Rock Eagle Effigy Mound
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Rock Eagle Site
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Rock Eagle Effigy Mound, viewed from adjacent observation tower, August 26, 2007
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| Nearest city | Eatonton, Georgia |
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| NRHP Reference # | 78001001 |
Rock Eagle Effigy Mound is an archaeological site in Putnam County, Georgia, U.S. estimated to have been constructed 1,000 to 3,000 years ago. The earthwork was built up of thousands of pieces of quartzite laid in the mounded shape of a large bird (102 ft long from head to tail, and 120 ft wide from wing tip to wing tip). Although it is most often referred to as an eagle, scholars do not know exactly what type of bird the original builders intended to portray. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) because of its significance. The University of Georgia administers the site. It uses much of the adjoining land for a 4-H camp, with cottages and other buildings, and day and residential environmental education.
What prompted the early inhabitants of Middle Georgia, who lived in a time long before the rise of the later Mississippian, Creek and Cherokee cultures, to build these massive effigy mounds is still something of a mystery. They obviously hold ceremonial significance and the Rock Eagle seems to have been expanded from a large dome-shaped central mound.
Only two such bird effigy mounds have been found east of the Mississippi River. The other, known as Rock Hawk, is also located in Putnam County, approximately thirteen miles to the southeast. (33°20.693′N 83°10.502′W / 33.344883°N 83.175033°W)
Rock Eagle was once thought to be as much as 5,000 years old. While there is strong evidence that the area was occupied by Archaic Indians at that time, scholars no longer believe that they created the mound. Current archaeology suggests the mound was built between 1,000 and 3,000 years ago by Woodland Indians. These Native Americans may have been part of the Adena or Hopewell cultures. It is more likely that they represented a unique group. Rock Eagle is the next oldest Indian mound in Georgia after the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex.
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Wikipedia