Ceramic vessel   Save
Undocumented Artifacts from the First Ohioans Exhibit
Description: This small, ceramic vessel has a rounded body and flat base. The neck flares slightly to the rim, which is also flat. There are two parallel, incised lines encircling the neck and four interconnecting spirals are incised on the body. A U-shaped piece is missing from the rim. The shell-tempered vessel is black, dark gray and very pale brown in color. This piece is from Mississippian Culture. Between about A.D. 700 and 1600, people living in the central Mississippi River valley developed a lifestyle that archaeologists refer to as Mississippian. Mississippian farmers raised the same crops as their Woodland ancestors. However, they relied more and more on corn, squash, and beans. It is believed that the Mississippian people had to move to new sites, perhaps every ten years, as their soil became less fertile. Most Mississippian groups lived on single farms or in small villages, but, because their food supply could support more people, their villages grew in size and density. Some archaeologists believe the Mississippian cultures developed chiefdoms in which certain persons held a great deal of power. In many of the larger towns and regional centers, the Mississippian people built flat-topped pyramid-shaped mounds of earth that served as bases for buildings. Archaeologists believe that these buildings may have been the homes of leaders or places for public rituals. What happened to the Mississippian cultures is not clear, but there was a decline or disruption of their lifestyle beginning in some places as early as A.D. 1350. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: A4786_000086
Subjects: Mississippian Culture (A.D. 900–1500); Mound-builders; Pottery, Prehistoric;
Places: Undocumented Artifacts from the First Ohioans Exhibit