Mississippian Peoples
Overview
Mississippian Peoples
Complex cultures developed in the Mississippi River basin centuries before European contact.
Learning Objectives
Analyze the differences between the Toltec, Aztec, Inca, and North American indigenous groups.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Maize: a grain, domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times, known in many English-speaking countries as corn
Atlatl: a wooden stick with a thong or perpendicularly protruding hook on the rear end that grips a grove or socket on the butt of its accompanying spear
three sisters: corn, squash, and beans, which were the three most important crops for Mississippian cultures
Mounds: formations made of earth that were used as foundations for Mississippian culture structures
Mississippian Peoples
Centuries before the arrival of European explorers and colonists, complex cultures arose in several regions of North America: the Mississippi River basin of the Midwest and Southeast and the American Southwest; the Mound builder cultures along the Mississippi River basin; and the Pueblo cultures in the Southwest. None of these cultures left behind any written records; consequently, knowledge of them is based on archaeological study. The artifacts, which these cultures produced, however, enable labeling them as complex.
The various Mound builder cultures flourished at different times and regions in areas watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries in the Eastern Woodlands region. The Adena and Hopewell cultures inhabited the upper and lower Ohio River valley, respectively, for approximately 2000 years between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE. The introduction of Indian corn or maize from Mexico made possible the growth of these cultures, thereby making possible an agricultural surplus. Maize is rich in carbohydrates as well vitamins and minerals; therefore, its inclusion into the diet helped to sustain a healthy and growing population. The construction of massive earthworks or mounds in the shape of animals or humans (effigies) by these peoples not only provided archaeologists with a nickname for them but is also evidence that they possessed a formal government or state, which must have overseen the building of these monumental public works. These mounds were probably ceremonial centers for religious rites, which were conducted by a specialized class of priests. Elaborate burial sites indicate that these societies possessed a ruling elite. The elite was often buried with grave goods, which reflected their high social standing. The artifacts recovered from these burials, such as jewelry and pottery, show a degree of workmanship that would suggest a class of specialized craft workers. Such artifacts also indicate the existence of long-distance trade and, therefore, a specialized class of traders as well. Based on this knowledge, the Adena and Hopewell cultures possessed traits characteristic of a complex culture: government, social stratification, and specialization.
Eastern Woodland Culture
Eastern Woodland Culture refers to the way of life of indigenous peoples in the eastern part of North America between 1,000 BCE and 1,000 CE. The Eastern Woodland cultural region extended from what is now southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States, down to the Gulf of Mexico. The time in which the peoples of this region flourished is referred to as the Woodland Period. This period is known for its continuous development in stone and bone tools, leather crafting, textile manufacture, cultivation, and shelter construction. Many Woodland hunters used spears and atlatl until the end of the period, when those were replaced by bows and arrows. The Southeastern Woodland hunters also used blowguns. The major technological and cultural advancements during this period included the widespread use of pottery and the increasing sophistication of its forms and decoration. The growing use of agriculture and the development of the Eastern Agricultural Complex also meant that the nomadic nature of many of the groups was supplanted by permanently occupied villages.
Early Woodland Period (1000 – 1 BCE)
The archaeological record suggests that humans in the Eastern Woodlands of North America were collecting plants from the wild by 6,000 BCE and gradually modifying them by selective collection and cultivation. In fact, the eastern United States is one of 10 regions in the world to become an independent center of agricultural origin. Research also indicates that the first appearance of ceramics occurred around 2,500 BCE in parts of Florida and Georgia. What differentiates the Early Woodland period from the earlier periods is the appearance of permanent settlements, elaborate burial practices, intensive collection and horticulture of starchy seed plants, and differentiation in social organization. Most of these were evident in the southeastern United States by 1,000 BCE with the Adena culture, which is the best-known example of an early Woodland culture.
The Adena culture was centered around what is present-day Ohio and surrounding states and was most likely a number of related indigenous American societies that shared burial complexes and ceremonial systems. Adena mounds generally ranged in size from 20 to 300 feet in diameter and served as burial structures, ceremonial sites, historical markers, and possibly even gathering places. The mounds provided a fixed geographical reference point for the scattered populations of people dispersed in small settlements of one to two structures. A typical Adena house was built in a circular form, 15 to 45 feet in diameter. Walls were made of paired posts tilted outward that were then joined to other pieces of wood to form a cone-shaped roof. The roof was covered with bark, and the walls were bark and/or wickerwork.
While the burial mounds created by Woodland culture peoples were beautiful artistic achievements, Adena artists were also prolific in creating smaller, more personal pieces of art using copper and shells. Art motifs that became important to many later indigenous Americans began with the Adena. Examples of these motifs include the weeping eye and the cross and circle design. Many works of art revolved around shamanic practices and the transformation of humans into animals, especially birds, wolves, bears, and deer, indicating a belief that objects depicting certain animals could impart those animals’ qualities to the wearer or holder.
Middle Woodland Period (1 – 500 CE)
The beginning of this period saw a shift of settlement to the interior. As the Woodland period progressed, local and inter-regional trade of exotic materials greatly increased to the point where a trade network covered most of the eastern United States. Ceramics during this time were thinner, of better quality, and more decorated than in earlier times. This ceramic phase saw a trend towards round-bodied pottery and lines of decoration with cross-etching on the rims. Throughout the Southeast and north of the Ohio River, burial mounds of important people were very elaborate and contained a variety of mortuary gifts, many of which were not local. The most archaeologically certifiable sites of burial during this time were in Illinois and Ohio. These have come to be known as the Hopewell tradition.
The Hopewellian peoples had leaders, but they were not powerful rulers who could command armies of soldiers or slaves. It has been posited that these cultures accorded certain families with special privileges and that these societies were marked by the emergence of “big-men,” or leaders, who were able to acquire positions of power through their ability to persuade others to agree with them on matters of trade and religion. It is also likely these rulers gained influence through the creation of reciprocal obligations with other important community members. Regardless of their path to power, the emergence of big-men marked another step toward the development of the highly structured and stratified sociopolitical organization called the chiefdom, which would characterize later American Indigenous tribes. Due to the similarity of earthworks and burial goods, researchers assume a common body of religious practice and cultural interaction existed throughout the entire region (referred to as the Hopewellian Interaction Sphere). Such similarities could also be the result of reciprocal trade, obligations, or both between local clans that controlled specific territories. Clan heads were buried along with goods received from their trading partners to symbolize the relationships they had established. Although many of the Middle Woodland cultures are called Hopewellian, and groups shared ceremonial practices, archaeologists have identified the development of distinctly separate cultures during the Middle Woodland period. Examples include the Armstrong culture, Copena culture, Crab Orchard culture, Fourche Maline culture, the Goodall Focus, the Havana Hopewell culture, the Kansas City Hopewell, the Marksville culture, and the Swift Creek culture.
Late Woodland Period (500 – 1000 CE)
The late Woodland period was a time of apparent population dispersal. In most areas, construction of burial mounds decreased drastically, as did long distance trade in exotic materials. Bow and arrow technology gradually overtook the use of the spear and atlatl, and agricultural production of the “three sisters” (maize, beans, and squash) was introduced. While full scale intensive agriculture did not begin until the following Mississippian period, the beginning of serious cultivation greatly supplemented the gathering of plants.
Late Woodland settlements became more numerous, but the size of each one was generally smaller than their Middle Woodland counterparts. It has been theorized that populations increased so much that trade alone could no longer support the communities and some clans resorted to raiding others for resources. Alternatively, the efficiency of bows and arrows in hunting may have decimated the large game animals, forcing tribes to break apart into smaller clans to better use local resources, thus limiting the trade potential of each group. A third possibility is that a colder climate may have affected food yields, also limiting trade possibilities. Lastly, it may be that agricultural technology became sophisticated enough that crop variation between clans lessened, thereby decreasing the need for trade.
In practice, many regions of the Eastern Woodlands adopted the full Mississippian culture much later than 1,000 CE. Some groups in the North and Northeast of the United States, such as the Iroquois, retained a way of life that was technologically identical to the Late Woodland until the arrival of the Europeans. Furthermore, despite the widespread adoption of the bow and arrow, indigenous peoples in areas near the mouth of the Mississippi River, for example, appear to have never made the change.
Mississippian Culture
Mississippian cultures lived in the modern-day United States in the Mississippi valley from 800 to 1540. The Mississippian Period lasted from approximately 800 to 1540 CE. It’s called “Mississippian” because it began in the middle Mississippi River valley, between St. Louis and Vicksburg. However, there were other Mississippians as the culture spread across modern-day US. There were large Mississippian centers in Missouri, Ohio, and Oklahoma.
A number of cultural traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississippians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, they were distinct from their ancestors in adoption of some or all of the following traits:
- The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds. Such mounds were usually square, rectangular, or occasionally circular. Structures (domestic houses, temples, burial buildings, or other) were usually constructed atop such mounds.
- A maize-based agriculture. In most places, the development of Mississippian culture coincided with adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which supported larger populations and craft specialization.
- The adoption and use of riverine (or more rarely marine) shells as tempering agents in their shell-tempered pottery.
- Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rockies, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic Ocean.
- The development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity.
- A centralization of control through combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one.
- The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy, in which one major center (with mounds) has clear influence or control over a number of lesser communities, which may or may not possess a smaller number of mounds.
- The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also called the Southern Cult. This is the belief system of the Mississippians as we know it. SECC items are found in Mississippian-culture sites from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, and from Florida to Arkansas and Oklahoma. The SECC was frequently associated with ritual game-playing.
Although hunting and gathering plants for food was still important, the Mississippians were mainly farmers. They grew corn, beans, and squash, called the “three sisters” by historic Southeastern Indians. The “sisters” provided a stable and balanced diet, making a larger population possible. Large scale agricultural production made it possible for thousands of people to live in some larger towns and cities, such as at the site of Cahokia, near the modern city of St. Louis, Missouri.
A typical Mississipian town was built near a river or creek. It covered about ten acres of ground, and was surrounded by a palisade—a fence made of wooden poles placed upright in the ground. A typical Mississippian house was rectangular, about 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. The walls of a house were built by placing wooden poles upright in a trench in the ground. The poles were then covered with a woven cane matting. The cane matting was then covered with plaster made from mud. This plastered cane matting is called “wattle and daub.” The roof of the house was made from a steep “A” shaped framework of wooden poles covered with grass woven into a tight thatch.
Mississippian cultures, like many before them, built mounds. Though other cultures may have used mounds for different purposes, Mississippian cultures typically built structures on top of them. The type of structures constructed ran the gamut: temples, houses, and burial buildings. The Nashville area in Tennessee was a major population center during this period. There were once many temple and burial mounds in Nashville, especially along the Cumberland River. Thousands of Mississippian-era graves have been found in the city, and thousands more may exist in the surrounding area.
Mississippian artists produced unique art works. They engraved shell pendants with animal and human figures, as well as carved ceremonial objects out of flint. They sculpted human figures and other objects in stone. Potters molded their clay into many shapes, sometimes decorating them with painted designs.
Decline of the Mississippians
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer who, from 1539 – 43, lived with and spoke to many Mississippian cultures. After his contact, their cultures were relatively unaffected directly by Europeans, though they were indirectly. Since the natives lacked immunity to new infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox, epidemics induced by contact with the Europeans caused so many fatalities that they undermined the social order of many chiefdoms. Some groups adopted European horses and changed to nomadism. Political structures collapsed in many places. By the time more historical accounts were being written, the Mississippian way of life had changed irrevocably. Some groups maintained an oral tradition link to their mound-building past, such as the late 19th-century Cherokee. Other Indigenous American groups, having migrated many hundreds of miles and lost their elders to diseases, did not know their ancestors had built the mounds dotting the landscape. This contributed to the myth of the Mound Builders as a people distinct from indigenous Americans.
Mississippian peoples were almost certainly ancestral to the majority of the indigenous American nations living in this region in the historic era. The historic and modern-day nations believed to have descended from the overarching Mississippian Culture include: Alabama, Apalachee, Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, Guale, Hitchiti, Houma, Kansa, Missouria, Mobilian, Natchez, Osage, Quapaw, Seminole, Tunica-Biloxi, Yamasee, and Yuchi.
Attributions
Title Image
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mississippian_Figure_MET_DP261003.jpg
Mississippian culture; Male figure; Stone Sculpture. Discovered at the Link Farm Site located at the confluence of the Duck and Buffalo Rivers in Humphreys County, Tennessee, as part of of a paired male and female set of statues nicknamed "Adam" and "Eve" by the discoverers
Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Adapted from:
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/native-american-cultures-in-north-america/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/