Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an
ethnographic classification for
Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the
Southeastern United States and the northeastern border of
Mexico, that share common
cultural traits. This classification is a part of the
Eastern Woodlands. The concept of a southeastern cultural region was developed by anthropologists, beginning with
Otis Mason and
Franz Boas in 1887. The boundaries of the region are defined more by shared cultural traits than by geographic distinctions.[1] Because the cultures gradually instead of abruptly shift into Plains, Prairie, or Northeastern Woodlands cultures, scholars do not always agree on the exact limits of the Southeastern Woodland culture region.
Shawnee,
Powhatan,
Waco,
Tawakoni,
Tonkawa,
Karankawa,
Quapaw, and
Mosopelea are usually seen as marginally southeastern and their traditional lands represent the borders of the cultural region.[2]
Cherokee, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, later Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, northern Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Mexico, and currently North Carolina and Oklahoma[12]
The following section deals primarily with the history of the peoples in the lengthy period before European contact. Evidence of the preceding cultures have been found primarily in archeological artifacts, but also in major earthworks and the evidence of linguistics. In the Late Prehistoric time period in the Southeastern Woodlands, cultures increased agricultural production, developed ranked societies, increased their populations, trade networks, and intertribal warfare.[27] Most Southeastern peoples (excepting some of the coastal peoples) were highly
agricultural,[citation needed] growing crops like
maize, squash, and beans for food. They supplemented their diet with hunting, fishing,[28] and gathering wild plants and fungi.
Belonging in the Lithic stage, the oldest known art in the Americas is the
Vero Beach bone found in present-day Florida. It is possibly a mammoth bone, etched with a profile of walking mammoth; it dates to 11,000 BCE.[29]
Poverty Point culture
The
Poverty Point culture inhabited portions of the state of
Louisiana from 2000–1000 BCE during the
Archaic period.[30] Many objects excavated at Poverty Point sites were made of materials that originated in distant places, indicating that the people were part of an extensive trading culture. Such items include chipped stone projectile points and tools; ground stone plummets, gorgets and vessels; and shell and stone beads. Stone tools found at Poverty Point were made from raw materials that can be traced to the relatively nearby Ouachita and Ozark mountains, as well as others from the more distant
Ohio and
Tennessee River valleys. Vessels were made from
soapstone which came from the
Appalachian foothills of
Alabama and
Georgia.[31] Hand-modeled lowly fired clay objects occur in a variety of shapes including anthropomorphic figurines and cooking balls.[30]
"Poverty point objects," earthenware, believed to be for cooking, Poverty Point
Mississippian cultures flourished in what is now the
Midwestern,
Eastern, and
Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally.[32] After adopting
maize agriculture the Mississippian culture became fully agrarian, as opposed to the preceding
Woodland cultures that supplemented hunting and gathering with limited horticulture. Mississippian peoples often built
platform mounds. They refined their ceramic techniques and often used ground
mussel shell as a
tempering agent. Many were involved with the
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, a multi-regional and multi-linguistic religious and trade network that marked the southeastern part of the
Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere. Information about Southeastern Ceremonial Complex primary comes from archaeology and the study of the elaborate artworks left behind by its participants, including elaborate
pottery, conch
shell gorgets and cups,
stone statuary, and
Long-nosed god maskettes. The
Calusa peoples, of southern Florida, carved and painted wood in exquisite depictions of animals.
By the time of European contact the Mississippian societies were already experiencing severe social stress. Some major centers had already been abandoned. With social upsets and diseases unknowingly introduced by Europeans many of the societies collapsed and ceased to practice a Mississippian lifestyle, with an exception being the
Natchez people of Mississippi and Louisiana. Other tribes descended from Mississippian cultures include the
Alabama,
Biloxi,
Caddo,
Choctaw,
Muscogee Creek,
Tunica, and many other southeastern peoples.
During the
Indian Removal era of the 1830s, most southeastern tribes were forcibly relocated to
Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River by the US federal government, as European-American settlers pushed the government to acquire their lands.[33] Some members of the tribes chose to stay in their homelands and accept state and US citizenship; others simply hid in the mountains or swamps and sought to maintain some cultural continuity. Since the late 20th century, descendants of these people have organized as tribes; in a limited number of cases, some have achieved
federal recognition but more have gained state recognition through legislation at the state level.
Frank Speck identified several key cultural traits of Southeastern Woodlands peoples. Social traits included having a
matrilinealkinship system,
exogamous marriage between clans, and organizing into settled villages and towns.[1] Southeastern Woodlands societies were usually divided into
clans; the most common from pre-contact
Hopewellian times into the present include Bear, Beaver, Bird other than a raptor, Canine (e.g. Wolf), Elk, Feline (e.g. Panther), Fox, Raccoon, and Raptor.[34] They observe strict incest taboos, including taboos against marriage within a clan. In the past, they frequently allowed
polygamy to chiefs and other men who could support multiple wives. They held puberty rites for both boys and girls.[28]
Southeastern peoples also traditionally shared similar religious beliefs, based on
animism. They used fish poison, and practiced purification ceremonies among their religious rituals, as well as the
Green Corn Ceremony.[1]Medicine people are important spiritual healers.
Many southeastern peoples engaged in
mound building to create sacred or acknowledged ritual sites. Many of the religious beliefs of the
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex or the Southern Cult, were also shared by the Northeastern Woodlands tribes, probably spread through the dominance of the
Mississippian culture in the 10th century.
The main agricultural crops of the region were the
Three Sisters :
winter squash,
maize (corn), and climbing
beans (usually
tepary beans or
common beans). Originating in
Mesoamerica, these three crops were carried northward over centuries to many parts of North America. The three crops were normally planted together using a technique known as
companion planting on flat-topped mounds of soil.[35] The three crops were planted in this way as each benefits from the proximity of the others.[36] The tall maize plants provide a structure for the beans to climb, while the beans provide
nitrogen to the
soil that benefits the other plants. Meanwhile, the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the
sunlight to prevent
weeds from growing and retaining
moisture in the soil.
^
abcdFrank, Andrew K.
Indian Removal.Archived 2009-09-30 at the
Wayback MachineOklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
^"Dragging Canoe". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
^Mount Pleasant, Jane (2006). "The science behind the Three Sisters mound system: An agronomic assessment of an indigenous agricultural system in the northeast". In Staller, John E.; Tykot, Robert H.; Benz, Bruce F. (eds.). Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize. Amsterdam: Academic Press. pp. 529–537.
ISBN978-1-5987-4496-5.
Hann, John H. "The Mayaca and Jororo and Missions to Them", in McEwan, Bonnie G. ed. The Spanish Missions of "La Florida". Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. 1993.
ISBN0-8130-1232-5.
Hann, John H. A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996.
ISBN0-8130-1424-7.
Hann, John H. (2003). Indians of Central and South Florida: 1513-1763. University Press of Florida.
ISBN0-8130-2645-8
Jackson, Jason Baird and Raymond D. Fogelson. "Introduction." Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004: 1-68.
ISBN0-16-072300-0.
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
ISBN978-0-19-513877-1.
Sturtevant, William C., general editor and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004.
ISBN0-16-072300-0.