1590 North American Atlantic Coast Natives by John White (c1540 – c1593). The village of Pomeiooc (Pomeiock) was a Native America settlement, designated on de Bry’s map of Virginia, Americae Pars Nunc Virginia Dicta, between today’s Wyesocking Bay & Lake Landing, North Carolina. John White designates the settlement as Pomeyoo.
The first mounds in the Southeast, used mainly to bury the dead, were probably constructed between 8000 & 1000 BC. The designs of these mounds were influenced by their function. Mounds in America can be broadly classified into: Agricultural mounds were mostly landscape modifications that are believed to have improved production. These mounds often were raised in places which were more prone to flooding or to tackle extreme temperatures. Burial mounds either contained one individual or many depending on the ritual or ones standing in the society. Sometimes these mounds had the cremated remains of the deceased. Mostly the dead were buried in the ground & mounds were built on top of the body. The body usually was accompanied by many personal items in preparation for the journey after life. Ceremonial mounds were mostly religious in nature & included functions like sacrifices or religious activities. Often they were either altar for a particular god or temples. Effigy mounds could also be classified under this type.
By around 800 AD, a distinct way of life was developing in the lower Delta. The mound sites slowly expanded into hubs of commerce & politics. The earlier era's rounded burial mounds, mostly cone-shaped, were supplanted by massive platforms where the elite built their homes, staged events, & laid ancestors to rest. Most residents, however, lived in settlements huddled around the periphery of the platforms.
During the prehistoric period that began some 12,000 years ago in present-day Mississippi, Native Americans were the only inhabitants in the area. There are over 19,000 prehistoric archaeological sites recorded in Mississippi, & one section of the state, the Yazoo Basin (Mississippi Delta), boasts one of the highest concentrations of prehistoric archaeological sites in the world.
The earliest period is named the Paleo-Indian period, which dates from approximately 10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C. During this period, the landscape & accompanying pattern of human occupation were considerably different from that of recent times. The colder & wetter climate supported vegetation & wildlife unlike that of today. Evergreen forests of spruce & fir were common. Mastodon & bison roamed open grasslands. People of this period organized in small bands & were nomadic, following the movements of the large animals that they hunted for food & shelter. Their major hunting weapon was a wooden spear shaft tipped with a medium- to fine-chipped stone point.
Paleo-Indian (circa 10,000 B.C. to 8,000 B.C.)
-Colder climate with associated vegetation, including spruce & fir trees.
-People organize in small, nomadic bands
-Lifestyle focuses on hunting of large mammals, many of which are now
extinct, including the mastodon, saber-toothed tiger, giant beaver, and
giant short-faced bear.
-Major hunting weapon is a wooden spear shaft tipped with a medium- to
fine-chipped stone point.
As the climate warmed to one more characteristic of today’s climate, archaeological remains indicate a lifestyle among the Native Americans that became increasingly more sedentary & socially & culturally complex. This pattern began in what is named the Archaic period (circa 8,000 B.C. to 500 B.C.) & continued into the Woodland (circa 500 B.C. to A.D. 1000) & Mississippian (circa A.D. 1000 to 1550) periods.
Archaic (circa 8,000 B.C. to 500 B.C.)
-Gradual warming of climate. Environment becomes more similar to present.
-People make transition from nomadic to semi-sedentary living as group
size increases from family bands. Seasonal aggregations of multiple bands occur.
-Hunting of smaller species, including white-tail deer, using spear and
atlatl or spear thrower. Spear points include side-notched, corner-notched, and
stemmed varieties of medium-to-large size.
-Gathering of wild foods, including nuts & berries, & fishing complement hunting.
-Regional trade & exchange networks appear. Toward the end of the period earthen mounds & ceramic pottery occur.
Woodland Period (circa 500 B.C. to A.D. 1000)
-Large permanent villages develop.
-Hunting continues, with corn agriculture becoming increasingly important.
-Tribal organization arises based on multiple families or clans.
-Burial mounds become common.
-Pottery appears in many forms, functions, & decorative treatments.
-Toward the latter end of this period, the bow & arrow appears as
indicated by very small chipped stone projectile points.
-Fortified villages & arrow points embedded in human skeletons reveal a
tendency to warfare among native groups.
Mississippian Period (circa A.D. 1000 to 1550)
-Large temple mounds denoting ceremonial sites appear along with
extensive villages.
-Multi-level societies called chiefdoms replace tribal organizations in many areas.
-Warfare increases.
-A wide variety of pottery occurs, characteristically including crushed shell as a
tempering agent.
-Agriculture incorporating corn, beans, & squash become the dietary mainstay,
although hunting, gathering, & fishing continue.
-Intensive regional & interregional trade is ongoing in both raw materials & finished products.
1000-1200 AD Early Mississippian Period
Trade burgeoned; goods arrived over land & water from as far away as the Southwest. Craftsmen adopted motifs from afar to embellish objects such as shell-tempered ceramics, an innovation that–by taking advantage of a range of clays–led to new uses. New strains of corn with a short growing cycle yielded two harvests a season and–by lessening fear of frost–encouraged farming further up the valleys. Improved strains of beans & squash followed. Wealth solidified the elite’s position at the top of the increasingly complex society that evolved to erect cities along the river.
1200-1400 AD Middle Mississippian Period
The heyday of moundbuilding in the Delta. The arts flourished; finely wrought symbolic artifacts are a period hallmark. With bountiful harvests & trade, social & religious customs grew more sophisticated. The moundbuilders expanded their earthworks to stage the elaborate rituals of a religion known to scholars as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.
1400-1500 AD Late Mississippian Period
Rulers began to lose their grip on the tightly organized societies of the lower Mississippi. Moundbuilding & public ceremony started to disappear. Chiefdoms factionalized; war, rather than political control, became the key to power. With instability & drought, Native Americans vacated the Delta, leaving the mound cities empty for the Europeans to ponder in years to come. Farmers abandoned their fields for small plots inside walled enclosures.
Indians had established thousands of prehistoric Native American populationsettlements in Mississippi because of the area’s favorable environmental factors: abundant plant & animal life, warm climate, fertile soils, & navigable rivers & streams. Hernando DeSoto's Spanish army traversed the Mississippi Valley in the 1540s, when the Mississippian cultures were in decline. DeSoto landed near Tampa Bay, Florida, & for two years trekked across what are now the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, & Louisiana. During the Hernando de Soto expedition, approximately 200,000 Native Americans lived in the area known today as Mississippi. Primarily because of diseases introduced by the Spaniards, the Indian population declined drastically over the next two centuries. By the time the French arrived in Mississippi at the end of the 17C, only about 37,000 Indians remained. The Native American population fell to an all-time low of approximately 16,500 by 1750.
The information for this posting came from The National Park Service and from Prehistoric Mississippi by David Morgan For Mississippi History Now, An Online Publication of the Mississippi Historical Society HERE. At the time David Morgan wrote his article, he was an archaeologist & historian at the Old Capitol Museum, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
