North American civilizations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

North American civilizations - Assignment Example Mississippi culture was actually a mound-building culture of Native Americans and it originated and flourished in the areas presently known as mid-western, eastern and southeastern United States around 800 CE to 1500 CE. The life at Mississippi began to flourish in the river valleys of Mississippi and Tennessee. Mississippian started rich food exchange thereby introducing the barter system which started impacting a lot in their society through networking and it is through the process of food exchange that they introduced in their culture, they flourished and made contacts with other cultures and provinces too. Maize-based agriculture was also an important attribute of the period and it supported a large population and craft specialization. The earthwork of the Mississippian culture was significant consisting of pyramid mounds or platform mounds and were generally square, rectangular and sometimes circular in shape. Domestic houses, temples or burial buildings were constructed on those mounds. Trade was widespread during this period and extended to far west to the Rockies, in north till the Great Lakes and to the Gulf of Mexico in the South and to the Atlantic Ocean in the East. The leadership of the Mississippian culture was great and influential. Within the culture, the leadership was hierarchy based and where one major centre with Mounds gives clear indication of control and influence over other lesser communities, it also clearly portrays a clear centralization of controlled combination of political or religious power in the hands of single Supreme or few others (US National Park Service, â€Å"The Mississippian and Late Prehistoric