Week 11 - Southeast II and III: Woodland and Mississippian

Which of the following is an ascribed status?

Queen of England

What happens when people become sedentary and aggregate?

they develop new group identity

they develop rules to organize the group (social organization)

leaders/leadership arise to manage conflict, organize labor, etc.

The largest prehispanic structure north of Mexico is called:

Monks Mound

The highest ranking men at Moundville were buried with:

copper axes

At what Hopewell site did archaeoastronomers identify monumental alignments to the 18.6-year-long lunar cycle?

Newark Earthworks, Ohio

What exotic material is thought to have been retrieved in "one shot" from Wyoming by Ohio Hopewell travelers?

Obsidian

At what site in Western North Carolina were two small geometric earthworks recently discovered which, along with an assemblage of scrap pieces of cut mica, suggests the Appalachian peoples were involved with Hopewellian monument and crafting traditions?

Garden Creek

What although native seed crops supported Native southeastern communities until the contact period, what new crop was introduced during the Mississippian period, making possible the accumulation of surplus that is thought to have driven the emergence of inequality at that time?

Maize

The ritual themes of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex were remarkably consistent across the entire American Southeast, and they underwent no changes throughout the Mississippian period. The central “Birdman” theme was universal from the beginning of the Mississippian period, indicating that southeastern societies all underwent an ideological shift toward individual power ca. AD 1000.

false

What was the first and largest Mississippian city, and included the famous Monks Mound and Mound 72?

Cahokia

People during the Woodland Period were wide diversity of hunter-gatherer societies in the Eastern Woodlands that are:

ultimately augmented with some cultivation, manufacturing pottery, and utilizing more elaborate ritual and trade activities

What happens as people become more sedentary and aggregated into larger groups?

these communities need:

• group identity

• rules to organize society (social organization)

• leaders

ascribed

A position given to you by society that you don't earn or choose

achieved

A position you work for or earn through your own actions, choices, and merits. 

kinship

family relationships by blood, marriage, or adoption, forming the basis of social structures

a fundamental source of power by creating social structures, determining responsibilities, and mobilizing support through bonds of blood (consanguineal), marriage (affinal), or social ties, providing stability, identity, and economic/political leverage

economic source of power

stem from controlling wealth, resources, production, and markets, leveraging factors like natural resources, labor, capital (money/technology), and entrepreneurship, and utilizing tools like trade, sanctions, and foreign aid to influence decisions, build wealth, and project strength, impacting nations, businesses, and individuals

political source of power

stems from various sources like popular consent (elections), force, resources (wealth, expertise), institutions (constitutions, parties), and ideology (religion, media), ultimately resting on the obedience or support of the people, whether granted freely or imposed from above

religious source of power

stem from divine beings (God/Allah/Brahman), spiritual forces (like the Holy Spirit in Christianity), sacred texts/traditions, charismatic leaders, and the collective faith/actions of followers, manifesting as inner strength, authority, or influence, with ultimate power often residing in the divine for creation and guidance, while human power comes through faith, anointing, or designated roles

The Archaic Period 8000 - 1000 BCE

hunter-gatherer, mobile societies

Poverty Point:

• mounds and earthworks

• place of aggregation on landscape

• ceremonial importance

Also see the ___ utilized first in Archaic Period, and then relied heavily on by Woodland communities

Eastern Agricultural Complex

The Woodland Period date range

1000 BCE - 1000 CE

Woodland Period Life

sedentary forager-farmers

broadly egalitarian domestic communtiies of varying sizes

regular larger-scale aggregations indicative of complex social, political, and ritual relationships

Woodland Ritual Life Elements

1. human burial and associated activities

2. exotic raw materials and ritualized craft production

3. monumental architecture

Discovering Woodland Ritual

1. 19th-century settlement west of the Appalachians

• In the 1800s, European-American settlers moved into areas west of the Appalachian Mountains (Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee).

• While building farms and towns, they noticed huge earthen mounds and earthworks.

• These mounds were created by Woodland peoples, including the Adena and Hopewell cultures.

2. Early surveys of Squier & Davis

• Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis were two early American archaeologists.

• In 1848, they published Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.

• They created detailed maps, drawings, and descriptions of the mounds.

• Their work was the first major archaeological documentation of Woodland ritual sites.

Early Woodland Adena

building large mounds

Early Woodland burials

central tomb others buried around

Adena grave goods: Where were adult men buried and with what items

buried in central tomb with ceremonial items

Adena grave goods: What were others buried with

everyday items

What were mounds

family lineage, related by common ancestor

leaders

achieved, power derives from kinsip and religious knowledge

Where was early Woodland Adena culture located and when

Ohio, 1000 BC to AD 100

Hopewell Ohio monumentality communtiies built:

1. Conical/Platform mounds

conical mounds → rounded burial mounds

platform mounds → flat-topped mounds possibly used for rituals, ceremonies, or structures

2. Large geometric earthworks

• served as ceremonial centers, ritual spaces, and gathering places

3. Little to no associated habitation debris

• people did not live in these earthworks permanently

• they were not villages

Newark Earthworks, Ohio

one of the largest and most complex Hopewell ceremonial landscapes in North America

built by Hopewell culture between 100 BCE - AD 400

wray figure

a stone carved human figurine from the Adena culture

Hopewell Ritual Material culture example

Hopewell Mound Group, Ohio

exotic materials, elaborate ceremonial objects, and monumental earthworks, all used for ritual and social gatherings

The One-Shot Hypothesis

says that all of the obsidian found at Hopewell sites (like the Hopewell Mound Group) probably came from ONE single trip to Obsidian Cliff in Wyoming—not repeated long-distance journeys.

How was Obsidian procured?

direct procurement or down the line procurement from trading partners

The Pilgrimage Hypothesis

Hopewell mica probably came from repeated ritual journeys to the southern Appalachians, especially Garden Creek, and was brought back to Ohio for burial and ceremonial use.

Defining hallmarks of the Woodland Period across the Eastern Woodlands

Shared mortuary practices, similar monumental traditions, and widely circulated exotic materials

Extent of Hopewell

wasn’t just located in Ohio

it was a huge cultural and ceremonial network that stretched across the entire Eastern Woodlands

Appalachian Hopewell

southern Appalachian communities (NC & TN) that participated in the Hopewell ceremonial exchange network, especially supplying mica and sharing similar ritual and burial traditions.

Garden Creek Site, NC

a major Appalachian Hopewell ceremonial site with mounds, ritual buildings, and abundant mica, showing strong connections to Ohio Hopewell and long-distance pilgrimage networks

Snake Den Group

complex circles and squares revealed by LiDAR, showing a large, hidden Hopewell ritual landscape

Junction Group

highly complex earthworks including rare quatrefoil shapes, showing sophisticated Hopewell symbolism and planning.

Winchester Farm, Kentucky

where people from smaller surrounding communities periodically gathered to bury the dead, exchange exotic goods, and perform rituals. It was part of the broader Hopewell cultural network

Garden Creek shows the ___ of mica and quartz objects, while Ohio Hopewell sites show the ___ ritual artifacts

production; finished

Early and Middle Woodland:

Egalitarian forager-farmers in Ohio valley and across the Eastern Woodlands participate in Aden and Hopewell ceremonialism and exchange

Late Woodland Transformation subsistence

the adoption of Maize agriculture (AD 800 - 1000)

Archaeological Evidence of Maize

• charred maize in houses, pits

• stable isotope signatures in human bones - indicates diet high in C4 plants like maize

• appearance of heavy Mill Creek chert hoes, used to prepare larger gardens

Consequences of Maize

1. encourage greater commitment to sedentism and larger population concentrations (fully fledged towns)

2. storage ability → surplus accumulation → opportunities for creating social inequality between households and communities

Maize consequences created emergence of __

Mississippian Chiefdoms (AD 1000 - 1450)

Rank society of Mississippian Chiefdoms

chiefs inherit status

Mississippian Chiefdoms hierarchial settlement patterns

towns and villages are organized with central plazas or mound complexes where elites live; commoners live around them

Mississippian Chiefdoms ideological institutions

• Systems of religion, ritual, or ceremony that support hierarchical relationships.

• These institutions legitimize the authority of chiefs and the social stratification of the society

Mississippian towns

located on waterways with abundant resources

mounds, plazas, and a few hundred - a thousand inhabitants in town

other settlements clustered around mound centers to balance labor demands, resource distribution, and defensive needs

The American Bottom

floodplain east of St. Louis, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River

Environmental features:

• easily cultivated soils → ideal for agriculture

• marshy lakes → provided water, fish, and fertile areas for crops

Significance:

• this supported intensive maize agriculture and the growth of Mississippian chiefdoms like Cahokia

• rich soils and water resources made it prime area for settlement and social complexity

Cahokia

largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico

core site area is 10 sq km, with 100+ earthen mounds

as many as 10 - 20,000 inhabitants at peak

grand plaza = 50 acres

Significance:

• major center of Mississippian culture

• demonstrates social complexity, hierarchy, and urban planning

• reflects intensive maize agriculture in surrounding floodplains to support large pop

Woodhenge

Cahokia Creek

North Plaza

Canteen Creek

Monks Mound

Grand Plaza

Stockade

Borrow pit

area where earth was extracted to build the mounds

Mound 72

Burial Mound 72 at Cahokia

used multiple times → indicates repeated ceremonial or funerary significance

may represent a recreation of a creation myth

Artifacts and Features

• Arrows: many types of stone, never used → likely symbolic offerings

• Shell discs: arranged deliberately → ritual or status symbols

• chunky stones: may been part of a game or activity

• copper and mica: high status materials, show wealth or elite status

Mississippian society to understand Mound 72 context

1. Leadership: Paramount Chief

• Connection to creator → religious and political authority intertwined.

• Inherited/ascribed status → leadership passed down through family lines.

• Status markers: prestige goods, elaborate clothing, and ornaments.

• Responsibilities:

  • Sponsor feasts

  • Collect and redistribute tribute

2. Ritual Practices

• Human sacrifice: conducted to honor the dead and increase the status of the family or chief.

• Sacrifices and offerings reinforce social hierarchy and religious beliefs.

3. Social Implications for Mound 72

• Elite burials with exotic materials (copper, mica, shell discs) reflect paramount chief status.

• Symbolic artifacts (arrows, stones, arrangements) mirror ritual and cosmological beliefs.

• Repeated use and elaborate burials show how religion and social structure are expressed materially

Mississippian exchange and interactions: Spread

• Cultural emulation/diffusion: communities adopting Mississippian practices from neighbors.

• Defensive reaction: societies adjusting practices due to pressures or threats.

• Population movement: migration of peoples spreading ideas, practices, and material culture

Mississippian exchange and interactions: evidence in Material Culture

• Shell-tempered pottery → indicates shared technology and style.

• Wall-trench houses → common architectural form across regions.

• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC):

  • Artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology

  • Reflects exchange among elites and shared ritual traditions

Mississippian exchange and interactions: Regional Variation

• Common cultural elements visible, but ritual beliefs and practices varied by region.

• Practices evolved over time, showing dynamic interaction networks rather than uniform culture

Mississippian exchange and interactions: Overall Significance

• Mississippian society was highly interconnected through trade, migration, and ritual exchange.

• Shared material culture demonstrates both social connections and local adaptations

by 1200 __ was a regional center

Moundville

Cahokia and Moundville are 2 examples of Mississippian chiefdoms rising, exerting power for a few hundred years, and then losing power - at which time power shifts to another location. Archeologists refer to this pattern as?

chiefly cycling

Northern part of Moundville sites has burials with ___

prestige items