Late Woodland/Mississippian

Sedentary Period

Mississippian

Middle Sedentary Period• Poverty Point culture eclipses around between 500-300 B.C.

and is replaced by cultures lacking indicators of centralized ranked societies.

• Middle Sedentary Period: – Dates: 300 B.C.-A.D. 300 – Following the decentralization of Poverty Point, there

appears a re-growth of social complexity during this period.

– Cultural orientation points toward northern cultural affiliations with Hopewell peoples.

– Two prominent examples of these trends can be found in the Marksville site and in the Santa Rosa/ Swift Creek "complex."

Marksville Site

• Located in Louisiana – Suggested as a significant Hopewell cultural inroad into the Southeast – Maybe the result of a migration of Illinois Hopewell into Louisiana! (?) – The Marksville Site exhibits marked similarities with those of their

"Yankee neighbors" to the north. • Marksville Site description (after W. N. Morgan 1980:37-38):

– 16 hectares enclosed within a semicircular moat and embankment enclosure (1,000 meters long)

– Eastern side of site is a bluff of the "Old River”– Three openings exist to the south and west – A central plaza is bounded by:

• Two conical-mound-topped truncated platforms (north and south) and • Sunken plaza (to the east) • Conical mound (to the west) that contained a log-tomb burial) • To the south, by two entrances and just outside the "defenses," was a large

circular enclosure (measuring 91 meters in diameter by 61 centimeters high).

Marksville Mound

Santa Rosa/Swift Creek• Located in Florida • At this site it appears that we might be dealing with

something more analogous to egalitarian- redistributive economy chiefdoms.

• "Big-Men" model chiefdoms – "Big Men" derived from Melanesian ethnographic work – "Big Men" receive goods and services through their

achievement (rather than having their power ascribed through birth)

– Santa Rosa/Swift Creek Complex may have led into the succeeding Late Sedentary culture typified by Weeden Island

Swift Creek

Pottery

http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/benning-book/ch05/f038.jpg

The Miami Circle• The Miami Circle is situated on a 2.2 acre

parcel that is located along the southern bank of the Miami River where the river meets Biscayne Bay.

• The Miami Circle consists of a series of 24 large holes or basins, and many smaller holes, which have been cut into the oolitic limestone bedrock.

• Together these holes form a circle approximately 38 feet in diameter. Other arrangements of holes are apparent as well.

The Miami Circle

http://www.flheritage.com/brickellpoint/facts.html

Web site on Miami Circle

• http://www.flheritage.com/archaeology/projects/miamicircle/

Late Sedentary Period• Dates: A.D. 300-700 • Following the Marksville Phase. • Weeden Island Complex:

– During this time in the Hopewell Heartland in the north (i.e. in the Ohio River Valley) things were in decline.

– Weeden Island sites, such as Kolomoki in south Georgia, show that post-Hopewellian decline was not a factor here!

– Weeden Island is more impressive than the previous Marksville Phase, and may have emerged out of the earlier Santa Rosa/Swift Creek cultures

– Kolomoki site will provide an example of Weeden Island cultures.

Kolomoki Site• Site location:

– On a small tributary of the Chattahoochee River – Area of diverse local environment

• Site area: – 1.2 million square meters (1.2 km2)

• Site characteristics: – Numerous small mounds, some with burials – Large rectangular mound with a flat summit

• 17 meters high by 61 meters by 99 meters• No ramp (as in later Mississippian temple mounds), but the excavator

Sears suggests log or clay steps once led to the summit – Mounds were finished (i.e., capped) with colored clays:

• Red clay from the site • Yellow clay from the creek • Thin layers of white sand • Final cap was 2 meters thick • Thus: We are dealing with truncated platforms, with or without

stairways

Kolomoki Society• Burials:

– Elaborate ceramics accompanied burials – "Retainers" may be indicated as part of elite burials – Thus: Burials, equipped with grave goods placed in large mounds,

implies at least a ranked society (if not formally stratified society) • Population:

– Using village area, some have suggested maybe 1,000 persons– Population size, plus mound size, plus organizational layout, plus

elaborate burials (with grave goods and retainers) implies probably a chiefdom-level of social complexity.

• Subsistence: – No suggestion of heavy dependence on squash or maize cultigens – Thus, we may still be dealing with a case of "Primary Forest

Efficiency"—or intensive foragers.

Kolomoki site: Artifacts

http://www.georgiaplanning.com/history/kolomoki/pots2.htm

Web site on Kolomoki Mounds

• http://www.lostworlds.org/kolomoki_mounds.html

Concluding observations on the Sedentary Period

• Cultigens appear present there was no evidence of primary dependence upon them

• Period when several chiefdoms emerged: – Poverty Point (Early Sedentary) – Marksville (Middle Sedentary) – Kolomoki (Weeden Island Culture—Late Sedentary)

• Architectural emergence of flat-topped mounds that may imply an autochthonous origin for later Mississippian mounds.

Mississippian• The archaeologist Jon Muller (1978) prefers to

use the term "Late Prehistoric" to cover this period of cultural development because it is less of a geography-laden term and reflects a variety of locations of sites.

• Still, we are basically going to be discussing those cultures that appeared to have been autochthonous developments out of earlier local Late Sedentary societies—in other words, Mississippian Cultures.

Major changes• Major changes characterizing the Late Prehistoric

cultures of the Southeast include: – An increasing dependence upon agriculture for livelihood – The development of highly organized and ranked societies

(something that apparently was largely contemporaneous throughout the Southeast)

– Increasing emphasis upon warfare with Late Prehistoric sites often well fortified

– Increasing population growth – Increase in the widespread exchange of goods – Characteristic artifacts and iconography – Widespread occurrence of the "Southern Cult" or the

"Southeastern Ceremonial Complex”– Truncated earthen temple-mound construction surmounted by

temple/elite residential structures

Major Mississippian Sites

http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/outline/05-mississippian/sites.htm

Mississippian (or Late Prehistoric) cultural complexes

• Oneota Complex: – Upper Mississippi drainage – Major sites: Bryan Site (by Red Wing, Minnesota)

• Fort Ancient Complex: – Southwest Ohio, Southeast Indiana, Northern

Kentucky

• Caddoan Complex: – Arkansas River Drainage – Westernmost "Mississippian" culture– Most famous site was Spiro in Oklahoma

Complexes Continued

• Central Mississippi Complex: – Mississippi River and Illinois River drainages – The Mississippi Bottoms – Most significant site Cahokia – Other sites: Pulcher Site, Mitchell Site

• Kinkaid Complex: – Ohio River mouth west to where the Ohio enters the

Mississippi – Southern Indiana and Illinois – Major sites: Kinkaid, Angel

• Dalles Complex: – Tennessee and Cumberland River drainages: – Major sites: Etowah, Hiwassee

Complexes Continued

• Moundville Complex: – Alabama and Mississippi area – Major site: Moundville

• Plaquemine Complex: – Lower Mississippi River – Major sites: Coles Creek, Lake George

• South Appalachian Complex: – South Georgia and Northeast Florida – Seat of the Sedentary Period Santa Rosa/Swift Creek

and subsequent Weeden Island cultures • Fort Walton Complex:

– Northwest Florida – Major site: Fort Walton

Late Prehistoric Subsistence

• Subsistence was based on agricultural crops: – Maize, Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris),Squash,

Sunflower, Marsh elder, Gourds – Secondary wild food sources: Chenopods &

Nuts: Hickory, Walnut, Acorn – Fruits – Fish – Waterfowl – Mammals: Deer, Raccoon, Turkey

Late Prehistoric Settlement• Found mostly riverine

– Settlement location most probably reflected considerations for:

• Local subsistence resources

• Alluvial soils

• Transportation and communication

• Upland settlement exists, but most probably reflects seasonal hunting activities.

• Varieties of settlement types suggested to reflect – Specialized activities

– Responses for functioning for the broader society.

– Residential, Procurement , Administrative

Sites arranged hierarchically• Types of sites:

– Large centralized sites • High-ranked administrators, Bureaucrats and priest, Collection and

redistribution of food and materials, Supervision of ceremonial and ritual celebrations of the social system

– Small centers • Low-rank administrators, Farmsteads, Basic unit most likely a small

family group of some type

• Settlement organization: – Sites of more than one mound appear organized as follows: – Central plaza, Large central mound (presumably elevated

toward the sun [i.e., the solar deity]), Council house on the opposite side, Smaller mounds graded away from these, Village area surrounded central precinct, Cornfields surrounded village.

Mississippian Cities: Toqua

Moundville, AL

Etowah Mounds, GA

Etowah mounds

Etowah Reconstruction

Etowah web site

• http://www.lostworlds.org/etowah_mounds.html

Cahokia• Site location:

– 16 km east-northeast of Saint Louis (in East Saint Louis), On Cahokia Creek

– Cahokia was the largest prehistoric city north of Mexico

– At its peak it may have had some 20,000-30,000 inhabitants

– Appears to have been the center of at least 50 communities in the American Bottom region

Occupation• This site was first inhabited by Indians of the Late

Woodland culture about AD 700. • The site grew during the following Mississippian

period, after AD 900, and by AD 1050-1150, the Cahokia site was the regional center for the Mississippian culture with many satellite communities, villages and farmsteads around it.

• After AD 1200, the population began to decline and the site was abandoned by AD 1400.

http://www.nps.gov/history/worldheritage/cahokia.htm

Cahokia Reconstruction

Additional Reconstruction

http://www.nps.gov/history/worldheritage/cahokia.htm

City Center• Site center is basically diamond shaped with an interior

palisaded core – 4.58 km east-west by 3.67 km north-south and 13.4 km2 – 120 mounds

• City center: – Monk's Mound plus 16 other mounds – Basically shaped like a squat boat heading south – Surrounded by a palisade on three sides (Cahokia Creek defining the

fourth side) • Majority of mounds lie outside the palisaded inner core

– One small mound yielded the burial of a high-ranking individual buried with: Caches of arrow heads, Polished stone, Mica, Six sacrificed male retainers, A separate mass grave containing 53 women

Palisade

• Excavations begun in 1966 uncovered a two-mile-long stockade surrounding the central portion of Cahokia.

• The wall was started around A.D. 1100 and then rebuilt three times over a period of 200 years.

• Each construction required 15,000-20,000 oak and hickory logs, one foot in diameter and twenty feet tall.

• The logs were sunk into a trench four to five feet deep and were supported with horizontal poles or interwoven with saplings.

Reconstructed Palisade

“Woodhenge”

• Evidence that there were as many as five Woodhenges.

• These were built over a period of 200 years (A.D. 900-1100).

• Fragments of wood were identified as red cedar and used for the posts.

"Woodhenge“ Functions• Possible functions of "Woodhenge“:

– Observatory (?): May have functioned like Stonehenge as a sort of "observatory"

• For astral and horizon alignment observations. • three posts are crucial as seasonal markers -- those marking the first

days of winter and summer (the solstices), and one halfway between marking the first days of spring and fall (the equinoxes).

– Sun Dance "Temple" (?)

Woodhenge Reconstruction

Burial & Status: Cahokia Mound 72The wood dates to approximately 1000 A.D. 272 burials were discovered in mound 72.

Burials without litters

Mound 72

Burials with litters

Mound 72

Female Burial Pit (53 between 15 and 30)

Mound 72

Headless Burials

Reconstruction of “Chief” from Mound 72

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/images/illinois/cohokia/birdman-burial-cc-jefgodsky.jpg

Monk’s Mound

• Largest monument at Cahokia is the famous Monk's Mound

• Monk's Mound: – About 100 feet high – Covers sixteen acres (3 acres more than the great pyramid at

Giza!) (6.4 hectares) – 316 by 241 meters(76156 square meters) rising over 30 meters

high – Contains over 600,000 cubic meters of earth – Constructed in stages – This constitutes one of the largest examples of prehistoric

construction in the entire Western Hemisphere

Monk’s Mound

Another View

Late Prehistoric house form• Wall construction:

– Vertical poles set in trenches covered over with – Mud plaster (i.e., wattle-and-daub construction) – Plaster-covered mats

• Roof was thatched • Floor plan generally square • Hearth in the center of the floor • General structural template applied for:

– Farmers' houses, Mortuary temples for the bodies of the local aristocracy, Palaces of the living chieftains

House construction

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/archaeol/xrm-text.htm

Late Prehistoric Sociopolitical Systems

• Hierarchical system implied, ranging from:• Local Chiefdoms

– Possibly the complex state (in some instances, at least in emergent form):

– Ramie State, with the capital having been Cahokia – Possibly others at Moundville, etc.

• Social stratification was documented clearly by the early French explorers for the ethnohistoric Natchez – Rulership vested in the "Sun" and "Stinkards"

represented the bottom social stratum

Late Prehistoric Burial Systems

• Pottery and other artifacts buried with the deceased • Some vessels ceremonially "killed" • Decorative motifs associated with mortuary furniture:

– Hand, Eye, Bones, Skulls – Bodies appear to have been placed upon, or wrapped in, mats and/or

skins • Burial practices varied:

– Mortuary charnel houses – Stretched and flexed burials have been found – Disarticulated (i.e., secondary) burials – Cremated remains often placed in urns

• Still, in virtually all cases, mortuary offerings carrying symbolism associated with the "Southeastern Ceremonial Complex" or the "Southern Cult" were placed with the dead.

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex—defined

• The aesthetics, iconography, and variety of media employed make the prehistoric Mississippian Southeast one of the richest archaeological areas in North America.

• The three main sites producing such art were: – Etowah (Georgia) – Moundville (Alabama) – Spiro (Oklahoma)

• Much of Mississippian art reflects themes of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in terms of: – Motifs, God-animal representations, Ceremonial

objects,Costume details

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Motifs

• Cross – "Greek" cross – Swastika

• Sun circles – Rayed – Scalloped

• Bi-lobed arrow • Forked eye • Open eye • Barred oval • Hand-and-eye• Death motifs: Skull, Femur, Fleshed radius and ulna,

Skeletal hand

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex God-Animal Representations

• Birds: – Eagles (both naturalistic and anthropomorphized) – Woodpeckers: Pileated, Ivory-billed (now extinct) – Hawk, Falcon, Turkey (always naturalistic)

• Rattlesnake: Horned, Plumed, Winged, Anthropomorphized

• BobCat (always naturalistic) • Panther • Deer • Spider

Animal Representations

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Ceremonial Objects

• Often associated with above motifs and God-Animal Beings. – Gorgets– Conch pendants (Columella) – Embossed copper plates – Sheet copper hair emblems – Ear spools– Celts – Monolithic axes – Batons or maces – Effigy pipes – Notched stone disks – Discoidal stones (Chunkee) – Conch shell bowls – Ceremonial flints – Bottles: (Possibly for black drink?)

Mississippian Ceramics

Human Effigy

Owl

Dog

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/archaeol/xrm-text.htm

Shell Ornaments

Shell Mask

Spider Gorget

Priest/Warrior Gorgethttp://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/archaeol/xrm-text.htm

Lithic Artifacts

Monolithic AxeDuck River Cache, TN

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/archaeol/xrm-text.htm

Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Costume Details

• Hair treatment (Occipital hair knot) • Antlered headdresses • Ornaments:

– Bi-lobed arrow hair ornament – Copper-plume hair ornament – Hair tablets – Ear (usually tasseled ear spools) – Body: Beaded arm and leg bands, Necklaces, Beaded

choker, Beaded belt.– Clothing: Knotted sashes, Fringed apron, Carried or

suspended paraphernalia: Baton, Flint knives, Human heads (trophies?), Hafted celts, Chunkee stones

Human Figures

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/archaeol/xrm-text.htm

Mississippian Collapse

• Most Mississippian centers abandoned by 1500s, before contact with Europeans– Reasons largely unknown.

• Natchez and Coosa still around until decimated by European disease.

Sources

• http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/marksvil/marksvle.htm

• http://www.picturesofrecord.com/Mississippian%20Culture%20thumbnail.htm

• http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/cahokia.html