The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for
building large, earthen platform mounds, and often other shaped mounds as well
.
How did the Mississippian culture end?
Thousands died
, bringing the Mississippian Tradition to an end. … The largest Mississippian sites were abandoned or in decline by 1450. Archaeologists do not know why so many of the largest sites were abandoned, but prolonged drought, crop failures, and warfare are possible causes.
What might historians conclude about the Mississippian peoples?
Based on the evidence of Cahokia, which of the following might historians conclude about the Mississippian peoples?
They depended on fishing for their main source of food
. They were deeply religious, worshiping a diverse pantheon of gods.
What did the Mississippian people believe in?
Mississippian religion was a distinctive Native American belief system in eastern North America that evolved out of an ancient, continuous tradition of
sacred landscapes
, shamanic institutions, world renewal ceremonies, and the ritual use of fire, ceremonial pipes, medicine bundles, sacred poles, and symbolic weaponry.
How did Mississippians protect themselves?
Before the arrival of Europeans, how did Mississippian villages protect themselves?
They built palisades and moats
.
Why did Cahokia disappear?
Then, A
Changing Climate
Destroyed It. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Ill. A thriving American Indian city that rose to prominence after A.D. 900 owing to successful maize farming, it may have collapsed because of changing climate.
What is the meaning of Mississippian?
1 :
of or relating to Mississippi, its people, or the Mississippi River
. 2 : of, relating to, or being the period of the Paleozoic era in North America following the Devonian and preceding the Pennsylvanian or the corresponding system of rocks — see Geologic Time Table.
Why did the Mississippians culture decline?
The rapid decline may have been
caused by an earthquake, or warfare
. Whatever the explanation, it meant that by the time European settlers began moving into the region in the 18th and 19th centuries the American Indians they met were migrants like themselves.
What religion did the Mississippian Indians have?
Mississippian religion was a distinctive
Native American belief system
in eastern North America that evolved out of an ancient, continuous tradition of sacred landscapes, shamanic institutions, world renewal ceremonies, and the ritual use of fire, ceremonial pipes, medicine bundles, sacred poles, and symbolic weaponry.
Why did the Mississippian culture decline several hundred years ago?
Why did the Mississippian culture decline several hundred years ago? …
Italian merchants grew wealthy and sponsored the cultural rebirth
. Why did Prince Henry of Portugal launch a systematic effort to modernize sea exploration and long-distance trade in the fifteenth century ?
What was the Mississippian technology?
The
bow-and-arrow technology
had been developed toward the end of the Woodland period. Mississippian ceramics (jars, bowls, bottles, and plates) were both visually appealing as well as technologically sophisticated and durable. The shell tempering and thin vessel walls became hallmarks of Mississippian ceramics.
What were the three major components of Mississippian Native American communities?
Based on some of the designs placed on pottery and engraved into marine shell, archaeologists believe Mississippian people divided their world into three parts:
the upper world, the middle world and the underworld
.
What was the Mississippian government?
Most Mississippian societies
worshiped a sun god and maintained a fertility cult
. Many of the paramount chiefs, such as those of the Natchez, often claimed to be descendants of the sun. The people of the chiefdom therefore treated the chief and his family as divine beings.
What language did the Mississippians speak?
Today,
Choctaw
is the traditional language of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. About 80 percent of the approximately ten thousand tribe members speak the language fluently.
What were mounds used for?
Rectangular, flat-topped mounds were primarily built as a platform for a building such as a temple or residence for a chief. Many later mounds were used
to bury important people
. Mounds are often believed to have been used to escape flooding.
Who lived in the largest mound at Cahokia?
The largest mound at the Cahokia site, the largest man-made earthen mound in the North American continent, is Monks Mound (Mound 38). It received its name from the
group of Trappist Monks
who lived on one of the nearby mounds. The Monks never lived on the biggest mound but gardened its first terrace and nearby areas.
