Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures
I
was surprised to learn that Sunwatch
Village was roughly contemporaneous
with Moundville, (which we visited last year
in Alabama.) Despite
growing up right between these two sites, I'm ashamed to say that I'm
pretty sure I never learned about either of their cultures in
school. In fact, my public school American history education
suggests that American culture began in 1492, after a brief mention of
the noble savages who once owned our continent. Hmmm....
Clearly I need to build a better idea of Native American history if I
want to understand Indian mounds and villages in context.
It turns out that the
huge complex at Moundville was built as part of the
Mississippian culture, which covered the southeastern United States and
much of the Midwest from 800 AD to 1500 AD. Maize had just
entered the diets of the inhabitants, and the easily stockpiled surplus
food led to the development of chiefdoms and widespread social
inequality. (Maybe the social inequality explains the extensive
workforce that must have been necessary to build those awe-inspiring
mounds?)
Mississippian Indians
had trade routes that spanned most of the eastern and central United
States, and similar images can be seen in the pottery, jewelry, and
other 
crafts throughout the
Mississippian area. Archaeologists believe that the entire area
shared a common religion (the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex), which
is based on the idea that supernatural beings live in the Over World
(the sky), the Middle World (the earth), and the Under World (below our
earth.) The tall cedar post in the center of the Sunwatch village
is an image often repeated in Mississippians crafts, symbolizing the
connection between the three worlds. The image shown here --- the
Hand and Eye motif --- is another of the most common symbols,
symbolizing a portal to the Other World, which was believed to lie in
the Orion constellation.
On the other hand, a
slightly different culture sprang up when maize hit the Ohio River
Valley --- the Fort Ancient culture (1000 AD
to 1650 AD.) Like the Mississippians, the Fort Ancient culture
revolved around maize, with the crop promoting a sedentary lifestyle
based on a copious supply of food. However, the Fort Ancient
society skipped the Mississippian social inequality and maintained
social groups based on kinship instead. Wikipedia explains the egalitarian Fort
Ancient culture in this way, "If social organization was based on
kinship, then it is likely that
one's status was the result of personal qualities such as
sharing/giving, being a good hunter or food provider, charisma, etc."
My understanding is that
the Mississippians evolved into modern day
Alabama, Apalachee, Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chocktaw, Creek, Guale,
Hitchiti, Houma, Kansa, Missouri, Mobilian, Natchez, Osage Nation,
Quapaw, Seminole, Tunica-Biloxi, Yamasee, and Yuchi (most of which I've
never heard of), while the Fort Ancient culture evolved into the modern
Shawnee. Perhaps the diseases that wiped out so many Native
Americans after first European contact shattered the elaborate social
structures of Mississippian and Fort Ancient societies, returning them
to a tribe-like system. Since the area had no written language at
the time, our reconstruction of the past is all educated guesswork ---
we just don't know.
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