The Mississipian Artifacts
"Community Life" By Michael Hampshire Courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Collinsville, Illinois
At a time when Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages and crusaders fought holy wars to gain Jerusalem for the Church, a Native American culture thrived in what is now the Midwest and Southeast United States.These Native Americans are known today as the Mississippian Moundbuilders.
Mississippian Chief
The Mississippian Culture commenced around AD 900 and lasted until just after the coming of Hernando de Soto and his marauding Spanish fortune hunters in the mid-16th century. For more than half a millenium, the Mississippian people successfully cultivated vast agricultural settlements based on corn, squash and beans. However, the Mississippians weremuch more than prosperous farmers. They also developed a complex and highly organized culture based on a ritualistic relationship between the people and the land. The most notable Mississippian civil centers were Spiro Mounds in what is now eastern Oklahoma, Moundville in Alabama, Etowah Mounds in northern Georgia, and the largest and most elaborate center at Cahokia Mounds in present-day Collinsville, Illinois.
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