Native American Heritage Moundbuilders 2.0 OC-SPAD1029110524

1 | ARCHEOLOGY AND HISTORY Table of Contents Page 2 – Introduction Page 5 – Community Page 3 – Connecting and History Page 6 – Trade Patterns Page 4 – Origins Page 7 – Vocabulary Introduction or more than 3,000 years, the American Indians associated with the created a highly sophisticated culture. Moundbuilder cultures were made Fup of a union of American Indian groups that shared similar cultural values and beliefs. The name “moundbuilder” comes from the unique and diverse earthen mounds they built throughout their territory. It is from these mounds that most of the moundbuilder cultural information is known. From Florida to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to , closely networked villages were connected by four major metropolitan moundbuilder cities: , ; Moundville, ; Etowah, ; and Spiro, Oklahoma. These large cities had populations of up to 20,000 people at their most populous times. In fact, in 1290 Cahokia boasted a population larger than London. The Mississippian moundbuilder cultures thrived for more than 1,000 years - at least six times as long as the U.S. has been in archaeological sites in the world, Spiro is Oklahoma’s only prehistoric Native existence. At its height, the Mississippian is sometimes referred to as the “King American archeological park. era, the total moundbuilder population Tut of the West” because of the amount This workbook will explore the relationship exceeded 1 million. and quality of cultural objects discovered between archaeology and history and A great way to have a full picture of the there. The Spiro Mounds were not only share a brief background on Moundbuilder cultural impact of the Moundbuilder part of a large city, but also a destination society. If this topic interests you, be sure society is to visit the Spiro Archeological for people from hundreds of miles to visit Spiro and your local library for Park located right here in Oklahoma! The away to come for trade; technological more information. You can also visit the Spiro Mounds site is situated on the banks advances; religious renewal; and scientific Oklahoma Historical Society’s website of the River in LeFlore County. discoveries in medicine, astronomy and for more background or contextual Known as one of the most important agriculture. Today, the Spiro Mounds site information.

2 | MOUNDBUILDERS 2.0 OC-SPAD1029110524_1 Connecting Archaeology and History How are history and archaeology related? with the public. The Oklahoma History Center is state’s cultural heritage, and to publicize the results Historians and archaeologists study ancient a repository for Oklahoma artifacts. They have of their work through teaching, public lectures, people and objects people made or used for tools. artifacts from all over Oklahoma, which cover all and publishing the results of their findings. Specifically, historians study older documents and of the state’s history. Many of these artifacts are Research faculty of the Survey hold advanced artifacts and create an interpretation of the past archaeological items donated by the Oklahoma degrees in anthropology with a specialization in for the public. Archaeologists excavate artifacts Archeological Survey (OAS) in Norman. The archaeology. Universities in Oklahoma at which that both the archaeologists and historians study. mission of the Archeological Survey is to conduct you can obtain these degrees include University Archaeologists also look at historical documents, basic research on Oklahoma’s prehistory and early of Oklahoma, University of Tulsa, and Oklahoma but they typically use them for background history, to work with the citizens of our state in Baptist University. information on a site. The fields of history, protecting archaeological sites significant to the anthropology and archaeology study very similar things but do so from different viewpoints.

How are history and archaeology different? History and archaeology are different in that they study the artifacts from different perspectives. Archaeologists are more concerned with the physical evidence (artifacts); historians rely more on documentary evidence to support their work.

Why is this important? Even though historians and archaeologists study the past differently, they are connected. It is important to remember that when studying early history, the evidence historians use most likely comes from an archaeological site discovered by a professional. When an archaeologist is preparing for a dig, they do background research and use historical archives to help speculate who might have lived there.

Impact on today? Archaeology sites are found all over the world, every day, leading to new insights of the past. The artifacts the archaeologists find, after being analyzed, go to museums all over the world to share the past with their visitors. Maybe one day the toy you played with as a child will be found in an archaeological site and be put on display for the world to see and interpret.

How does this connect to museums, and where can you learn about the field of archaeology? Artifacts are objects made or used by humans. Artifacts are typically found because they were discarded, someone lost them, or they were broken. Once the object has been found, cleaned, and analyzed, it typically goes to a museum for safe-keeping and to share the discovery

3 | MOUNDBUILDERS 2.0 OC-SPAD1029110524_2 Origins t different times throughout history, loads of dirt. Monks people around the world have built at Cahokia in mounds. Mound building in the U.S. Illinois was continuously occurred whenever a stabled weather added to by building pattern would allow for large amounts over older mounds Aof food to be grown for a long period of time. for centuries, which This abundance of food led to population growth was common practice. and the development of cities with spiritual and This mound has a base political leaders who led economic, political, social and volume larger and religious expansion. It appears that the longer than Khufu, the largest the weather pattern held, the larger the population pyramid in Egypt. became and the more likely that mound building Unique mounds created would start and spread. in the shape of animals, Mound building occurred several times throughout found mainly in the history in the U.S. Near 2000 B.C.E. until weather Ohio River Valley, are patterns shifted and food supplies decreased, particularly interesting the Archaic period of mound building took place because their shapes in present-day northern and southern can only be seen from Arkansas. Then, between 200 B.C.E. and 300 C.E., the air. Mounds were came the of mound building in also used to track the movement of the sun, the Ohio River Valley. There are two major Woodland Spiro is approximately the same time that cultural Mound sites located within the Homeland, moon and stars. Today, these mounds tell us that there was a long history of moundbuilders observing activity at Spiro starts to decline. In the 1300s, there in the Tennessee area and in north Mississippi. Both was a nationwide change in rainfall patterns. This is are burial mounds and reveal items from a vast and documenting astronomy. one of the ways that a change could have caused trade network that occurred with both the societies. Why did these ancient people build mounds? Mound the armadillo to move north in search of food and Finally, the longest running and most widespread building is really a type of building similar to the mound building period was the Mississippian period, pyramids in Egypt and Mexico. Mounds provide a water. The drought caused widespread crop failure, which ran from the years 850 C.E. through 1500 C.E. way of separating leaders from the general public, resulting in food shortages. People abandoned their Mississippian sites were located along every major like a judge that sits above the rest of the court. Flat- large cities and populous villages to live in smaller river system and coastline from Oklahoma to Virginia topped pyramid or temple mounds were constructed groups as a means to better provide for one another, and from the Florida Keys to the . so that leaders could build their houses and temples and so the culture of the Mississippian peoples Mounds were not built at random, but rather on top of the mounds as a symbol of their status shifted to accommodate their new pattern of living. and a platform from which to lead ceremonies and were built very deliberately under the guidance of Over time, from these smaller groups, new tribal civic gatherings. One of the most important reasons architects and technicians using millions of basket- identities began to emerge. The following modern mounds were built was to provide long-lasting day tribes belong to moundbuilder cultures: structures to bury the elite Absentee Shawnee, Alabama Quassarte Tribal Town, and serve as monuments , , Chickasaw, , Eastern to their memory. Craig Shawnee, Euchee, Fox, Ioway (Iowa), Kaw, Kialegee Mound at the Spiro site in Tribal Town, Kickapoo, Miami, (Creek), Oklahoma is an example Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, Peoria, Ponca, of a Mississippian burial Potawatomi, Quapaw, Sac, Seminole, Shawnee, mound. Thlopthlocco Tribal Town and Wichita. During the So what happened to 1800s, as a result of Indian removal, many of the moundbuilders in these tribes were forced to leave their homelands. Oklahoma? The armadillo However, many tribal communities pilgrimage back is a unique messenger to their homelands to visit the mound sites and that may offer a clue honor the great legacy left by their ancestors. about what happened. Armadillos are indigenous Citation: Robert L. Brooks, “Prehistoric Native to Texas. Around the Peoples,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and time when the armadillo Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/ shows up in artwork at entry.php?entry=PR008.

4 | MOUNDBUILDERS 2.0 OC-SPAD1029110524_3 Community ommunity life was the foundation of the American Indian mound building C people. Without community support, the amazing art, homes, mounds, temples and life-sustaining crops they produced would not have been possible. Similar to our communities of today, people then often lived close together, worked together and attended community events, games and rituals together. building located on top of this mound that What would it have been like to live in a was like a blend of a house of worship, a community like this? Imagine that you were capitol building and a courthouse. Most living almost 1,000 years ago, right here in rivers served as “highways” connecting Oklahoma at the site we now call the Spiro them to other mound villages and cities. The Mounds. Like most Mississippian cultures, Ohio, Tennessee, Red and Mississippi Rivers the people of Spiro lived in houses made of and their tributaries connected virtually all of clay walls that were sometimes covered with the Mississippian cultures. grass and topped with reed or cane thatched roofs. The houses consisted of a large open Creative expression was very important to all the moundbuilder cultures as a way room with elevated platforms lining the walls to manifest spiritual beliefs in a material for storage and sleeping. In the center of the form. It was the Mississippians, especially room was a fire pit used for cooking, heating at Spiro, whose artists created some of and lighting. The decision making for the the most impressive and graphic works in community and most ceremonies would take history. Moundbuilders adorned themselves place in this space. with jewelry made from freshwater pearls, Standing on top of Brown Mound about copper and shells. Other important art forms 1,000 years ago, you could see an oval plaza. included engraving conch, whelk or lighting Brown Mound is the largest . shells; elaborate feather work; pottery and Atop Brown Mound, the town’s elite carried stone works of humans and animals; and out complex ceremonies, centered especially masterful metalwork. Moundbuilders were on the deaths and burials of Spiro’s powerful also skilled wood carvers and textile weavers. rulers. Brown Mound was also the main Because these objects were made of organic Temple Mound. There would have been a materials, few of these works survive today. OC-SPAD1029110524_4

5 | MOUNDBUILDERS 2.0 Trade Patterns rchaeological investigations on connections in many parts of Oklahoma between political revealed that even before leaders who contact with Europeans, the distributed items peoples occupying present acquired through Aday Oklahoma were not isolated from trade to other outside influences or from each other. members of Archaeologists believe that Paleoindian society, who in and earlier Archaic period populations turn used them from 10,500 to 2000 B.C. moved for decorations or frequently, possibly covering large utilitarian tools. territories. Although the distance covered By A.D. 300 this declined over time, most resources were trade was on the obtained through direct visits to sources. decline. If true, trade was of little importance early The development but would have increased through time. of Caddoan symbols of political authority were During the latter part of the Archaic tradition societies happened in the period adopted by some western leaders. and early part of the Woodland period, between A.D. 800 and 1200 in eastern movement decreased, particularly Oklahoma. These were more socially The time between A.D. 1400 or 1450 and in eastern Oklahoma. So, culturally complex than earlier societies. Political 1650 was marked by a decline in Caddoan different groups are more recognizable elites used nonlocal resources, especially society, and eastward trade ended. archaeologically, as is trade. Most those derived from long distances, to However, westward interaction with nonlocal resources came from nearby symbolize their unique social positions. Plains and Southwest cultures increased. groups. However, some resources Trade connections extended to the Nonlocal goods were more widely originated from as far away as the Gulf Mississippi Valley, northern Kansas, distributed within Caddoan societies than Coast, Lake Superior, and Yellowstone northern Texas, and the Southwestern they had been earlier. Important social areas. This demonstrates the development United States. There was also a more changes also took place on the Oklahoma of long-distance trade connections, local trade in goods that had a wider but little is known about the political social delivery. Moundbuilder societies plains. Some societies switched to mobile and social organization of this trade. in more western parts of Oklahoma were bison hunting, and others combined Moundbuilders transformed nonlocal less active in trade. Trade in that setting into large farming villages. The hunting stone materials into projectile points highlighted connections with those who societies were not as socially complex, and other useful tools. Received through lived nearby. and nonlocal resources were widely long-distance connections, items made Caddoan societies reached their greatest distributed. Societies emphasizing of stone were more often used for levels of social complexity between farming increased in social complexity, ornaments. A.D. 1200 and 1400 or 1450, expanding and political leaders often controlled Most trade continued to be with nearby cities and trade. Long-distance trade access to nonlocal materials. The trade communities. However, people in eastern strengthened, bringing in products from patterns established during this period Oklahoma also had connections that led as far away as the Appalachians and provided the fabric for American Indian to other societies along the Mississippi the Pacific Ocean. However, contact to encounters with Euroamericans. and Ohio rivers. People in western the north declined and possibly did not Oklahoma were more mobile, and it is extend beyond southern Kansas. The local Citation: Susan C. Vehik, “Precontact difficult to distinguish trade from direct trade continued. Societies in western Trade Patterns,” The Encyclopedia of purchase. There is little evidence of long- Oklahoma increased their trade, both Oklahoma History and Culture, distance trade. The political and social local and long distance. Connections https://www.okhistory.org/publications/ organization of trade may have centered included Caddoan societies, whose enc/entry.php?entry=PR007.

6 | MOUNDBUILDERS 2.0 OC-SPAD1029110524_5 Vocabulary Interpretation – a particular adaptation or version of a work, method or style: a teaching technique that combines factual with stimulating explanatory information Excavate – to dig out and remove: to expose to view by or as if by digging away a covering Analyzed – to study or determine the nature and relationship of the parts of (something) by analysis Insights – the power or act of seeing into a situation Repository – a place, room, or container where something is deposited or stored Archaic period – the earliest phases of a culture Woodland period – pre-Columbian Native American occupations dating between roughly 500 BC and AD 1100 in eastern North America Mississippian period – a subperiod in the geologic timescale or subsystem of geologic record between the Devonian and the Pennsylvanian periods. Deliberately – with full awareness of what one is doing: in a way that is intended or planned Astronomy – the study of objects and matter outside the earth’s atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties Indigenous – produced, growing, living, or occurring natively or naturally in a particular region or environment Pilgrimage – any long journey, especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage Legacy – something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past Ceremonies – a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention Civic - of or relating to a citizen, a city, citizenship, or community affairs Elite – the socially superior part of society: a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence Paleoindian – one of the early American hunting people of Asian origin extant in the Late Pleistocene Projectile – a self-propelling weapon

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