house, a hallway of thatched walls leads to a council chamber inside the reconstructed earth lodge.

Hierarchical meetings took place inside the earthen lodge, where 50 members sat to govern Ocmulgee society. Council seats became higher and wider as they approached closer proximity to the effigy of a bird.

This historic photo shows the different layers of earth within the Funeral Mound.

Mississippian Indians traded items like hooks, shells, and pottery with other groups along extensive trade routes.

Chunkey was a popular game played by Mississippian Indians. A large disc was rolled and players threw a spear to the location where they thought the disc would stop.

Points were awarded for landing a spear closest to the disc's actual resting place.

During the New Deal archaeology projects of the 1930s, pottery was excavated at Ocmulgee. It is unlike any other style found in Georgia.

This suggests to archaeologists that the Mississippian Indians who settled here were immigrants, likely from areas northwest of Georgia.

Mississippian Indians had various ways of defending themselves against outside invaders. A natural barrier, like the one pictured here, was often used as a moat or a trench.

One modern development highlighted at Ocmulgee is the Mississippian Indian reliance on agriculture rather than just hunting and gathering.

Near the Corn Field Mound, common crops like squash, corn, sunflowers, beans, and tobacco were grown.