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View of Spanish explorers and
missionaries upon first contact with American Indian tribes
of the Lower Mississippi Delta, from the University of Arkansas
Museum collection
Ancient
Architects of the Mississippi |
Although the first people entered what is now the Mississippi
about 12,000 years ago, the earliest major phase of earthen mound
construction in this area did not begin until some 2100 years
ago. Mounds continued to be built sporadically for another 1800
years, or until around 1700 A.D. Archeologists, the scientist
who study the evidence of past human lifeways, classify moundbuilding
Indians of the Southeast into three major chronological/cultural
divisions: the Archaic, the Woodland, and the Mississippian traditions.
To date, no mounds of the Archaic period (7000 to 1000 B.C.) have
been positively identified in Mississippi; the mounds described
herein all date to the last two cultural periods.
The Middle Woodland period (100 B.C. to 200 A.D.) was the first
era of widespread mound construction in Mississippi. Middle Woodland
peoples were primarily hunters and gatherers who occupied semipermanent
or permanent settlements. Some mounds of this period were built
to bury important members of local tribal groups. These burial
mounds were rounded, dome-shaped structures that generally range
from about three to 18 feet high, with diameters from 50 to 100
feet. Distinctive artifacts obtained through long-distance trade
were sometimes placed with those buried in the mounds. The construction
of burial mounds declined after the Middle Woodland, and only
a few were built during the Late Woodland period (circa 400 to
1000 A.D.). Woodland burial mounds can be visited at the Boyd,
Bynum, and Pharr sites
and at Chewalla Lake in Holy Springs National Forest. (The Chewalla
Mound is not included in this itinerary because it is not listed
in the National Register of Historic Places).
Life-size figure executed for
the Ohio State Museum--the first known attempt to scientifically
portray the builders of the ancient mounds as they appeared
in life. This image was taken from Henry Clyde Shetrone's
book The Mound-Builders, copyright 1930.
Ancient
Architects of the Mississippi |
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The Mississippian period (1000 to 1700 A.D.) saw a resurgence of
mound building across much of the southeastern United States. Most
Mississippian mounds are rectangular, flat-topped earthen platforms
upon which temples or residences of chiefs were erected. These buildings
were constructed of wooden posts covered with mud plaster and had
thatched roofs. Mississippian platform mounds range in height from
eight to almost 60 feet and are from 60 to as much as 770 feet in
width at the base. Mississippian period mounds can be seen at the
Winterville, Jaketown,
Pocahontas, Emerald,
Grand Village, Owl Creek
and Bear Creek sites.
Mississippian period mound sites mark centers of social and
political authority. They are indicators of a way of life more
complex than that of the Woodland and earlier periods. In contrast
to the relatively simple, egalitarian tribal organization of most
societies of the Woodland period, regional Mississippian populations
were typically organized into chiefdoms--territorial groups with
hereditary, elite leadership classes. Across the Southeast, the
chiefdom system of political organization arose as a means of
managing increased social complexity caused by steady population
growth. This population growth was sustained by agriculture (corn,
beans, and squash)--a revolutionary new means of subsistence that
became an economic mainstay during the Mississippian period.
Mound construction was once again in decline by the time the
first Europeans came to this region in the 1500s. Shortly thereafter,
epidemic diseases introduced by early European explorers decimated
native populations across the Southeast, causing catastrophic
societal disruption. As a result, by the time sustained contact
with European colonists began about 1700 A.D., the long tradition
of mound building had nearly ended.
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