AECHEOLOGICAL PROJECTS — STIRLING 391 



also of baked clay, worked into the effigy of an eagle. This altar 

 is directly opposite the entrance. The seats of the chiefs were upon 

 the back of this effigy. In front of them, toward the center of the 

 building, was the eagle's head turned in profile to the southwest 

 and made with an eye ornament similar to that seen on various 

 copper effigies from the mounds and in certain incised pottery from 

 the Southeast. In the center of the floor was a modeled fireplace, 

 built up carefully of clay, and around this were four holes for the 

 main roof supports. The outer ends of the roof timbers appear to 

 have rested directly on the clay wall. The entrance, which was to- 

 ward the southeast, was also worked in clay and consisted of a nar- 

 row tunnel passage with offsets on each side of the entrance, prob- 

 ably for the purpose of protecting the men seated near the entrance 

 from cold drafts (pi. 5, figs. 1 and 2). Upon completion of the ex- 

 cavation of the council house, a tile wall with a temporary roof was 

 erected to protect it from injury by man and the elements. 



Exploration of the remainder of mound D revealed the outlines of 

 several smaller rectangular structures evidently built at different 

 periods. Most interesting of the discoveries was the remains of a 

 cornfield which antedated all of these structures but one. The strik- 

 ing thing about this is the fact that the corn is shown to have been 

 planted in rows instead of in hills as was the Indian method farther 

 north and which heretofore was supposed to have been the general 

 Indian usage (pi. 4, fig. 2). So well is this field preserved that even 

 the paths across the rows can be clearly traced. Later excavations 

 revealed several pits east of the council house, and although the 

 exact significance is still in doubt, it is thought that they are the 

 foundations of rectangular pit houses. None of the historic Indian 

 towns of any importance was located on Ocmulgee River after 1715, 

 and historic evidence as well as that furnished by the present explora- 

 tions indicates that the last villages were relatively insignificant. 



European objects have been found only in the late village site on 

 the east side of mound C of the Macon group and in some surface 

 gleanings from Lamar. The De Soto narratives seem to indicate that 

 the Macon and Lamar sites were but sparsely occupied, if at all, in 

 1540 when the Spanish explorers passed through Georgia. This 

 means that the great mounds were wholly pre-Columbian in origin. 

 Nevertheless, the Lamar mounds suggest Creek methods of construc- 

 tion, and for this reason and from the internal evidence of the pot- 

 sherds it seems quite likely that this group is of later origin than the 

 Macon group. Mound D containing the council house and the corn- 

 field appears to be among the oldest of these structures. The council 

 house contains structural features highly reminiscent of the northern 

 Plains earth lodge and also of the Pueblo kiva. More actual work 



