Etowah's residents built Mound C in seven stages from A.D. 1250 to 1375, creating a nineteen-foot ceremonial mortuary mound whose summit, flanks, and bases served as repositories for graves and whose several stages sometimes supported structures on the summit. The large quantity of ceremonial goods recovered from Mound C burials, including Tennessee chert, Gulf Coast shells, and copper from the Great Lakes area, shows that village residents participated heavily in the exchange of exotic materials, and other burial objects indicate visitation by early European explorers such as Hernando de Soto in A.D. 1540. At times a palisade surrounded Mound C, and it once had a ramp projecting from its eastern flank. Beneath Mound C, archaeologists recorded at least seven buildings dating from A.D. 1000 to 1100, including a large structure with a prepared clay floor covered with red ochre that is believed to have served a public function. Archaeologists began excavating Mound C as early as 1883 and completed the work in 1961, and the mound standing today is a reconstruction.