Mississippian Indians CE circa.800 to Mid-1500’s

Organized Chiefdom Small number of “elites” (power holders) Most were “commoners” (work force)

Mississippian Indians

Life Among the Common Folk at Italwa - 1295 CE Etowah River Valley, Georgia

Mississippians were the most advanced ancient culture in Georgia

Large Towns Near rivers Featured central plazas, residential zones, and defense structures (palisades, guard towers, and moats) Center was a mound used for religious and social activity Thousands of families lived there

Houses One-room wattle and daub Walls made interwoven sticks covered with mud or clay

Trade Widespread network of trade connected Mississippian towns Traded raw materials and finished goods Shell beads, pottery and stone tools

Mississippian pottery was more ornate

New farming tools helped Mississippians become great farmers Mississippian wooden farming hoe

Horticulture--They were farmers and grew most of their food Cultivating the foods we think of today as being the “most” Native American Three Sisters = Corn, Beans, and Squash

Horticulture Did not plant just one crop per field Tobacco was planted for religious reasons

Hunting and Gathering Continued during this period Used bows and arrows Chert (sedimentary rock) knives Ate Deer, rabbit, muskrat, beaver, raccoon, and turkey Turtles and fish Seasonal fruits (plums, grapes, blackberries, rasberries Nuts

Why build mounds? Thought to be religious purposes – believed in a sun god – tried to get closer to him Some mounds had the chief living on top – when he died they burned him in his house and added to the mound to build a new house for the next chief

                                                     

Many Mississippian Indians died due to exposure to diseases from Spanish explorers.

The Mississippian societies who were left broke off into smaller tribes forming the Creek Confederacy