ne of the most awe-inspiring structures is the Great Serpent Mound in current-day Adams County, Ohio (Calloway, p.35). This mound is more than one thousand feet of dirt placed to resemble a serpent. Around 700 CE, one of the largest Mississipian towns, Cahokia, was founded. At its peak, Cahokia was home to “between ten thousand and thirty thousand [people], or about the population of medieval London,” (Calloway, p.33). The city contained plazas, religious hubs, and astronomical observatories.
The Mississippians interactions with their neighbors were just as impressive as the structures they built. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the mound structures of the Mississippians were still thriving. Many mound towns were still hubs for population, trade, and ceremonial life. Due partly to the Spanish arrival, however, many of these societies collapsed because of “escalating warfare, epidemics, and slave raiding,” (Calloway, p.38). Before the arrival, there were many trade routes across America between different Mississippian societies and non-Mississippian societies alike. They traded goods like corn, squash, and flint, among other things.
The Mississippians had a distinct and unique society, culture, and hierarchy to go along with the architecture and trade routes. At dig sites at Cahokia, archaeologists discovered proof of a society in which “elite rulers claiming divine descent controlled the distribution of food,” (Calloway, p.35). There was also evidence of ritualistic sacrifice by the Mississippians. Another important factor of life in Mississippian society is agriculture. The rhythmic cycle between growing corn, beans, and squash reflected the life of the people living in Cahokia and other mound cities. The society was thriving until its eventual collapse due to the arrival of Europeans and the growth of a population who could not be sup
