Earth/fertility cult

Platform mounds at the Holly Bluff Site

The Earth/fertility Mississippian cult was associated with earthen platform mounds.^[1]

The act of rebuilding the mounds, of adding additional layers of earth over burials, served as a symbol of renewal, which renewed the earthwork as much as human life. The earthen platform served as the earth, a symbolism which endured into historic times. There are historically documented connections between additions to platforms mounds and the communal "Green Corn Ceremony", which celebrated the new harvest and the fertility of the earth. The quadrilateral, flat-topped design of many platform mounds may represent the Southeastern American Indian belief that the earth was a flat surface oriented towards four quarters of the world.^[1]

See also

• Mississippian stone statuary

References

External links

Mississippian and related cultures
List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley
Middle Mississippian	American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Mound and Village Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Dogtooth Bend Kincaid Mounds Marshall Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Twin Mounds Ware Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Mound Bottom Riverview Mounds Archaeological Site Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Campbell Chucalissa Eaker Menard-Hodges Murphy Mound Parkin Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase
South Appalachian Mississippian	Adamson Mounds Site Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Bussell Island Chauga Mound Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa chiefdom Dallas Phase Dyar Etowah Mounds Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar Phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Site Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek Phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Mound Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah Phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Mounds Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Mound Summerour Toqua Town Creek Indian Mound Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks
Fort Walton culture	Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin-Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Mounds Leon-Jefferson Culture Letchworth Mounds Velda Mound Yon
Pensacola culture	Bottle Creek Indian Mounds Dauphin Island Fort Walton Mound Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people
Plaquemine Mississippian	Anna Emerald Mound Fitzhugh Mounds Flowery Mound Foster's Mound Ghost Site Mounds Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Mounds Julice Mound Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Mounds Natchez Pocahontas Mounds Routh Mounds Scott Place Mounds Sims Taensa Transylvania Mounds Venable Mound Winterville
Caddoan Mississippian	Battle Mound Belcher Mound Bluffton Mound Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Mounds Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Spiro Mounds
Upper Mississippian cultures	Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village
Culture	Artwork Emmons mask Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Mississippian culture pottery Mississippian stone statuary Shell gorget Languages Caddoan languages Central Algonquian languages Cherokee language Mobilian Jargon Muskogean languages Natchez language Siouan languages Timucua language Tunica language Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther
Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Maize Mill Creek chert de Soto Expedition