THE FIRST AMERICANS

Discover indigenous life before the colonists landed

- Maureen Meyers

SOUTHEAST

At the time of contact, or the mid-16th century, Southeastern Native American groups were organised as hierarchical chiefdoms across a large region, from east Texas to southwestern Virginia, and from southern Illinois to Florida. These groups are known to archaeologists as belonging to the Mississippian period and were first identified by their large, flat-topped earthen mounds found in abundance along the Mississippi River. However, mound sites are found across the entire region.

Chiefdoms were societies where a chief was in charge of a few hundred to a few thousand people. Corn agriculture was the basis of the Mississippian chiefdoms' society - it provided a reliable food source and could be dried, stored and exchanged for other items. These items might include engraved shell gorgets, copper repoussé plates, shell beads and finely crafted blades. The chief and his or her entourage lived on top or near the mound, and others lived in square houses located around the mound. A plaza located in front of the mound provided a place for gatherings, games, conversation, contests and more.

At the time of contact, the largest Mississippian chiefdom, Cahokia, located in present-day east St Louis, had come and gone. At its height it may have had over 20,000 residents and was engaged in trade as far away as the Southwest. Chiefdoms by their nature are unstable political organisations. Other chiefly centres rose across the region, including Etowah in northwest Georgia; Moundville in central Alabama; and Winterville and Emerald in Mississippi. Mounds contain burials of past chiefs and are sacred sites to Native American descendant groups today.