The Earth/fertility Mississippian cult was associated with earthen platform mounds. [1]
The act of rebuilding the mounds, of adding additional layers of earth over burials, served as a symbol of renewal, which renewed the earthwork as much as human life. The earthen platform served as the earth, a symbolism which endured into historic times. There are historically documented connections between additions to platforms mounds and the communal " Green Corn Ceremony", which celebrated the new harvest and the fertility of the earth. The quadrilateral, flat-topped design of many platform mounds may represent the Southeastern American Indian belief that the earth was a flat surface oriented towards four quarters of the world. [1]
See also
References
- ^ a b Thomas E. Emerson (1997). Cahokia and the archaeology of power. University Alabama Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-8173-0888-9.
External links
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South Appalachian Mississippian |
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Plaquemine Mississippian | |||||||||||
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Caddoan Mississippian | |||||||||||
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Upper Mississippian cultures |
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