Mississippian cultures are often interpreted in isolation, even from one another, grossly underestimating the movement of people and ideas across the landscape, including important interactions with Mesoamerica, Northern Mexico and the Southwest. The evidence for this movement and interaction is glaring and obvious once we move beyond the limitations and prejudices of our colonial past. Native people, both north and south of the border, have long recognized these connections.
Image: Human Effigy Pipe reportedly found in Georgia and sold at auction from a private collection in 2019.
This is not to say that the entirety of Mississippian culture finds its roots in Mesoamerica, Northern Mexico, or the Southwest, but instead, represents an amalgamation of ideas, a sharing and integration of culture and technology. During this same period, there do appear to be similar ideas circulating in Mesoamerica, among the ancestral Pueblo and Mimbres of the Southwest, and those at Casas Grandes in northwestern Mexico.
A three-week journey would hardly discourage an adventurer, opportunist, or refugee seeking safe haven. Such an assumption fails to recognize the well documented ability of humans across the globe to explore and endure, especially in pursuit of power, wealth, knowledge, or safety. Just as there was a problem of cultural isolation in the American Southwest, we must recognize a similar problem in the American Southeast and Midwest. While Mississippian cultures were unique, there were obvious influences flowing in from the south and west.
As some have suggested before (Holms 1883, Warring & Holder 1945, Radin 1948, Nuttall 1979, Hall 1989,1997, 2000, 2005, Kehoe 2005, 2010, 2011, etc.), by the 10th century, some new form of interaction likely occurred directly between Mesoamerica, the Midwest, and the Southeastern United States. Anthropologists and Archaeologists Robert Hall (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican) and Alice Kehoe have stressed the significance of this idea for years, despite stiff resistance from their colleagues. Sadly, Robert Hall passed away in 2012, while Alice Kehoe continues her work today.
Major polities arose and highly developed cultures interacted across great distances. It is time to acknowledge this and the very significant links in ideology, iconography, urban planning, and agricultural technology. The common thread that informs what is being examined here is maize as a sacred plant and the enduring mythology and ceremonialism associated with it.
In this image from the Codex Nuttal, we see a being, with a sash, kneeling in a stance commonly found throughout Mesoamerican and Mississippian art, especially gorgets. They usually appear to be striking something related to water or the underworld, like a serpent or being with serpent-like or fish attributes, or a shell as seen here.
On this Mississippian gorget from Etowah Mounds, we see a similar being, in the same stance, involved in a similar act. The markings on his skirt or also similar to markings found on beings in Mesoamerica, especially at Chichen Itza. Other Mississippian examples include this being wearing a skirt similar to the netted skirt of the Maize god, often worn by Maya Kings and Queens.
Gorget from the Maya region of Mexico. Note the wings, posture, and sash at the waist. This item was found on the open market as part of an online auction conducted in 2017.
Again, we see a being on a Mississippian gorget from Castalian Springs, TN in the same stance. Photo by Walter Larrimore 2007, The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
Another shell gorget from the Maya. Here we again see similarities in depiction, including the stance that is so common in Mesoamerica and Mississippian America. We also see deities in this same stance with a sash in the Dresden Codex of the Maya.
A Mississippian gorget found at Etowah, Georgia.
The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowa (1844-45) is wearing a shell gorget much like those worn during the Mississippian Era. (Painting by George Catlin)