Ocmulgee National Monument
| Ocmulgee National Monument | |||
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| Location: | Georgia , United States | ||
| Specialty: | Archaeological site | ||
| Next city: | Macon | ||
| Surface: | 2.8 km² | ||
| Founding: | December 23, 1936 | ||
| Visitors: | 114,379 (2007) | ||
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Ocmulgee National Monument is an archaeological site and a national monument- type memorial on the outskirts of Macon in the US state of Georgia . It preserves earthworks of a pre-European culture from the period from 950 to 1150, which is attributed to the Mississippi culture . In addition, individual, much earlier finds from the era of the Paleo-Indians and the Archaic period were made in the area. The area was later inhabited around the year 1700 by the Muskogee or Creek Indians and by British Indian traders who built a trading post fortified with palisades in what is now the protected area.
The area was excavated between 1933 and 1942 as part of the New Deal by several hundred workers under the direction of the Works Progress Administration and the so-called Earth Lodge was reconstructed according to the assumptions of the time . At the end of 1936 the area was designated a National Monument by the United States Congress and has been looked after by the National Park Service ever since . On October 15, 1966, it was listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places .
description
The area is located on the eastern outskirts of Macon on the eponymous Ocmulgee River in Bibb County . The small Walnut Creek flows through the reserve and flows into the Ocmulgee River at its border. On a high plateau called Macon Ridge a few meters above the river were at least eight as Mounds found called artificial hills and earthen structures used by prehistoric Indians of Macon plateau phase were created 950-1150. The culture is attributed to the early Mississippi culture. This makes Ocmulgee one of the most extensive known systems of the Mississippi culture, which is widespread in the entire eastern United States.
prehistory
Even before the Macon Plateau phase , the area was inhabited by humans. Already Paleo-Indians over 10,000 years ago and later the hunters of the Archaic period between 6000 and 1000 BC. BC moved to the Ocmulgee River to hunt and left their typical spearheads and other stone tools in today's protected area. No structures from the following Woodland period have been found in the area, but mounds in the form of burial mounds from this period have been identified in the vicinity.
buildings
The mounds of the Macon Plateau phase typical for the site were ceremonial structures, the largest was almost square with an edge length of 91 m, and about 15 m high. They are assigned to the Temple-Mound type and it is assumed that there was a hut on each platform on the hill, in which ritual acts took place. The mounds probably did not belong to a coordinated system, but were built one after the other, while older ones were falling apart. The distance of several hundred meters between the mounds also speaks against a community.
Despite the classification in the later Temple Mound type, at least two, possibly more, mounds were used as burial mounds, as in previous epochs. The dead were buried partly as a cremation , partly stretched or in a crouching position , partly as a secondary burial in the form of bundles of bones. The latter happened after the corpse had been kept wrapped in animal skins due to the unsuitable time of year or for other reasons, until the time for a burial came. Some of the graves were furnished with extensive grave goods , including jewelry and items with ceremonial purposes.
The most famous object in the Ocmulgee National Monument is the so-called Earth Lodge , a reconstructed round hut with an inner diameter of 13 m, which is completely covered by a mound except for a long narrow entrance. It was found during excavations in the 1930s and gave rise to the protection of the area.
What was found was the tamped clay floor, from which an approximately 25 cm high platform in the form of a stylized bird rose opposite the entrance. In addition, the post holes in the roof structure could be identified and construction started around 1015. Further clay and clods of earth that matched the turf suggested that the hut was covered with a mound of earth. So it was reconstructed until 1941. In the following decades it was found that in the humid climate of central Georgia the earth roof becomes so heavy that the wooden structure cannot support it. The columns were then supplemented with concrete beams. In addition, a climate develops inside that favors fungi that attack the wooden struts and pollute the air we breathe. The National Park Service built air conditioning into the reconstructed hut. It has been debated since the 1990s whether the assumption of an earth-covered hut was incorrect and what the Earth Lodge might have looked like.
Other round huts, which were also assumed to be covered with earth, were in other parts of the area, but they have only survived in rudimentary form.
Way of life
The inhabitants lived mainly from agriculture . In addition to its Mounds a 16 x 18 m wide was Hügelbeet excavated from several rib structures on which the farming community corn , squash pumpkin and beans , the Three Sisters (three sisters) of Indian cultures grew. They also grew tobacco and cotton on a smaller scale . There was also hunting, some fishing and the collecting of seeds and fruits from wild plants. They used stone tools, including characteristic arrow and spearheads, and had a wide variety of ceramics. The ceramics differed markedly from the previous types of the Woodland period. It was undecorated, had real handles for the first time in the region and , for the first time, crushed mussel shells were used as a lean to equalize the temperature during burning. Other artifacts were needles made from bone , pieces of jewelry in the form of ceramic chain pendants, and some pieces of jewelry made of copper and clam shells.
Whether the builders and residents of Ocmulgee were immigrants from the northern Tennessee Valley who brought the beginnings of the Mississippi culture to what is now Georgia, or whether the culture of the Ocmulgee people came from the culture of the emerged from the late Woodland period and elements such as the temple mounds took over from the north is the subject of scientific debate.
Later users
The National Monument also includes a small area about 5 km to the south, in which two more mounds have been excavated. This so-called Lamar site was first settled by a somewhat later culture around 1350. One of the mounds is the only one known to have a spiral ramp onto the platform.
Around 1700, the Muskogee Indians become tangible in the area. They lived permanently on Ocmulgee and developed one of their largest villages there around a trading post built by British colonists in 1690 .
The National Monument today
With over 100,000 visitors a year, the National Monument is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Central Georgia. Visitors can reach the area on a dead end road from Macon and see an exhibition and a short film in the visitor center about the prehistoric cultures in Ocmulgee, but also the Muskogee Indians in historical times. Close to the visitor center is the reconstructed Earth Lodge , which can be visited. The small road and several hiking trails lead further into the property, the mounds in the south and the wetlands at Walnut Creek can be easily reached on the paths or from several parking lots.
literature
- David J. Hally: Ocmulgee Site . In: Guy Gibbon: Archeology of Prehistoric Native America , New York, Garland Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-8153-0725-X , p. 600 f
- Gustavus D. Pope: Ocmulgee National Monument , Washington DC, National Park Service, 1956 - reprinted 1961 (also online: Ocmulgee National Monument )
- The Earth Lodge - Historic Structure Report , Atlanta, Georgia, National Park Service, 2005, (also online: The Earth Lodge ; PDF; 13.5 MB)
Web links
- National Park Service: Ocmulgee National Monument (official site; English)
- National Park Service: The archaeological finds of the area in detail (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ocmulgee National Monument in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 8, 2017.