Mississippian Lifeways

Farming revolutionized human life. American Indians of the Mississippian culture were the first true farmers in the valley. Cultivating corn, squash, and beans, they transformed their diet, health, economy, society, political organization and world view.

In contrast to earlier Native American societies of the American Bottom, Mississippian society was more hierarchical, its people differentiated by social, religious and economic status as well as by occupation. The demise of Cahokia and the Mississipian way of life is not well understood. Village life demanded wood for construction and fuel. Ever-increasing demands on this critical natural resource may have had a deleterious effect. Natural factors may have played a more catastrophic role. Like today, as the great floods of 1850, 1873, 1927 and 1993 illustrate, Mississippian life in the valley of one of the world's mightiest rivers was not without significant risks to homes, economy and social life. Floods of this magnitude would have destroyed fields of beans, corn and squash, flooded grain storage pits in villages, and disrupted the otherwise reliable harvesting of aquatic resources.