Totally awesome write up of Georgia Aqua! Just catching up on my freeping now.
Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site was home to several thousand Native Americans between 1000 A.D. to 1550 A.D. This 54-acre site contains six earthen platform mounds, a plaza, village area, borrow pits and defensive ditch. This is the most intact Mississippian Culture site in the Southeastern United States. One of the mounds, a 63-foot flat-topped earthen knoll, was 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 afterlives.
Have seen the Etowah Mounds. It's in a fertile valley right beside a river that's used as farmland. You can see a long distance in both directions from the largest Mound which is rare in North Georgia. My theory on the Mound is that they built themselves an area to live above the flood plain while still living among the fertile valley they farmed and beside the river they used for their water source. They also had a good view of any enemy that may try to sneak up on them.
Good night Calpernia. :)