Mississippian artists produced unique art works. They engraved shell pendants with animal and human figures , and 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.
What are some characteristics of the Mississippians?
Mississippian culture was not a single “tribe,” but many societies sharing a similar way of life or tradition. Mississippian peoples lived in fortified towns or small homesteads, grew corn, built large earthen mounds, maintained trade networks, had powerful leaders, and shared similar symbols and rituals .
What is a fun fact about the Mississippian?
They were Native Americans who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. Around 900–1450 AD, the Mississippian culture developed and spread through the Eastern United States. Mississippian people were most often farmers who settled into river valleys and grew the “three sisters” of corn, beans and squash.
What did the Mississippians invent?
But perhaps their greatest technological accomplishment was the design and construction of wooden stockades around the heart of the largest communities and the building of massive earthen mounds that served as elevated platforms for the residences of important public officials.
What did the Mississippians believe in?
Mississippian people shared similar beliefs in cosmic harmony, divine aid and power , the ongoing cycle of life and death, and spiritual powers with neighboring cultures throughout much of eastern North America.
Why did Cahokia disappear?
Now an archaeologist has likely ruled out one hypothesis for Cahokia's demise: that flooding caused by the overharvesting of timber made the area increasingly uninhabitable . ... “Cahokia was the most densely populated area in North America prior to European contact,” she says.
What weapons did the Mississippians use?
What tools did the Mississippians use? Cat Effigy Pipe Bowl The Mississippians fashioned their tools from pottery, stone, wood, and shell . They chipped stone into arrow points, knives, and scrapers, or shaped stones into axes called celts and bone into awls and fishhooks.
How did Mississippians protect themselves?
Before the arrival of Europeans, how did Mississippian villages protect themselves? They built palisades and moats .
What was the Mississippians way of life?
There were a number of Mississippian cultures, with most spreading from the Middle Mississippian area. 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.
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.
What did the Mississippians use for farming?
Mississippians depended on corn for food, and they cleared and planted fields near their towns and villages.
Did the Mississippians believe in one God?
Most of the Mississippians were polytheistic meaning believing in more than one god . An important aspect of their religion was the belief in life after death.
What were the Mississippians gods?
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 was the Mississippians society like?
Mississippian people were organized as chiefdoms or ranked societies . Chiefdoms were a specific kind of human social organization with social ranking as a fundamental part of their structure. ... Elites, who made up a relatively small percentage of chiefdom populations, had a higher social standing than commoners.
What was the biggest Native American city?
Near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, you can find towering mounds of earth that were once the product of a vast North American culture. Cahokia was the largest city built by this Native American civilization.
