In Chapter 14 we described the economy of the Archaic peoples of the Eastern Woodlands of the United States. Termed primary forest efficiency, this economy focused on a mixed reliance on the hunting and gathering of a wide variety of locally available foods. Late in the Archaic period, after 2000 B.C., there occurred the introduction of limited cultivation of plants and the use of pottery. After those introductions these previously semisedentary peoples began to live in permanent villages along the major river valleys. These later occupants have been classified into two major cultural traditions: the Woodland Tradition, dated 1000 B.C.-A.D. 700, and the Mississippian Tradition, A.D. 700-1700.
The Woodland Tradition has as its major distinguishing characteristic the use of a gray friable pottery, surface-decorated with cord marking or impressions of fabrics. The cord marking was done with a cord-wrapped paddle while the clay was still damp. Vessel forms were simple, primarily globular jars. Other major features were burial mounds and earthworks. The latter features were associated with an elaborate pattern of ceremonial treatment of the dead. The most outstanding developments of this cultural pattern are known from the Ohio River Valley.
During the earlier portion of this tradition, termed Burial Mound I, 1000—300 B.C., the economy featured cultivation of sunflower, marsh elder, squash, gourd, and chenopod. Gordon Willey (1966:268) states that corn found in a Burial Mound II context, 300 B.C.-A.D. 700, indicates a long period of antecedent development. Therefore even though no corn has been found in Burial Mound I levels, it was probably grown at that time.
The most distinctive Burial Mound I culture is that termed Adena. It featured conical burial mounds up to 20 meters in height. Surrounding clusters of these mounds were earthen enclosures up to 100 meters in diameter. Within the mounds were rectangular log tombs placed within a pit. Inside the tombs were two or three extended burials covered with red ochre. Sometimes the tombs were burned before being covered with the earthen mound. Another burial pattern featured cremation in clay basins. With both types, elaborate offerings of grave goods were included. The artifacts included ground and polished stone celts, gorgets, boatstones, effigy pipes, and stone tablets with carved curvilinear designs. Ornaments of copper were used as well as copper axes. Villages were simple pole and thatch structures grouped in clusters of two to five. Probably several such villages supported a single burial complex.
The Burial Mound II period is best known from the Elopewell culture also well represented in the Ohio River Valley. Hopewell represents a continuation of the Woodland cultural pattern but is more elaborate. The major distinctions from Adena lie in the burial rites. The Hopewell culture was further disseminated widely into adjacent regions; this expansion is viewed as having been spread by an elite. Certainly social stratification is evident in the burial patterns. Three fourths of the dead were cremated, while burial in log tombs
was reserved for a minority. The log tombs held enormous quantities of grave goods including thousands of freshwater pearls, chipped arrowheads, effigy pipes, copper ornaments, and cutouts of sheet mica in the form of heads, hands, swastikas, animal claws, and geometries. The earthworks were larger and more elaborate than those of the Adena culture. They included up to 100 acres and had walls up to 5 meters in height. Another new feature was the fortification of hilltops. Hopewell culture emphasized wealth conspicuously consumed in the burial ceremonies. Many of the objects so consumed were made from materials traded over great distances. The Hopewell culture may thus be viewed as indicative of a cultural climax, although there is no evidence of urbanism and the overall level of attainment is that of the Formative stage.
The Mississippian tradition, A.D. 700-1700, is not a simple continuation of Woodland traits. The differences suggest that there were major influences spreading up the Mississippi Valley from Mesoamerica. Although intervening areas in northern Mexico and southern Texas show little evidence of such cultural transmission, the new traits are definitely of Mesoamerican affinity. These introductions include rectangular, flat-topped platform mounds arranged around rectangular open plazas. Formerly called temple mounds , these structures served as bases for both temples and the houses of the chiefs.The structures themselves were of pole and thatch. The largest site known is Cahokia, located within the suburbs of the present city of St. Louis. Numerous mounds are known, the largest of which, Monk's Mound, measures 200 by 300 meters by 30 meters in height. According to Willey (1966:298), 80 mounds are known within a 3 to 4 mile radius, and approximately 200 more smaller mounds are estimated to have been destroyed by recent plowing. Recent studies at Cahokia by Melvin Fowler have been concerned with mapping the entire site from early aerial photographs, estimating its maximum population (perhaps as much as 40,000 people at its peak), and excavating incredibly elaborate burials featuring large numbers of individuals buried as accompaniment to other persons of obvious high status. Notwithstanding the size and complexity of sites such as Cahokia, Mississippian culture is also assigned to the Formative stage.
The Mississippian culture spread up the river systems into Wisconsin and to the southeast as far as Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. In these remote locations the Mississippian communities featured palisaded earthworks and appear to represent intrusive communities surrounded by other peoples still practicing a Woodland culture life style. The Mississippian culture featured as one of its dominant elements the Southern cult, which we have mentioned previously as a possible extension of Mesoamerican ceremonialism. The end of the Mississippian tradition is marked by a smooth transition to the cultures of the historic tribes of the Southeastern United States. Whereas numerous cultural traditions persisted into the historic contacts of DeSoto and others, the period of florescence began to wane after A.D. 1200. Nonetheless as late as A.D. 1700, the Natchez maintained a ceremonial center with temple mounds and burial mounds. They further had a stratified society with nobles and
commoners.