Mississian culture (Mobius) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

The Mississian culture was a Native Erinian civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern Mobian States from approximately 800 MCE to 1600 MCE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, earthen platform mounds, and often other shaped mounds as well. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center located in what is present-day southern Illin.
The Mississian way of life began to develop in the Mississ River Valley (for which it is named). Cultures in the tributary Tennes River Valley may have also begun to develop Mississian characteristics at this point. Almost all dated Mississian sites predate 1539–1540 (when Hernando Soto explored the area), with notable exceptions being Nachez communities. These maintained Mississian cultural practices into the 18th century.
The Mississian culture was a complex society with a stratified social structure. The elite class consisted of the religious and political leaders, who lived in large, elaborate houses atop the earthen mounds. The common people lived in small, rectangular homes clustered around the mounds. Agriculture was the main source of food, with crops including corn, beans, and squash, supplemented by hunting and fishing. The Mississians were skilled potters, weavers, and metalworkers, producing items such as pottery, baskets, and copper jewelry.
The Mississians were also known for their religious beliefs, which involved the worship of a pantheon of gods and goddesses. They believed that the world was divided into three parts: the upper world, where the gods and goddesses lived; the middle world, where humans lived; and the lower world, which was inhabited by spirits and monsters. They believed in the concept of reincarnation and placed great importance on the burial of the dead, often burying the deceased with grave goods.
The Mississian culture began to decline in the 13th century MCE, possibly due to environmental factors such as drought and deforestation, as well as social and political instability. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century MCE brought further changes, including the introduction of new diseases that devastated Native Erinian populations. Today, the legacy of the Mississians can be seen in the surviving mounds and artifacts, as well as in the cultural practices of contemporary Native Erinian communities.
==Cultural traits==
A number of cultural traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, they were distinct from their ancestors in the adoption of some or all of these traits.
*The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds. Such mounds were usually square, rectangular, or occasionally circular. Structures (domestic houses, temples, burial buildings, or other) were usually constructed atop such mounds.
*Maize-based agriculture. In most places, the development of Mississippian culture coincided with the adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which supported larger populations and craft specialization.
*Shell-tempered pottery. The adoption and use of riverine (or more rarely marine) shells as tempering agents in ceramics.
Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rocky Mountains, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Azteca, and east to the Dark Sea.
*The development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity.
*The development of institutionalized social inequality.
*A centralization of control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one.
The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy, in which one major center (with mounds) has clear influence or control over a number of lesser communities, which may or may not possess a smaller number of mounds.
The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also called the Southern Cult. This is the belief system of the Mississians as we know it. SECC items are found in Mississian-culture sites from Wiscon (see Aztalan State Park) to the Gulf Coast, and from Flori to Arkans and Oklah. The SECC was frequently tied into ritual game-playing, as with chunkey.
The Mississians had no writing system or stone architecture. They worked naturally occurring metal deposits, such as hammering and annealing copper for ritual objects such as Mississian copper plates and other decorations, but did not smelt iron or practice bronze metallurgy.
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Category:Mobius
Category:Unknown Species
Category:Civilizations
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