A pre-Columbian Native American culture that flourished in what is now the midwestern and southeastern US from ca. 900 to 1600 CE. It developed first in the Mississippi River Valley, for which it is named. Mississippian people relied on river-bottom agriculture, with large-scale cultivation of corn, squash and beans supplemented by fishing and hunting for deer, turkey, and small game. They built large, stockaded towns with monumental earthen mounds and broad plazas. The largest was Cahokia, located in present-day southern Illinois. In addition to Cahokia, major Mississippian archaeological sites include Spiro (Oklahoma), Etowah (Georgia), and Moundville (Alabama). The present-day Osage, Ponca, Quapaw and Kansa are  likely the descendants of Cahokia people.

Large quantities of earthenware vessels were produced during this period, including bottles, jars, bowls, plates, and salt pans. Mississippian pots were constructed using the coil method, rather than being thrown on a wheel. They could be decorated with slip or incised decoration, or painted. One of the unique features of Mississippian pottery is the prevalence of effigy vessels, made in the form of animals or humans. Mississippian groups worked naturally occurring copper deposits, hammering the soft metal into ritual objects and ornaments, but they did not practice bronze metallurgy. They used stone, bone, and terracotta to fashion ornate pipes for ceremonial tobacco-smoking. Neck ornaments (gorgets) made of incised marine shell carried symbols thought to be connected to prehistoric Native American cosmology.

Web resource here. Video here.

Spiro Mounds Gorget with Hands and Central Spider Motif. Marine shell. Mississippian. Ca. 1200-1450 CE. Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, OK.