Table of Contents
National History surveys Mississippian societies of the southeast from about 800 to 1600 of the common era. Towns lined the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Cumberland. River farming fed them, and earthworks ran from small burials to large complexes that bound a community. Big chiefdoms peak near 1200, then major centers thin before European contact. Hopewell and Adena neighbors are trade partners, not a sealed border. Chiefs hold power, rite, and exchange. Priests serve the plazas. Farmers and makers do the rest, and mound size marks rank. Platforms carry temples and elite houses. The dead go with offerings. Some mounds copy animals, and alignments to the sun make the ground sacred. Cahokia, near modern Collinsville, Illinois, is the great city, compared with medieval London for population, with Monks Mound above the plaza and a timber circle for the sky. Maize built surplus. Rivers moved shell, copper, and stone from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. The fade is left open: strained rule, drought, felled woods, and conflict. People dispersed, and farming and mound habits continued in later Native nations.
Key points
- The survey places Mississippian towns along southeastern rivers from about 800 to 1600 of the common era.
- Mounds mark rank and rite, from elite platforms and burials to animal-shaped effigies aligned with the sky.
- Cahokia is presented as the great city, with Monks Mound and a timber circle for watching the heavens.
- Maize agriculture and river trade in shell, copper, and stone tied distant communities together.
- Decline is explained with several open causes, after which the practices continued in later Native nations.
Short quotes
Cahokia was the largest urban center of the Mississippian civilization at its Zenith around 1100
National History, A history of the Mississippian world
The film’s peak of the culture is this Illinois city near the year 1100. Watch at 9:38
goods from as far away as the great lakes in the Gulf of Mexico have been found at Cahokia
National History, A history of the Mississippian world
Objects from far north and far south are used to show how wide the trade reached. Watch at 12:52
Falcon Warrior often depicted with a bird-shaped headdress was a prominent Supernatural figure
National History, A history of the Mississippian world
The falcon image stands for a spirit tied to fighting and to fertility. Watch at 15:43
climate change in the form of prolonged periods of drought or other environmental stressors
National History, A history of the Mississippian world
Long dry spells are one of the causes offered for the thinning of the towns. Watch at 18:06
Video by National History. Watch on YouTube.