Southeastern Archeaology Final Exam

Societies with central communities, temple mounds with plazas, and reliance on maize agriculture first appear in the Southeast about __________

AD 900 (1100 yrs bp)

Corn (maize) production is first documented in the American Bottom during the ______________ period:

Middle woodland

The Medieval Warm Period, a climatic span that favored the spread of agriculture, spanned approximately ____________________.

AD 800-AD 1200 (1200 yrs bp-800 yr bp)

At its peak around AD 1100, Cahokia was home to about __________________ people.

15,000

Archaeologists infer personal status in Mississippian societies through:

associated grave goods buried with individuals, differences in foods and serving vessels in different site areas, differences in grave location

Cahokia first rises to prominence during the

Lohman Phase

Cahokia was abandoned about

AD 1350 (750 yrs BP)

“Woodhenges” at Cahokia were probably

Solar calendars

Most Mississipian societies appear to have been organized as

Chiefdoms

Brown notes that the SECC depictions from Cahokia are executed in the _____ style

Braden

The rise of intensive maize agriculture in the southeast coincides with the

Medieval warm period

Researchers now think that the “Vacant Quarter,” with abandonment of large areas of the central Mississippi, lower Ohio, and lower Tennessee river valleys, was caused by:

megadroughts

Beans are added to the Mississippian diet around

AD 1200 (800 years ago)

Which of the following is not a common characteristic of Mississippian societies?

Seasonal residential mobility (but central communities with temple mounds and plazas, intensive maize agriculture, and hereditary inequality between people and groups were)

During the 15th and 16th centuries (400-500 yrs bp), Mississippian groups expanded into

upland enviorments

In his Cahokia lecture, Tim Pauketat describes unusual ______ medicine lodges used to store sacred bundles

T-shaped

According to King, Etowah reached it’s apex during the ______ phase

Late Wilbanks

Archaeologists have not excavated Etowah's Mound A, but they date its beginnings to the Early Etowah phase because

Debris in surrounding large borrow pits date to c.a. AD 1000

Mound C at Etowah dates to the _______ phase and contained _______ graves

Wilbanks, 350

Pauketat notes that evidence for human sacrifices at Cahokia are found with

Giant medicine poles or posts

European colonial and capitalist agendas created a ________ across the native southeast

Shatter zone

The Berry Site, which is associated with Fort San Juan, is located in:

North Carolina

Precontact population of the sixteenth century is estimated at

1,300,000 to 4,000,000

The Southeastern Slave trade operated from which colonial hub?

Charles Town, SC

Southeastern native communal buildings or council houses are sometimes called ______.

Nodal Structures

Catawba-speaking people first encounter Europeans in:

AD 1540

Chaotic “shatter zone” conditions in 17th century communities in the North Carolina Piedmont are reflected at Madison Cemetery (31Rk1), Upper Sauratown (31Sk1a), the William Kluttz site (31Sk6), and the Fredricks site (31Or231) by:

Dense cemetaries

The Bell Rattle Cabin site (Cherokee) is located in:

Eastern Tennesse

Catawba communities of the French-and-Indian War period (1750s) are best documented in the archaeological record at the sites of:

Nassaw and Weyapee

Nineteenth-century Cherokee farmsteads, like the Bell Rattle Cabin site, are typified by:

Interior Cellars or Osi

Essay: Discuss broad trends and significance of environmental/climatic change in the Southeast during the Mississippian, contact, and colonial periods

The Medieval Climatic Optimum, also known as the Medieval Warm Period, began around 800 AD and brought about a warmer and wetter environment that allowed for agricultural intensification. This climatic shift marked the beginning of the Mississippian period, during which corn became a central crop. The process of nixtamalization was used to remove the outer shell of corn kernels, making them more digestible and nutritious but also led to heath declines. Corn's ability to be stored for long periods made it a reliable food source during months with limited fresh produce. The resulting surplus enabled women to play a crucial role in shaping Mississippian society. Corn's significance extended beyond sustenance, influencing ceremonial practices and cosmological beliefs. However, in the 1200s, a climatic downturn known as the Little Ice Age brought colder temperatures and altered rainfall patterns, leading to droughts. This period, the coldest century of the Holocene, caused widespread abandonment of areas like the Middle Savannah River Valley and the Asheville Basin. These population displacements sparked conflict but also led to ethnogenesis, the formation of new social and political identities. During the colonial period, there was introduction on invasive species and native land was altered dramatically.

Essay: What is the SECC? Describe key elements of this complex.

The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC) was a set of shared religious symbols, iconography, and rituals that spread across the Mississippian world. It included depictions of the beneath and above world deities, and the overall structure of the universe, often shown on items like shell gorgets, copper plates, and pottery. The Mississippian cosmos had three levels: the upper world (home to the sun and sky beings), the middle world (where people live), and the beneath world (a place of chaos and fertility with creatures like snakes and the underwater panther). This world is complentary and oppositional- balanced. there are also 4 corners. Art and buildings reflected this worldview—houses were built with symbolic designs, with a fire in the center (axis mundi) and parts representing each layer of the cosmos, four corners, subterrenian floors, benches, and a roof. Figures like the Birdman/Morning Star (Venus), and Judaculla, a powerful supernatural being, appeared in stories and rock carvings, linking sacred symbols to the landscape. Clockwise and 3 pointed eye surround and spots is associated with the beneath world, and counter clockwise and a 2 forked eye is the above world. These traditions helped leaders show their spiritual power and connect their communities through shared beliefs.

Essay: What are the vectors and outcomes (i.e., how, what, when, and where did it happen, and what were the results) of early European contacts with Southeastern native societies?

The Spanish pushes moors out of Spain during Reconquista, and decided to conquer the rest of the world. In order to break the Islamic hold on spices, Columbus tries to find a new path. When they landed and made contact with people of the Caribbean they hold on that crusader mentality and commit systemic plunder, rape, and enslavement of the native people. The Europeans spread lots of diseases that led to a population crash, it was a virgin soil epidemic. In 1513, ponce de Leon led an expedition from Cuba to Florida. Late Mississippian societies were what the Spaniards first witnessed and described. Vazquez de ayllon gets royal commission to conquer, colonize, and govern the SE in 1526. A colony is established but it only lasts 4 months. Indigenous people fight back but the diseases spread. In 1539, Hernan de soto leads and epic expedition through the southeast. They bring disease and invasive species and come across many already deserted places stuck by disease. The people they did come across were brutally treated but was justified because they were “heathens”. Many people and groups fought back but the level of depopulation from disease and food shortages (from the climatic downturn) affected them. While the Spanish had a medieval and feudal mindset, the English were insidious with capitalist and protestant ideologies. Many colonies were actually a front and base for pirates who wanted to steal Spanish treasures. Many wars take place. many European luxuries through trade (or “gifting”) become necessities. In Charles town, SC, the Barbados enslaved native peoples (often with the help of other native people) to work in English sugar plantations. In addition, people indigenous people became dependent on addictive substances like rum. Native groups went through many processes (forced or voluntary) through ethnogenesis and coalescence. From initial Spanish contact to the 1800s, 90% of SE indigenous population plummeted. The Indian removal act displaced most native people in the SE (excluding Catawba) and deported them to Oklahoma.

-          Massive population loss from diseases like smallpox

-          Social collapse where a lot of tradition and knowledge transmission was lost

-          Abandoned settlements

-          Ethnogenesis: people from different groups came together to form new identities and communities

 

Essay: Discuss the significance of corn (maize) to the development of Southeastern native cultures.

Corn (maize) played a central role in the development of Southeastern Native cultures, especially during the Mississippian period. Warmer, wetter conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly allowed for increased maize production, leading to food surpluses that supported larger populations, permanent settlements, and more complex political and religious hierarchies, such as those seen at Cahokia. Corn became more than a staple crop—it was a cultural cornerstone tied to ceremonialism, identity, and gender roles. Women, who were responsible for gardening and food preparation, used corn-based domestic power to influence social and political life, and many Mississippian societies were matrilineal. The widespread use of nixtamalization—boiling corn with ash—made corn digestible and nutritious, but when unprocessed, it could lead to health issues, particularly dental problems. By 1250–1350, corn made up around 80% of the diet, though other foods like beans, native plants, and game remained important. The shift to maize agriculture enabled the formation of multiethnic communities, fostered cultural exchange (as seen in pottery styles), and possibly even changed kinship systems

sumptuary

exclusive exotic goods put into burials (religuous/polital leaders). used to display class, its a status symbol like gucci

cosmogeny

origin stories about how people came to be

pagentry

establishes theocracy and control over populations. cahokia was a pagentry/theater state

cosmovison

the way you perceive the cosmos

wattle and daub

way of building houses, daub is clay that leave big chunks of fired clay at archeaological sites

enthogenesis

formation of a new social or political identity

late mississippian form

lamar culture/pottery

where are most of the SE native people now?

oklahoma