Southeast
These sources focus on Mississippian and earlier mound-building societies, especially Ocmulgee and Poverty Point. Archaeological evidence reveals farming, trade, earthworks, political hierarchy, and ceremonial life.
Start with the overview
Use the Khan Academy reading to locate the Southeast and identify the importance of agriculture and large settlements.
Read the OverviewG — Geography
Connect the Ocmulgee River, the Fall Line, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plain to where people settled.
Study the floodplain, aquatic resources, transportation, and site location.
R — Religion
Look for temple mounds, burials, ceremonies, and the Earth Lodge.
A short source on a reconstructed council building with an original floor.
See what artifacts and images can, and cannot, tell us about Mississippian religion and ceremony.
A — Achievement
Study the planning and enormous labor needed to build monumental earthworks.
Explore mounds, earth lodges, pottery, weaving, and public buildings.
P — Politics
Investigate chiefdoms, chiefs, public spaces, and what archaeologists infer about leadership.
See how chiefdoms worked: capital towns, smaller towns paying tribute, and limits on power.
A reconstructed council chamber where leaders may have met.
E — Economics
Study corn, beans, squash, hunting, surplus food, and pottery.
Explore long-distance trade and the movement of large amounts of stone from far away.
S — Social Structure
Use burials, chiefs, farmers, and large building projects to investigate social hierarchy.
A denser source on inherited rank, chiefs, elite burials, towns, and hierarchy.