| How to identify a Mississippian |
1. Full time farmers with Maize horticulture on a wide scale. Also grew beans and squash on a wide scale 2. Lived in fertile river valleys that did not require water management. 3. Pottery tempered with crushed mussel shell. 4. Construction of large flat-topped mounds with various structures on top such as temples or houses. 5. Stratified social organization with social inequality. 6. Worshipped a sun deity. 7. Long-distance trading networks that went from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. 8. Centralization of political and religious power in a "Capital Community". 9. Existed from approximately 700 A.D. to 1500 A.D. 10. Used artifacts and icons associated with the "Southern Cult". Icons included a human eye in the palm of an open hand and the weeping eye. Artifacts included ceremonial axes, copper plates and engraved shell cups. |
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