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Copper falcon dancer plate from Missouri.
Like the art of later Native American groups from southeastern North America, Mississippian art is replete with icons and symbolism. Much of this symbolism is apparently directly relevant to the ideological structure of the Mississippian world. In general, beings associated with the upper world are those that fly or soar, whereas beings that burrow, dive, or live in the water are tied to the lower world. Beings that represent the upper world such as the falcon, and supernatural Thunderbird , for example, are often also associated with the four cardinal directions. Similarly, underworld beings such as serpents, mythical feline-serpents, and horned beings may also be associated with the four cardinal directions.


Beaver effigy pot, Cahokia Mounds Museum.

Although the significance that the cardinal directions had for Mississippians will never be known in detail, ethnohistorical accounts and the importance of celestial directions for marking the passing of seasons make some inferences possible. Death and the afterlife, for example, may have been associated with the west, while the east may have been associated with life and rebirth. This is because the west is where the sun, the giver of life, sets everyday, only to reappear in the east, bathing the earth in light and warmth every morning.

Finally, although no archaeological data are available, Mississippians probably placed some importance to the constellations of the night sky. Many Native American groups, for example, identify the Milky Way, which intersects the earth's horizon in the west, as the "Path of Souls."


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