Archaeologically these peoples are in the Final Woodland phase of
culture. The Final Phase yields tobacco pipes and crude flint
arrowheads, its chief artifactual differences with the Initial phase.
The clay of their pottery was generally mixed with grit or sand to
prevent firing cracks in the vessel walls. The customary
vertically-elongated pot with a conical or pointed bottom was
accompanied by new forms—the globular or flattened globular with “round”
(spherical) bases, the “coconut shell” cup or larger vessel, and shallow
bowls. The flattened globular pots and the bowls were occasionally
decorated with two or four knobs or with “raised points” on the rim,
sometimes giving a squarish appearance to the mouth. In some instances
these decorative projections were crudely modeled ears and snout which
give the effect of animals’ heads facing out and foreshadowing the
Middle Mississippi effigy shallow bowls. An important invention, the bow
and arrow, appears in Illinois for the first time in this period.
Judging by the crudity of the chipped flint arrowheads, these people
were poor archers and preferred the spear and spearthrower in hunting
and fighting. Pipes, like most artifacts except weapon heads, are rare.
The “elbow” or L-shaped pipe is generally representative of the culture.
The six recognized Final Woodland subcultures with their diagnostic
(though not very significant) traits are (1) Effigy Mound named for its
distinguishing characteristic; (2) Tampico with pottery decorated with
designs formed by cord-impressions, in northern Illinois; (3) Stone
Vault with stone mounds containing walled tomb chambers; (4) Jersey
Bluff with its unique “handled” tobacco pipes, in the west; (5) Raymond,
best characterized by the generalized Woodland nature of its artifacts;
and (6) Lewis with incised spiral designs on pottery, in southern
Illinois.
A SECOND PLANT-RAISING CIVILIZATION—THE MIDDLE MISSISSIPPIANS
(1000-1500 A.D.)
The Middle Mississippi culture seems to have arisen, as previously
suggested, in the area where several important highways of aboriginal
travel converged—the region surrounding the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
from the mouth of the Wabash to the mouth of the Illinois. Whether or
not its development was stimulated by the contracts of Muskhogeans and
Algonkians or whether it was due to interplay between the cultures of
the Final Woodland petty tribes is unknown.
Two slightly differing subcultures of the Middle phase appeared in the
state. One, known archaeologically as the Cumberland
(Tennessee-Cumberland), may have embraced at one time all the southern
Illinois counties between the mouths of the Kaskaskia and the Wabash.
[The Angel Site near Evansville, Indiana, may belong to the Cumberland
subculture.] The other subculture, which may be termed Cahokia,
flourished in counties bordering on the Mississippi from Union County to
Wisconsin. As the two periods show few significant cultural differences,
they will, except as noted hereafter, be treated as a single unit.
The bow and arrow invented in the Final Woodland phase, was developed
early in the Middle Mississippi period into an effective weapon although
spear and perhaps spearthrower continued in use. The chunkey game was
probably played as a part of a religious ceremony though it may quite
possibly have served as a popular pastime as well.
Pottery was slow at first to change from its more obvious Woodland
characteristics but new shapes foreshadowing most of those of the fully
developed (Old Village) cultural phase practically replaced the
conical-based elongated pot early in the period. Cord-roughening and
grit-tempering disappeared in the classic Cahokia period, and a fine
polished blackware and a painted pottery were added to the smooth
utilitarian ware. An excellent “dull gray” ware with smooth gray to
brown surfaces was of more common occurrence. It appears to differ from
the fine ware only in its partially oxidized surfaces probably due to
poorly controlled firing methods.[14]
[Illustration: Fig. 23. The chunkey game in foreground. Man hunting
with bow and arrow in background. Middle Mississippi period. (J.C.)]
There were probably two or more social classes among the Middle phase
people as there were among Hopewellians, Natchez and Polynesians.[15]
The fine polished black and painted wares may have been marks of
distinction between the highest and lower classes since it is much less
common. In Hopewellian times, it is probable that both the fine ware and
the specialized forms (which were usually of the highest quality) were
reserved for the highest caste. In the Mississippi period, the shallow
bowl, the cup or beaker, and the plate of dull gray ware seem to have
been wide-spread in the village and may indicate a general improvement
of living conditions among the lower social classes since Hopewellian
times.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Pottery shapes, Middle Mississippi period.
A, “bean pot”; B, angular-shouldered pot or olla; C, common pot or
olla; D, shallow bowl; E, water bottle; F, effigy bowl; G, plate.]
Advances in the economy were obviously present in the fully developed
Middle phase. The Union County flint “mines” and workshops were
intensively worked. Trade with the Lake Superior, lower Atlantic and
Gulf Coast regions was resumed. Chief imports of raw materials were
copper and marine shells, Busycon, Marginella, Oliva and Olivella. Art,
while possibly as highly developed as Hopewellian, resulted in a far
smaller number of art objects in fewer durable media. Intaglio rock
carvings (chiefly in southern Illinois) of geometric designs, human
hands, ceremonial paraphernalia, animal outlines, and, in a few
instances, painted hollowed-out animal silhouettes can probably be
ascribed to this period on the basis of the symbols employed. Dwellings
or cabins were relatively substantial structures and the extent of
village remains indicate a large general population as compared to
earlier times in the state. Trade and art suggest leisure and wealth or
surplus available for exchange or to support officials and others in
non-food productive pursuits. This prosperity was possibly due to newly
discovered methods of intensive cultivation of maize and possibly to a
greater diversity of crops than ever before.
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Carved stone pipe (fragmentary) from
Kingston Lake Site (Cahokia subculture, Middle Mississippi period).
Owned by Donald Wray. Right-hand figure shows the pipe
reconstructed.]
Territorially the tribe probably consisted of a number of villages and
the surrounding country. Each tribe may have had a chief village or
capital that was also a religious center with tribal (public) buildings
and a temple. Archaeological and historical evidence shows that these
buildings, presumably temples and the dwellings of tribal chiefs and the
high priests, were erected on the flat tops of rectangular earthen
mounds or pyramids, which were grouped around a plaza of ceremonial
square. Here the tribe gathered for religious and political ceremonies
and for important funerals. Intertribal negotiations and chunkey games
were probably also staged on or near the plaza.
Pipes, either of stone or pottery, were generally of the “equal-armed”
type (where stem length is about equal to bowl height). In numerous
instances, a short projection resembling the stem in shape but shorter,
extends beyond the bowl away from the smoker. Massive effigy pipes of
stone were widespread but not numerous. Some were excellently carved.
From their construction, it is obvious that they were made to be smoked
through a reed or hollow wooden stem called in later times the calumet.
These together probably constituted a form of ceremonial pipe that
served as a safe conduct between tribes, as a bond and signature at
peace- and treaty-making ceremonies, and to present tobacco smoke as
incense to the gods in religious rituals.
Priests and possibly tribal chiefs were interred in the flat tops of
mounds (e.g. the Powell Mound) near temple or cabin. Generally, however,
the dead were buried in cemeteries. In some instances, bodies were laid
on the surface above a “full” cemetery and covered with earth brought
from outside. Continuing this practice eventually produced a mound (e.g.
Dickson Mound near Lewistown). Possibly the burial mounds at Cahokia
were reserved for the socially prominent while the lower classes were
interred in the cemeteries nearby. The dead, especially important
personages were attired in their finest apparel, insignia and personal
ornaments. Beside them in the grave were placed their weapons, favorite
chunkey stones, food and water in pottery vessels with shell spoons or a
dipper.
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Interior view of Dickson Mound (in Dickson
Mounds State Park near Lewistown, Illinois), showing pottery and
other artifacts as originally placed with the dead. Cahokia
subculture, Middle Mississippi phase.]
Chief villages were large religious centers often protected by an
encircling palisade or clay wall reinforced with vertical posts or logs.
Remains of defensive walls can still be readily traced by a trained eye
at the Kincaid (Massac County) and Lynn (Union County) villages.
Exploration of the Aztalan village (Wisconsin) yielded remains of a
reinforced clay wall surmounted at regular intervals with towers of like
construction. The Cahokia village seems to have been without
fortifications.
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Reconstruction of Kincaid Village
(Cumberland subculture, Middle Mississippi period) near Metropolis,
Illinois. (Diorama by Arthur Sieving.)]
Smaller villages occasionally had one or two small flat-topped mounds
which doubtless served as bases for the cabins of the Village Chief and
possibly War Chief. Other Middle phase villages had no mounds or
fortifications.
Cabins were of three or more types. In Illinois, two kinds had
rectangular floor outlines and may have developed from the earlier
Baumer square dwelling and the Lewis house. One of these types prevalent
at Kincaid, as determined from charred remains, had a thatched gable
roof supported on four corner posts with their lower ends sunk in the
ground. Walls were made of clay daubed on a latticework of cane (with
foliage) interlacing vertical wall posts, the interior covered with
split cane mats. The rafters, corner and wall posts, and wall plates
were of poles or small logs lashed together and held in place by braided
ropes. Floors do not appear to have been depressed below surrounding
ground level. A larger more substantial structure, presumably a temple,
on a Kincaid mound (Mx^o9) had thick walls of clay mixed with grass, but
otherwise resembled the dwelling just described. The clay floor and wall
surfaces were smooth. Fire basins of puddled clay within the building
may have been the remains of altars.
Cabins in Fulton County (Fout’s Village) and at Cahokia were rectangular
in floor plan but wall posts were probably bent over to be joined with
corresponding opposite members to form an arched or vaulted roof, the
precursor perhaps of the “barrel-shaped” Illini cabins reported by
French explorers. Floors were sunk somewhat below the ground level.
Remains of cabins with circular floors occur also at Cahokia and in
Fulton County.
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Petroglyphs from southern Illinois sites
probably made by Middle Mississippian peoples. All figures are
hollowed out or _intaglio_. (Photographs by Irvin Peithmann.)]
[Illustration: Back wall of rock shelter near Gorham, Illinois.]
[Illustration: Figure of buffalo calf painted yellow over entire
depressed area. The outlines were chalked in for the purpose of
photographing.]
Walls and wall posts of the Fulton County cabins appear in some
instances to be formed of bundles of small branches or cane set in
trenches possibly a foot deep. There is no evidence of the
wattle-and-daub structure. Walls may have been covered with mats, or
with rectangles of bark. Roofs were probably thatched.
Possibly the Cahokia subculture peoples constituted a single tribe, a
small nation, or a confederation of tribes. At its most powerful period,
the Cahokia settlement was perhaps the capital and religious center. The
region south of a line joining the mouths of the Kaskaskia and Wabash
rivers at one time probably belonged to another tribe or subtribe whose
chief village was the Kincaid community in Pope and Massac counties and
who, linguistically and culturally, were closely related to peoples in
Tennessee and Kentucky and at the Angel site in Indiana.
Archaeologically speaking, the Middle Mississippi contrasts sharply with
the Hopewellian culture. Certain artifacts are readily distinguishable
and easily identified with the craftsman’s cultures. Actually the
Mississippians differ from the Hopewellians chiefly in having
substantial cabins, athletic games and the bow and arrow.
Remains of Hopewellian dwellings are rare, but the three or four found
up to now are characterized by round or oval floor plans outlined with
post holes of three to four inches in diameter. These seem to indicate
hemispherical wigwams. No further evidence of wall or roof structure has
been recovered. The rarity of these dwellings certainly suggests a less
permanent dwelling than the Mississippi cabin. However, it will be
remembered that some peoples pattern their tombs upon their dwellings.
The upper caste Hopewellians built rectangular burial chambers which
were walled up with logs laid one on another and roofed over with
half-logs or bark. Similar log house surface structures would seldom
leave discernible remains on decay. It is possible, though by no means
certain, that the Hopewellians of highest caste, and perhaps of the
other castes, built log cabins for dwellings.
The evidence for playing of athletic games in Hopewellian is very late
and scanty. The only tangible indication are the rings, “pulleys” and a
stone discoidal found with a skeleton in the Rutherford Mound. (See M.
L. Fowler, _The Rutherford Mound_, Scientific Papers Series, Vol. VII,
No. 1, Springfield, Ill. 1957, pp. 31-33). The rings of pottery and of
cannel coal (or jet) seem too fragile for actual playing pieces and may
rather be trophies or prizes, replicas of similar pieces made of wood.
Such wooden pieces may have been used in games throughout middle and
late Hopewellian times.
[Illustration: Fig. 29. (Photographs by Irvin Peithmann.)]
[Illustration: View of a stream-side flint mine and workshop (in
field alongside) near Cobden, Illinois.]
[Illustration: Close-up showing spherical or “ball-flint” nodules
from stream banks similar to those worked up by Middle
Mississippians and others in adjacent workshop.]
The bow and arrow, at least, seems to be a decided improvement over the
spear. It constituted a repeating weapon. Ammunition could be carried in
the belt or on the back in a quiver without unduly hampering the bowman.
On the other hand, it was useless in hand-to-hand fighting and a spear
or dagger was needed to supplement it. Moreover, the spear with a
thrower was a more accurate weapon than the bow, unless the arrows were
carefully made and balanced. The bow never seems to have wholly replaced
the spear which continued to be a favorite weapon down into the European
contact period.
The improvements that distinguish the Mississippians above the
Hopewellians may be more apparent than real in the first two instances
and, in the third, may represent a significant rather than a fundamental
advance. Looking at the two periods from the broader cultural viewpoint,
they appear to have many cultural features in common. The Middle
Mississippians probably added new food and fibre plants to those of
earlier periods, and perhaps increased production by improved, more
intensive methods of cultivation. Their staple crops like those of the
Hopewellians were corn, beans and tobacco.
The technologies or methods of making the necessary tools in the two
cultures varied but little. Art was revived or rather re-developed in
the Mississippian period but fewer media are employed. In artistic
skill, imagination and productiveness perhaps the Hopewellians had an
edge on the later people.
Trade and travel, though resumed to distant sections of the continent,
does not appear so widespread or general as in the Hopewellian period. A
formalized religion with colorful ceremonies seems to have revitalized
the life of the people but possibly no more effectively than in the
earlier period.
There was no significant improvement in labor, power or transportation;
all were still accomplished wholly by human effort without the aid of
draft animals. Traveling by boat was known and probably used by both
cultures.
Comparing the two peoples with other plant growers having no domestic
food-draft animals, it seems apparent that each had an effective
political organization, a formalized vital religion with true priests
(not “self-appointed” shamans) and a system of moral values and tenets
that “church” and “state” were organized to maintain. All in all, from
the broader cultural standpoint, they were amazingly alike.