The male (left) and female (right) statues were discovered in Mound C, the smallest of the three major mounds. Mound C, the burial mound, has been completely excavated and has produced many artifacts and much information about Etowah. Constructed from North Georgia marble, the male is 24 inches tall and the female is 22 inches tall. The statues were discovered damaged and appeared to have been buried without much care, as though they were tossed in with one landing on top of the other, along with the scattered bones of four individuals. Buried in perhaps 1375 A.D., what is uncertain is why. One theory speculates that the statues were important religious icons and were buried to avoid being taken by hostile forces. Another theory speculates that hostile forces buried the statues to symbolize the destruction of Etowah. Or it could be that there were natural disasters such as an epidemic or crop failures prompting them to rethink their way of life.
My favorite explanation?
After concluding they had been abandoned by the gods,
they placed their religious icons in the ground as an act of closure. |
