April 2012
·
16 Reads
This chapter traces Mississippi’s prehistoric past. From the waning of the last Ice Age, early southeastern Indian populations successfully adapted to climate fluctuations and a changing environment. Hunters and gatherers found ways to thrive in the evolving forests and prairies. The Mississippi River and the state’s other familiar drainage systems assumed their modern courses, and the Gulf sea level rose to form the present coastline. An increasing concentration on agriculture and technological developments such as clay pottery and the advent of the bow and arrow culminated in the ostentatious mound-building civilizations that flourished here in the final centuries before European contact.