OVER 1,000 miles east of the cliff dwellings, other groups of people lived a different kind of life. They, too, had cities, which they built on mounds of earth. Flat-topped hills, reaching up to 35 feet high and spreading across many acres, supported buildings made from wood and mud. Buildings on the largest mounds most likely served as temples or official residences for leaders. Buildings on smaller mounds served other purposes, such as places for burial. However, when a leader died, his home was often burned or torn down, and the leader buried in its place. Archaeologists estimate that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workers carried baskets, each filled with 6o pounds of soil, to add to the mound. This process of building, tearing down, burying, and adding soil to the mound might be repeated many times, causing the mounds to grow larger over time. In earlier periods, prosperous people were laid to rest in cone-shaped or round mounds. Mound civilizations were discovered in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. Scientists refer to the civilizations that flourished there between loo and 1700 A. D. as the Mississippian cultures. More informally, native people of this era are called mound builders.
A city might include several mounds around a plaza. A village of mud-and-thatch houses and
Farms sat on the outer edges of the mounds. Like the Ancestral Puebloans, the Mississip-pians grew corn, beans, and squash. Nearby rivers provided irrigation for crops and a way to travel to other cities to trade or to attend festivals. Both copper from the Great Lakes and conch shells from the Gulf of Mexico found their way to Mississippian communities in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.
Religious ceremonies were an important aspect of Mississippian cultures and provided
Mound builders gathering crops.
WHERE OUR PEOPLE CAME FROM—
THE SACRED MOUND, NANIH WAIYA
One of the mound building cultures were the Choctaw people. According to a Choctaw historian named Horatio Cushman, the Choctaw people were in Mississippi when mammoths became extinct. Therefore, by the time Choctaws first encountered Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540, the Choctaw had a thriving agricultural culture in place.
Northeast of Philadelphia, Mississippi, a large rectangular mound stands 25 feet high. The 218-foot-long, 140-foot-wide mound is called Nanih Waiya, which is Choctaw for "Leaning Hill." Some scholars believe the spelling is actually "Nanih Waya," which would change the meaning to "Fruitful Hill" or "Productive Hill." Nearby pottery shards indicate the mound was created around 100 a. d., but according to Cushman's account of Choctaw history, the sacred hill would likely be much older.
According to Choctaw legend, the mound gave birth to the Choctaw people by bringing them from the underworld to populate the land above—the Choctaw emerged from a nearby cave. Since the beginning of documented Choctaw history and culture, the hill has been considered holy. Today, the State of Mississippi protects it as a state park. When two-thirds of the Choctaw people were forcibly moved to Oklahoma in the 19th century, they named their first capitol Nanih Waiya in honor of this sacred mound.
Religious leaders with the power to govern all aspects of a community. As the cultures grew, they became more warlike. Weapons have been discovered almost exclusively in newer mounds. As their land became overused and no longer productive for farming, these people also moved on.
World History
