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. Most Southeastern peoples (excepting some of the coastal peoples) were highly
agricultural, growing crops like
maize, squash, and beans for food. They supplemented their diet with hunting, fishing, 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.
Poverty Point culture The
Poverty Point culture inhabited portions of the state of
Louisiana from 2000–1000 BCE during the
Archaic period. 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. Hand-modeled lowly fired clay objects occur in a variety of shapes including anthropomorphic figurines and cooking balls. 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. Image:Spiro engraved hero twins HRoe 2005.jpg| Image:Spiro ceremonial mace HRoe 2005.jpg| Image:Moundville stone pallette HRoe 2003.jpg| Image:Spiro Lucifer Pipe HRoe 2005.jpg| Image:Etowah statues HRoe 2007.jpg| Image:Calusa carved gator head on display at the Florida Museum of Natural History.jpg|
Post-European contact 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. 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. ==Culture==