Climbing the Temple Mound

Overlooking the Mortuary Mound

This carousel of images is from a recent return trip to the
Etowah Indian Mounds. Etowah was a major Mississippian political and ceremonial center (c. 1000–1550 CE), part of a broader Southeastern network. The mounds weren’t random dirt piles—they were layered, engineered monuments symbolizing cosmic order: the Upper World (sky), the Middle World (earth), and the Lower World (underwater).