Mississippian Period

800 AD – 1600 AD

The Mississippian Indians

• The Mississippian Indians rose to power around 800 A.D and around 1600 A.D and it was thought that they mysteriously disappeared.• During this time they became the

highest prehistoric civilization in GA.

The Mississippian Indians

• Settlements:– They began living in villages with as many as

several thousand families living in one village.– The villages were built around a temple mound,

which the priest/chief would call home. – The Mississippian Indians were very religious.

Look at the houses that are built on top of the mounds.

Ocmulgee Mounds in Macon

With each group, the number of people living together increased up to this point during the

Mississippian period.

Mississippian Tribes in the Southeast.

The Mississippian Indians

• They were able to grow most of the food that they ate.– They grew maize, beans, pumpkins, and squash.

• The tools that they used became more complex:– They now used tools made out of both

stone and bone.

Notice the orderly fields and the variety of plants being grown.

What happened to the Mississippian Indians?

• The Mississippian Period in Georgia was brought to an end by the increasing European presence in the Southeast. European diseases introduced by early explorers and colonists devastated native populations in some areas, and the desire for European goods and the trade in native slaves and, later, deerskins caused whole social groups to relocate closer to or farther from European settlements. The result was the collapse of native chiefdoms as their populations were reduced, their authority structures were destroyed by European trade, and their people scattered across the region. Many remnant populations came together to form historically known native groups such as the Creeks,Cherokees, and Seminoles.