Eyewitness accounts of American Indians using ceremonial mound centers are very rare. In 1704, French colonists witnessed the funeral rites for a female Natchez chief at the Grand Village. The Natchez held a similar funeral ceremony here in 1725 for the chief called Tattooed Serpent. Both included the sacrifice of the chiefs' spouses and servants to accompany the dead leaders into the afterlife. Today, archaeologists use these Grand Village observations to interpret what might have happened at some prehistoric mound sites. The Natchez began constructing mounds at this location around A.D. 1200. The mounds served as bases for the houses of chiefs and sacred buildings.
