Etowah Elites from Cahokia

In 2004 I argued that the site of Etowah Mounds in Cartersville, Georgia was inhabited by elites from Cahokia, a Native American metropolis near St. Louis, Missouri. I made this argument based on the fact that the Etowah site received a large influx of people around 1250 AD at the same time that the Cahokia site was collapsing and experiencing a large decrease in population. Additionally, artifacts discovered in Mound C at Etowah have been shown to have been manufactured at Cahokia. Thus it seemed a logical argument to make even though it contradicted the “official” narrative that the Etowah site was built by the local Muscogean tribes and the Cahokia artifacts were obtained through trade.

Well it seems the official narrative is coming around to my way of thinking. In May 2017 the lead researcher of the Etowah Mounds site gave a talk in which he made the argument that elites from Cahokia settled at Etowah around 1250 AD. The talk was recorded and uploaded to YouTube and I’ve posted the video at the top of this page. Lots of great information in this presentation. Here’s the text that introduces the video:

“The Etowah site is a large town built by Native Americans before the coming of the Europeans in the northern part of the modern state of Georgia. It is a big and impressive place, and it was an important place in the early history of the Deep South. Etowah was a major center in the Mississippian civilization that flourished from as early as 1000 CE to as late as 1600 CE. This forgotten Native American civilization is responsible for large cities, great monuments, and elaborate works of art, just like other civilizations of the world. Etowah’s history was complex and included multi-ethnic beginnings, an unexplained abandonment, the arrival of foreigners, attacks by invaders, and even a visit by early Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. In this presentation, Dr. King discusses what traditional archaeology, remote sensing, and iconographic studies have revealed about the site and the people who built it. Dr. Adam King, Research Associate Professor in the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina, focuses his research on the early history of Native Americans, particularly during the Mississippian Period (AD1000-1600).”

 

 

Gary C. Daniels

Gary C. Daniels is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated television, video and multimedia writer and producer. He has a M.A. degree in Communications from Georgia State University in Atlanta, a B.F.A. degree in TV Production from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an A.A. degree in Art from the College of Coastal Georgia. He has appeared on the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel and History Channel. His History Channel appearance became the highest-rated episode in the network's history. He has a passion for Native American history and art. He is the founder and publisher of LostWorlds.org.