Grand Village of the Natchez Indians
June 23rd, 2005 by leafworksNatchez, Mississippi
by Leaf McGowan
Photos © 2005 Leafworks |
Grand Village of the Natchez Indians 400 Jefferson Davis Boulevard Natchez, MS 39120 601-446-6502 A religious structure once stood atop the Temple Mound and housed bones of previous chiefs (called Suns). A sacred perpetual fire was kept in the Temple’s inner sanctum, symbolic of the sun, from which the royal family had descended. The 128-acre Grand Village site features a museum, a reconstructed Natchez Indian house, and three ceremonial mounds. |
Two of the mounds, the Great Sun’s Mound, and the Temple Mound, have been excavated and rebuilt to their original sizes and shapes. A third mound, called the Abandoned Mound, has been only partially excavated. After three major archaeological excavations at the Grand Village by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, no more digging investigations are planned for the site. The unexcavated areas of the site will be preserved intact, representing a sort of “time capsule” from the Natchez Indian’s past.
The Natchez Indians inhabited what is now southwest Mississippi c. A.D. 700-1730, with the culture at its zenith in the mid-1500’s. Between 1682 and 1729 the Grand Village was their main ceremonial center, according to historical and archaeological evidence. French explorers, priests, and journalists described the ceremonial mounds built by the Natchez on the banks of St. Catherine Creek, and archaeological investigations produced additional evidence that the site was the place that the French called “The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.” During the period that the Natchez occupied the Grand Village, the French explored the region and began to make settlements. Relations between the French and the Natchez were cordial at first but deteriorated beginning in 1716 until 1729, when the Natchez massacred the French garrison at Fort Rosalie. The French retaliated in such force in 1730 that the Natchez were forced to abandon their homeland.
