Mississippian Culture at Ocmulgee
The Mississippian town at Ocmulgee, in central Georgia, from about 900 CE. This is the whole page, with its own section headings.
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Around 900 CE, a group of newcomers arrived in central Georgia. They pushed out the existing Woodland culture and set up various settlements. Archeologists call these people Mississippians. Their way of life is thought to have started in the region we now call the Mississippi River Valley.
The Mississippians built a large ceremonial complex and town on the Macon Plateau near the Ocmulgee River, at present-day Macon, Georgia. They left no written records. But archaeologists dug up many artifacts that help explain the life and culture of this society. The ceremonial complex is still visible today. It is only part of the “Macon Plateau” culture. Six miles away, the Early Mississippians built another large village. Several smaller sites once stood near the Ocmulgee River’s Fall Line. There the natural resources of the hilly Piedmont and the flatter Coastal Plain overlap.
Mounds and Buildings
Earth mounds are the most visible evidence of the Mississippian culture. For some people they are also the most interesting. The mounds served various purposes, including acting as massive platforms. The platform mounds tended to be flat-topped pyramid shapes with ramps for easier access to the top. Wooden buildings on top of the mounds were used as homes, temples, storage facilities, and more. Most of the mounds in the Ocmulgee complex were built in stages. They grew bigger over the years of occupation.
Not all mounds were platforms. The Funeral Mound, as its name suggests, holds more than 100 burials. Some were complex log tombs. A few held elaborate copper and shell ornaments that suggest high status. But most were simple pits with no objects. The Mississippians built more than just mounds. Digs uncovered several earth lodges. The most elaborate of these has been reconstructed. Its 1,000-year-old floor has a bench with 47 molded seats. It also has a bird-shaped platform with three more seats. The Earth Lodge would have been used by important members of society to discuss politics or perform ceremonies, or perhaps to do both.
Community
The huge amount of mound building suggests that the Mississippians had a complex social structure. A strong leader would be needed to plan and carry out building projects. The importance of the temple mound also suggests a strong religious part of society. Some archaeologists guess that Mississippian society was organized into “chiefdoms.” A chiefdom was made up of several towns. Each town had a chief, perhaps under a more powerful Priest-Chief.
The people of the Macon Plateau town were settled farmers. They farmed on a large scale with tools of wood, bone, and stone. Their major crops included squash, pumpkins, sunflowers, and tobacco, but mostly corn and beans. They stored extra food in baskets and pottery. This surplus let them spend time on other parts of life.
The Mississippians hunted to add to their diet. They focused on small game such as raccoon, turkey, rabbit, beaver, squirrel, turtles, and deer. No part of the animal was wasted. Skins were tanned to make clothing. Bone became jewelry, fishhooks, and projectile points. Hunters used several techniques to find game. But the bow and arrow was essential for a successful hunt.
Culture
The art of the Mississippians can be seen in items of everyday life. Women made pots by coiling and shaping local clays. The early Mississippian pottery was made in many sizes and shapes for everyday and ceremonial uses. They liked plain surfaces. But the elegant and sometimes complex shapes of the pottery show skill and beauty. Sometimes effigies decorated the pots. Women also wove baskets and fabrics and gave them different designs.
Mississippians also found time to make objects to decorate themselves. They probably used stone, wood, bone, shell, and other materials. But unfortunately, organic material does not survive well in the wet, acidic soil of the southeast. Based on evidence from other archaeology sites and on historic accounts of Native Americans, people decorated themselves with shell gorgets, beads, tattooing, paint, elaborate hairdos, feathers, and many types of ear ornaments.
One of the games Mississippians played was called “Chunkey.” A player rolled a disc-shaped stone across the ground while other players threw their spears at it. The player whose spear landed closest to where the disc stopped was the winner. The Mississippians also played a ball game very like the modern game of lacrosse. Two teams used wooden racquets to throw a small leather ball down a large field. They tried to score by tossing the ball between two upright posts at each end of the field. The ball game was usually played between two rival towns. Sometimes it was a way of settling arguments.
By 1200, the town on the Macon Plateau was no longer a center of Mississippian culture. The people may have moved elsewhere or joined the people who had lived there before. Mississippian culture continued to thrive at places like Etowah in Northern Georgia, Moundville in Alabama, and Spiro, Oklahoma. By 1350, a late Mississippian town was set up about 2½ miles down the Ocmulgee River from the Macon Plateau. It is at a site called Lamar today. The people built two earthen mounds. One had a special spiral ramp around it, the only one of its kind still known in this country. The site gives its name to a widespread late Mississippian southeastern culture. It is also protected as a separate unit of Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park.