Southeastern Ceremonial Complex

Examples of Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the following topics:

• Beadwork and Ceramics in the Eastern Woodland Cultures

  • The Mississippian culture flourished from approximately 800-1500 CE in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States.
  • Pottery is one of the hallmark arts of this culture, which includes the Cahokia, Natchez, Caddo, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, Wichita, and many other southeastern peoples.
  • Many artisans from this area were involved with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, a pan-regional and pan-linguistic religious and trade network.
  • The majority of the information known about the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is derived from the elaborate artworks its participants left behind, including pottery, shell gorgets and cups, stone statuaries, and copper plates.
  • Clay, stone, and pearl beads were fashioned and worn by the people of the Southeastern Woodlands, often decorated with bold imagery.

• Mississippian Culture

  • The development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity.
  • The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also called the Southern Cult.
  • They grew corn, beans, and squash, called the "three sisters" by historic Southeastern Indians.
  • They engraved shell pendants with animal and human figures, and carved ceremonial objects out of flint.

• Woodlands in the East

  • They carved stone tablets with zoomorphic designs, created pottery, and fashioned costumes from animal hides and antlers for ceremonial rituals.
  • They built larger and more complex platform mounds than those of their predecessors, and finished and developed more advanced ceramic techniques, commonly using ground mussel shell as a tempering agent.
  • Many were involved with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), a pan-regional and pan-linguistic religious and trade network.
  • Artisans produced religious items, such as long-nosed god maskettes, ceremonial earrings with a symbolic shape, thought to have been used in fictive kinship rituals.
  • Other tribes descended from Mississippian cultures include the Caddo, Choctaw, Muskogee Creek, Wichita, and many other southeastern peoples.

• Native Americans in the 1490's

  • The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States.
  • As the population expanded, a complex chiefdom level of social complexity was established.
  • Different groups abandoned tribal lifestyles for increasing complexity, sedentism, centralization, and agriculture.
  • The expansion of the great metropolis and ceremonial complex at Cahokia (in present-day Illinois), the formation of other complex chiefdoms, and the spread and development of art and symbolism are characteristic changes of this period.
  • More defensive structures are often seen at sites, sometimes accompanied by a decline in mound-building and ceremonialism.

• Eastern Woodland Culture

  • The Eastern Woodland cultural region extended from what is now southeastern Canada, through the eastern United States, down to the Gulf of Mexico.
  • The Southeastern Woodland hunters however, also used blowguns.
  • The growing use of agriculture and the development of the Eastern Agricultural Complex also meant that the nomadic nature of many of the groups was supplanted by permanently occupied villages.
  • Most of these were evident in the southeastern United States by 1,000 BCE with the Adena culture, which is the best-known example of an early Woodland culture.
  • The Adena culture was centered around what is present-day Ohio and surrounding states and was most likely a number of related American Indian societies that shared burial complexes and ceremonial systems.

• Meso-American Culture

  • Outlying lands were inducted into the empire and became part of the complex Aztec society.
  • Many such ritual actors, however, were typically sacrificed to the very deity they had represented during the ceremony.
  • The Maya civilization was a Meso-American civilization developed by the Maya peoples in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
  • Beginning around 250 CE, during the Classic period, the Maya civilization developed a large number of city-states linked by a complex trade network.
  • The Maya, like many Meso-American peoples, believed in a pantheon of deities, which were routinely placated with ceremonial offerings and ritual practices.

• The Preclassic Period of the Maya

  • The Preclassic period saw the rise of large-scale ceremonial architecture, writing, cities, and states.
  • By around 2500–2000 BCE researchers can begin to trace the arc of Mayan-language settlements and culture in what is now southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize.
  • Canals and irrigation schemes demanding coordinated human effort began to appear with increasing complexity and scale.
  • Some of the earliest remaining examples of the complex writing system of the Maya appear from the 3rd century BCE.
  • Complex temples, stairways, and friezes illustrate the acme of this Preclassic city's power and influence.

• Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

  • After multiple waves of migration, complex civilizations arose.
  • The mild climate and abundant natural resources along the Pacific Coast of North America allowed a complex aboriginal culture to flourish.
  • Due to the prosperity made possible by the abundant natural resources in this region, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest developed complex religious and social ceremonies as well as many fine arts and crafts.
  • The Maya civilization was a Meso-American civilization developed by the Maya peoples in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
  • A map showing the Hopewell Interaction Sphere and various local expressions of the Hopewell cultures, including the Laurel Complex, Saugeen Complex, Point Peninsula Complex, Marksville Culture, Copena Culture, Kansas City Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Goodall Focus, Crab Orchard Culture, and Havana Hopewell Culture.

• The Classic Period of the Maya

  • They created a multitude of kingdoms and small empires, built monumental palaces and temples, engaged in highly developed ceremonies, and developed an elaborate hieroglyphic writing system.
  • The cities of Palenque and Yaxchilan were also cultural and religious centers in the southeastern Maya region, and included large temples, ball courts, and even a uniquely vaulted ceiling in the hallway of the Palenque Palace.
  • The Maya utilized complex mathematical and astronomical calculations to build their monuments and conceptualize the cosmography of their religion.
  • The Maya also linked this complex system to the deity Itzamna.

• Great Basin Culture

  • Peyote religion flourished in the Great Basin as well, particularly among the Ute who used peyote obtained through trade and other potent ceremonial plants.
  • Northern and Uncompahgre Ute were among the only group of indigenous peoples known to create ceremonial pipes out of salmon alabaster and rare black pipestone found in creeks that border the southeastern slops of the Uinta Mountains in Utah and Colorado.
  • The Uncompahgre Ute are also among the first documented peoples to utilize the effect of mechanoluminescene with quartz crystals to generate light in ceremonies used to call spirits.
  • Special ceremonial rattles were made from buffalo rawhide and filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah.
  • These ceremonial rattles were considered extremely powerful religious objects.