Mississippian People & Great Plains Native Americans

How can archeologists tell that the Mississippi people had a diverse trading network?

• Items that were not natural to the area were found, like shells, obsidian, copper, and mica.

• Maps were found that showed very detailed trade routes.

• Evidence showed that canoes were used all over the rivers to trade goods like shells, obsidian, copper, and mica.

• Native Americans wrote down stories that told us about it.

What is an "effigy mound" or "geo form"?

• Mounds that had many animals buried in them.

• Mounds that had the Great Sun buried in them.

• Mounds that were of geometric shapes and were covering the skeletons of dead bodies.

• Mounds that looked like specific animals that had flattops.

What do architectural historians believe the relationship in between the mound shapes and the spaces around them?

• They believe that the shape of the mound and the space around the shape of bears, serpents, or birds.

• They believe that the shape of the mounds and the space around the Great Sun.

• They believe that the shape of the mounds and the space revolves around cosmology; the sunrise and sunset, solstices and equinoxes, and the underworld.

What are the links between the Mississippi sites and the Mesoamerican sites? Choose all that apply

• pottery with graphics of human sacrifice

• evidence of ball games and sun worship

• evidence of gold

• evidence of skull deformation

• evidence of hieroglyphs

DeSoto was the first European explorer to discover Native American settlements in the Mississippi core area.

• True

• False

The botanist who visited the Yuchi and Creek Indian villages in the 1700s made connections between ceremonial courtyards, ball fields, and winter council houses. He suggested that they might be constructions of the Mississippian descendants.

• Albert Gallatin

• William Bartram

• Hernando DeSoto

• Antoine Le Page du Pratz

Explorer theorized that the mound builders had migrated from Mexico because they had corn and horticulture techniques.

• Hernando DeSoto

• William Bartram

• Albert Gallatin

• Antoine Le Page du Pratz

Explorer who spent four years among with Natchez. He drew sketches of the burial ceremony of the Great Sun and the strangling of his wives. He noticed the tattooed serpent and wooden bird effigies decorated in the roofs.

• Hernando DeSoto

• William Bartram

• Albert Gallatin

• Antoine Le Page du Prat

What do historians think the cause of the Cahokia demise was?

• Depletion of resources

• The political and economic power were challenged or weakened.

• Climate changes and disease were a factor.

• It is possible that it was a combination of the above.

True or False: As the largest prehistoric Indian site north of Mexico, Cahokia Mounds covered about 4000 acres and included at least 120 mounds.

• True

• False