Anthropology SNHU Mississippian Mound Archeology daria smith giraud

1. Studies into the past and
present
Culture
archeology
Mississippian

2. In juxtaposition to this evolutionary model there
was unease about the “Vanishing Indian,” a myth-history
of the 18th and 19th centuries that depicted Native
Americans as a vanishing race incapable of adapting to
the new American civilization.
2
quote

3. Cultural Group
Belief and practices
Key historical and cultural events
Physical environment
Connections and modifications
Methodology
Mounds and artifacts
Research methods
Artifacts and mound sites
3
Culture
Mississippian
contents
Connections
Economic
Social
Religious
Impact on history
Connections to our
past and present
human story
Citations

4. Mississippian Mound culture was coined the Southern
Cult or SECC due to the symbology of its artifacts that
resemble Pre-Columbian Mayan and Inca
iconography
4
Culture
Mississippian
Did You Know?

5. Culture
Mississippian
5
Mounds and
artifacts
SECC
Southern Cult
Trade on the
Mississippi
River

6. Cultural
Group
I

7. III
Mississippi Mound Builders
An AmericanAncient Past
LEARN MORE

8. Paleoamerican remains found in the Yucatan
In pre-Mayan Mexico , a slender, bucktoothed 15- or 16 -
year-old girl fell into a flooded, underground cavern
about 12 ,000 years ago. She was a Paleoamerican , with
features more akin to Africans and Southeast Asians than
modern Native Americans (Clark and Johnson, 2014).
8
quote

9. belief and practices
• Who
• The Mississippian Mound Builders also referred to as the Southeastern
Ceremonial Complex (SECC) consists of chiefdoms or tribal (trade)
nations and priesthood-artisans clans existing along the Mississippi
River waterway from the Gulf of Mexico including mounds built in
Illinois (Cahokia), Georgia (Etowah), Alabama (Moundville), Oklahoma
(Spiro), Minnesota (Silvernale), Florida (Lake Jackson), Tennessee
(Castalian Springs), Virginia (Carter Robinson) and other locations in the
United States (Hirst, 2017).
• The people were not all migrants from the Bering Straits as DNA
discoveries have provided new evidence suggesting much older
populations were “ancient” to North America.
• What
• The Mississippian artifacts display religious and spiritual significance
within a southern cult culture. The serpent is particularly found as a
central deity throughout the Southern cult mounds and the artifacts
including the “birdman” artifacts are similar in style, craftsmanship,
artisan metallurgy, and spiritual religious iconography. These artifacts
are representative of the mound effigy iconography throughout the
Mississippian waterway and mounds found throughout the
Southeastern tribal Indian states.
9
Above: Birdman (Rogan Copper
Plate, Etowah, Georgia), Below:
Rock Eagle effigy, Etowah
Mounds, Georgia (Rock Hawk
effigy not shown).

10. key historical and cultural events
Theory of Migration: Redefining Human Cultural Activity in the Americas
• Mississippi mound builders were trading along the mound sites including the Caribbean islands such as
Cuba, Hispaniola and other islands. Louisiana The (Tchefuncte and Poverty Point mound sites), New
Orleans Gulf Coast aligned to the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan (Mexico), Honduras, Nicaragua , Belize,
Salvador Mayan empire. Significantly Gulf Coast - Mississippi River is the Memphis of the Americas.
• Maps prior to 1808 prove that what was once the modern state of Louisiana was considered West
Florida (Pintado, 1805). According to aboriginal Chahta history West Florida was once part of the
Caribbean (Chief Warhorse, 2018).
• A paleoamerindian girl was found in the Yucatan (Clarke & Johnson, 2015) which suggests there were
ancient human migrations, trade, and cultural activity along the Gulf of Mexico into North America
Southeastern mound sites and waterways. DNA that is considered the oldest documented as “Adam” is
Carolina in the United States of America is considered 60,000 and 140,000 years old (Barras, 2013). Today
is classified as an African American. Other findings prove that ancient modern human fossils were found in
Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe of a 5-foot-tall woman (Cremo, 1991). (Note: My own family via
showed that many of my Native American cousins carried “Andean” Native American DNA and they reside
Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.)
• Modern human fossils and genetics prove that migration theories should be revisited and inclusive of
the ancient “negro” genome haplogroup and redefine pre and post lithic Paleoamerindian (10,000–3500
BCE), Meso-American, archaic Indians (3500–2000 BCE), preclassic (2000 BCE–250 CE), early preclassic,
classic, etc, timelines and definitions that align with the new archeological findings.
10
Spiro Mound complex
Spiro artifacts; shell
gorget, ancient cross
motif, sacred twins

11. physical environment
• where
• Residence and cultural activity was along the Mississippi River Valley. Many townships included
constructed architecture along the natural river and waterway systems to include mound (pyramid)
known to be on astrological (star constellation) and magnetic ley line key points similar to temples and
Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Egypt
• Geographically North American mounds including those of the Mississippian, Archaic, Hopewell, Adena,
periods exist on North American waterways such as Ohio River, Mississippi River, the Great Lakes
• Mississippian mounds sites include the regions of the Midwest, Southeast, Oneota, Fort Ancient, South
Appalachian Mississippian, Middle Mississippian, Caddoan Mississippian, Plaquemine from the Gulf of
the Great Lakes
• how: work and live
• These tribal chiefdoms were sophisticated mound builder cultures part of a larger trade (economic) –
political system or network. Their mounds were architectural sites built for spiritual ritualistic power
their deities, king-chiefs, and dead ancestors including water (elemental), anthropomorphic human
gods and effigy animal spirits. Their chiefdom sites or dwellings consisted of mounds and pyramids,
irrigation systems (desert regions), plaza complex, towns, villages, on the mound complex with
• The people were artisans, craftsman, bronze and copper metallurgy artists, gemstone and jewelry
blade (arrowhead) gemstone crafters, ax weapon artisans, pottery craftsman, builders and architects
including hunters and gatherers, and agriculturalists (farmers and cultivators). Clans included heads of
by both matrilineal and patrilineal familial traditions.
11
Mississippi River -
Greenville to St. James
1863 —the Mississippi
Valley: and its
fortifications by F.W.
Boell. Shows towns,
railroads, river·
landings, some
plantations, etc .
Library of Congress.

12. connections
• Quote: Cahokia was the largest city north of Mexico (Baires, 2018).
• The mounds sites themselves were zoomorphic effigies that represent various animal mythology and cultural
spiritual archetypes. They may also represent specific tribal clan chiefdoms and mystery systems within the tribal
nations and trade (artisan) groups. Like the Mayan Sun, Moon, Wind, Magician, Snake Kings temples and cities
(villages) the Mississippian mounds also seem to represent similar motifs; North American mound effigies include
Rattlesnake Mound, Eagle Mound, Alligator Mound, Bear Creek Mound.
• Strong Warrior gods and chief (king) clan culture with advanced trade systems. Many tribal wars took place, rivals,
and generational conflicts.
• SECC similarities include artifacts, ceremonies, mythologies, and spiritual iconography, agricultural practices, similar
to Mayan Pre Columbian nations such as cosmology, ancient cross motifs, tree of life or cedar tree mythos, snake
(underworld) deity, and avian bird “plumed serpent” god (Kukulkan (bearded serpent), Quetzacoatl (nagga feathered
serpent), Wind, Commerce, Underworld, Agriculture, Technology, Magic, equivalent the Egyptian Heru (Falcon)
warrior god and his father Osiris, god of Vegetation Resurrection and the Underworld. These gods were also
attributed to older ancient Snake (reptile) gods and mythologies.
• Churchward quotes:
• None of the prehistoric races that have inhabited North America have caused
more interest and speculation than the Mound Builders. On their ornaments and pottery are
found various· religious symbols, connecting them with a prehistoric race in Mexico and with Mu, the
Motherland of Man. By these symbols it is shown that they possessed a highly scientific knowledge, for they
perfectly understood the great Cosmic Sciences which today are just dawning on our scientific world. The
Cosmic Sciences include the origin and workings of the Four Great Primary Forces, the parents of all forces.
• By comparing other symbols of the Mound Builders with those found carved on Niven's Mexican tablets it
appears to show some definite connection between them, and that these Indian legends are history, orally
handed down.
12
Cahokia Mound complex
reconstructed (including Monks
Mound)
Serpent Mound crater effigy,
Cahokia site in Ohio, largest
serpent effigy in the world

13. modifications (and other facts)
• Mounds were either square, circular, or rectangle shaped
architecture.There are no known modifications.
• WhenWilliam Bartram and others recorded local Native
American narratives of the mounds, they seemingly
corroborated these mythical origins of the mounds.
According to Bartram’s early journals (Travels , originally
published in 1791) the Creek and the Cherokee who lived
around mounds attributed their construction· to “the
“the ancients, many ages prior to their arrival· and
possessing of this country” (Baires, 2018).
13
Etowah Mound city in Georgia
Etowah Mound city in Georgia

14. Methodology
II

15. DNA From 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton Helps Answer the
Question: Who Were the First Americans?
The small number of early American specimens discovered so
far have smaller and shorter faces and longer and narrower
skulls than later Native Americans, more closely resembling
the modern people of Africa, Australia, and the South Pacific.
This has led to speculation that perhaps the first· Americans
and Native Americans came from different homelands,”
(Kumar, 2014).
15
quote

16. Connections
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LEARN MORE
Mississippi Mound Builders
Mounds and Meso AmericanArtifacts

17. mounds and artifacts
• Artifacts and features of the
Mississippi Mound Builders of the
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
• Features include the mounds made
up of the Mississippian Mound
culture and their unique animal-
human iconography artifacts made of
shell gorgets, religious conch shells,
pottery heads and spiritual motifs,
and ancestor or chief king pipes
17
1. Birdman (Rogan Copper Plate, Etowah, Georgia), 2.
Braiden style warrior marine shell gorget (Craig Mound,
Spiro, Oklahoma), 3. Shell gorget (Craig Mound, Spiro,
Oklahoma) 4. Hightower Birdman gorget (Etowah
Mound, Georgia), 5. Engraved Welk shell showing
tattooed man, (Craig Mound, Spiro, Oklahoma), 6. Face
Tattoos Head effigy pot (Nodena Site, Wilson,
Arkansas), 7. Snake head (Etowah Mound, Georgia),
8.Engraved conch shell dipper cup (Craig Mound at
Spiro, Oklahoma), 9-10. Mississippian effigy stone
tobacco pipe (William Vaux collection, Accession
#21706) shown above front and side view

18. featured artifacts
• [Rogan Plate, Etowah Mound, Georgia]
• The Rogan Birdman Copper Plate artifact bridges not
only the so-called Southern Cult or SECC through its
consistent Mayan (pre-Columbian) Mesoamerican
“Warrior Cult” (CGSS Late Paleoindian Period:
Mississippian Copper Plates, N.D.) mask spiritual
motifs. Secondly, it illustrates that the Mississippian
tribal groups were in many ways cohesive in their
economic, political, spiritual practices, and systems
(trade/religious) because the Etowah plate and other
copper plates are linked by metallurgy logistics of
source and key production centers. The copper
“birdman” motif is significant among other artifacts
because this cultural art with specific ritualistic
representation can be found throughout the
Mississippian Mound sites. 18
Featured Artifact for Museum:
Rogan Plate, Catalogue No.
A91117, Etowah Mound, Falcon
Dancer (Department of
Anthropology, NMNH,
Smithsonian). The copper
“birdman” motif can be found
throughout the Mississippian
Mound sites

19. description
• The Rogan Avian Birdman copper plate was found in Cartersville, Georgia at the Etowah mound site. It
depicts a tribal man or warrior god with Mayan looking indigenous regalia and ritualistic spiritual costume
wearing beads, earplugs, braided or dreaded hair, waist, arm and leg jewelry, ritual headdress and feathers
with what looks like a double-headed (bladed) axe, with a spiritual ritual instrument, rattle, or weapon in
one hand and human sacrificial head in the other hand. The human body is adorned in large oversized
bird feathers and a bird beak or avian animal mask (CGSS Late Paleoindian Period: Mississippian Copper
Plates, N.D.). The human bird man is wearing an “apron” The figure shows the warrior aspect of the tribe
or cultural system. It is noted that human sacrifice was depicted and practiced throughout both the Inca
and Mayan spiritual political systems (kingdoms). “High priests and kings were one in Peru,
CundinAmaraca, worshipped the Sun and the Moon and performed human heart sacrifice like Mayan. The
Peruvian kings had natural fetish king worship rituals, i.e., striking natural objects.
• Lakes were sacred holy places.” (Fischer, 2012). The Rogan Etowah plate is illustrated from an original
found by Rogan with no mention to the whereabouts of the original. In my research, I found many of the
Mississippian artifacts were either stolen, sold or available on auctions throughout the United States
(Taylor, 2018). The artifact is made of copper metal and oxidized producing a greenish turquoise colored
overlay is 20 inches made of very thin light weight sheet copper. Heating and hammering methods of
coppersmithing was analysis and theorized to produce embossed artwork (CGSS Late Paleoindian Period:
19

20. research methods
• Research methods used to find the
Mississippian mounds sites and their
artifacts have been largely field
surveys to map sites (Morgan, 2002)
including site excavations including
studying the site function of the tribal
cultural activities and roles within its
society. Other methods could be
radiocarbon dating, crop marks or soil
analysis, and various sampling
methods, intensive foot surveys of the
site itself (Fagan and Durrani, 2017).
20
Featured Artifact: Pipe effigy (note
tattoo face and body, beard, god-animal
avian (bird), taloned rattlesnake, “below
world”(Birdman, a Great Serpent, or a
Great Panther) motifs, sandstone, 3x5
inches, Virginia Cumberland mounds

21. appropriate method
• LiDAR amazing results in new archeological discoveries
• A recent 2019 archeological discovery was found in the
jungle, coined the “Megalopolis of the Mayan Snake Kings,” a
stone complex Mayan empire in the Peton region of the Mayan
Biosphere Reserve. The technology used to ‘find’ this site is with
(Light Detecting and Ranging) using laser infrared snapshots to
and map the land mass creating 3D topographical models. This
alone has increased the Mayan empire by 15million people
2019).
• This discovery proves that there may be even more hidden Mayan
related empires to discover and that there is much more to the
civilization we are still not only discovering but literally just
land had been previously surveyed by archeologists and scientist,
nothing was found under the dense overgrown jungle. I would use
LiDAR to better detect other possible Mississippian mound sites
their structures.
21
Featured Artifact: Hightower style·
Birdman themed shell· gorget,
Etowah mound, Georgia

22. location and public private land
• The artifact was found in Cartersville, Georgia at the
Etowah mound complex initially a public place that
later became under the domain of the Georgia state
government. The ethical considerations are any
indigenous or Native American burial land law. As I
shared, I found many articles, news posts, and even
public auctions where Mississippian artifacts were
either stolen, lost, or being sold. This both angered
and saddened me deeply. I could not believe that
this was still going on in a manner so disrespectful to
not only the Native American heritage but as pieces
to our puzzling historical past.
22
Featured Artifact: Mississippian
Craig Style shell gorget, Tennessee

23. Connections
IIIConnections
III

24. Connections
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III
LEARN MORE
Mississippi Mound Builders
European History and Aboriginal Oral History

25. Culture
Mississippian
25
Economic
Social
Religious
Impact on
history
Battle over
History and
Identity

26. James Churchward, The Sacred Symbols of Mu
“The end of the Mound Builders, like the Khymers of
Cambodia, apparently came very suddenly, leaving
no trace behind it. The Mound Builders as a people are
gone, but did they leave no descendants in America?”
26
quote

27. What did the Early Americans look like?
North American Aboriginals & South and Central American Indians
archeology
27

28. How were the Aboriginal Indians Conquered
The Doctrine of Discovery – US American Law
archeology
“We are
victims of the
Doctrine of
Discovery”
‒ Chief Warhorse,
Chahta Tchefuncta
Nation
• Constructed by Pope Alexander VI (Spain) on May 4, in 1493
• The Papal Bull "Inter Caetera”
• “stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be "discovered, "claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and
declared that "the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of
souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself”
• All European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for the United States’ western expansion
• 1823 ‒ US Supreme Court case Johnson v. McIntosh , Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion· in the unanimous decision· held "that
the principle· of discovery· gave European nations an absolute· right· to New World lands
Resource (see citations): https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/doctrine-discovery-1493
28

29. Lost tribes? Unrecognized
tribes?
North American Aboriginal & Native American
Tribes
archeology
29

30. Did they disappear or die off...
archeology
MISSISSIPPIAN MOUND BUILDER: NATIONS & PEOPLE
30

31. archeology
MISSISSIPPIAN MOUND BUILDER: NATIONS & MOUNDS
Pre-Columbian Mayan Olmec
Mississippian – Southeastern Indians
31
North
America
Central America

32. Seminoles
Florida
Miccosukee Creek
Yamasee
Georgia
Carolinas
Florida
Guale Creek
Lumbee
Cherokee
North Carolina
Siouian
Pamunkey
Virginia
Maryland
Algonquian
Chahta (Choctaw)
*Mississippi
Louisiana
Florida (West)
Tchefuncta
Muskogean
Lakota Sioux North
Dakota
South Dakota Sioun
Blackfoot
Montana
Canada
Algonquian
Lenape
Pennsylvania
Delaware, New York
Oklahoma, Wisconsin
Canada
Algonquian
archeology
Who are they?
Paleo Amerindian
Southeastern and
Woodland North
American Nations
32

33. SOUTHEASTERN REGIONS: LAW AND TRIBES
Chahta (Choctaw)
Cherokee
Chickasaw
Seminole
Chickasaw
5 Civilized Tribes
(Aboriginal)
& Reestablishment of the
Tribes and Territory
(Government Recognized
and Modern Native
Americans) 33

34. SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS: REMOVAL, WARS, & TRAIL OF TEARS
European and American Indian Wars
East of the Mississippi (post-1775)
American Revolution (1775–1783)
Cherokee–American wars (1776–1794)
Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)
Nickajack Expedition (1794)
Sabine Expedition (1806)
War of 1812 (1811–1815)
Tecumseh's War (1811–1813)
Creek War (1813–1814)
Peoria War (1813)
First Seminole War (1817–1818)
Winnebago War (1827)
Black Hawk War (1832)
Creek War (1836)
Florida–Georgia Border War (1836)
Beaver Wars (1609–1701) between the Iroquois and the French,
who allied with the Algonquians
Anglo-Powhatan Wars (1610–14, 1622–32, 1644–46),1622
Jamestown Massacre,Powhatan Confederacy in the Colony of
Virginia
Pequot War of 1636–38 between the Pequot tribe· and colonists
from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut Colony
Kieft's War ( 1643 – 45 ) in the Dutch Lenape people·(NY,
Connecticut)
Peach Tree War ( 1655 )
Esopus Wars ( 1659 – 1663 )
King Philip's War (1675–78) Narragansett people
Tuscarora War (1711–15) in the Province of North Carolina
Yamasee War (1715–17) in the Province of South Carolina
Dummer's War (1722–25) in northern New England and French
Acadia
Pontiac's War (1763–66) in the Great Lakes region
Lord Dunmore's War (1774) in western Virginia ( Kentucky and
West Virginia )
West of the Mississippi
Arikara War (1823)
Osage Indian War (1837)
Texas–Indian wars (1836–1877)
Comanche Wars (1836–1877)
Antelope Hills expedition· (1858)
Comanche Campaign (1867–1875)
Red River War (1874–1875)
Buffalo Hunters' War (1876–1877)
Cayuse War (1847–1855)
Apache Wars (1849–1924)
Jicarilla War (1849–1855)
Chiricahua Wars (1860–1886)
Tonto War (1871–1875)
Victorio's War (1879–1880)
Geronimo's War (1881–1886)
Post 1887 Apache Wars period· (1887–1924)
Yuma War (1850–1853)
Ute Wars (1850–1923)
Battle at Fort Utah (1850)
Walker War (1853–1854)
Tintic War (1856)
Black Hawk War (1865–1872)
White River War (1879)
Ute War (1887)
Bluff War (1914–1915)
Bluff Skirmish (1921)
Posey War (1923)
Sioux Wars (1854–1891)
First Sioux War (1854-1856)
Dakota War (1862)
Colorado War (1863–1865)
Powder River War (1865)
Red Cloud's War (1866–1868)
Battle of Beecher Island (1868)
Great Sioux War (1876–1877)
Northern Cheyenne Exodus (1878-1879)
Ghost Dance War (1890–1891)
Rogue River Wars (1855–1856)
Yakima War (1855–1858)
Puget Sound War (1855–1856)
Coeur d'Alene War (1858)
Mohave War (1858–1859)
Navajo Wars (1849–1866)
Paiute War (1860)
Yavapai Wars (1861–1875)
Snake War (1864–1869)
Hualapai War (1865–1870)
Modoc War (1872–1873)
Nez Perce War (1877)
Bannock War (1878)
Crow War (1887)
Bannock Uprising (1895)
Yaqui Uprising (1896)
Battle of Sugar Point (1898)
Crazy Snake Rebellion (1909)
Last Massacre (1911)
Battle of Kelley Creek (1911)
Battle of Bear Valley (1918)
Trail of Tears-Indian Removal Act of 1830 of Southeastern 5 Civilized
Tribes to “Indian Territory” 1831–1877
34

35. Facts and Oral History from Chief Warhorse
• Title
 Queen of the Tchefuncta
 Chief of the Chahta Nation – 1998 appointed
• Indigenous Tribal Name
 Chahta indigenous name “Gods People” later renamed Choctaw by European explorers
 Choctaw name used by government appointed “modern” Native Americans
 US Government divided dark skin (Aboriginal) Indigenous Americans from the Bering Straits modern
Native Americans
 Chahta Nation not federally recognized by the US Government (to date)
 “Waterway People”
• Lineage
 Aboriginal Indigenous American
• Ancient PaleoAmerindian and Meso-Indian (6000 BC) descendent, Older DNA from Modern Native
American
• 365 elders of Indigenous Tribe
• Ancient and Current Land Region:
 Grandfather “we owned as far as the eyes can see, from Gulf of Mexico to Appalachian Mountains”
 Louisiana region (1803) formerly West Florida, and Mississippi (which was formerly Louisiana)
 Bonfouca village “water of the bayou” or “swamp”
• Periods, Mound Builder Eras, and Economic History
 “Mississippian culture comes way after the Chahta culture”
 Tchefuncta period (600 BC - l 200 AD) prior to Poverty Point (2000 BC-600 BC)
 Mound Builders from ancient times to present
 Known as “first brick makers”
 Known and tied to Brickyards in Louisiana
 Long Distance Trade - Traded with Cuba and Caribbean Islands by way of schooners and ships documented by
early Europeans
SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS: CHAHTA TRIBE
DESCENDENT OF MISSISSIPIAN MOUND BUILDERS
Queen Chief
Elwin Warhorse Gillum of Slidell
35

36. Facts and Oral History from Chief Warhorse
• Tribal rituals include:
 Mound Building celebration
 Day of the Dead celebration
• Connection to Olmec Mayan lineage
 Chata Mountain has giant Olmec heads by way of mounds and brick monuments
 Bolivian tribal elders recognized North American Chahta as “relatives” and descendants of
their “ancestors”
• US Law & Policy (to date) – [partial list]
 Recognized American Indian – reclaimed ”American Indian” status 2010 US Consensus
 Tribal members reclassified from “other” and “creole” by U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of Census
 Part of the descendants of Chahta (Choctaw), Creek, Cherokee who refused to leave their land
under Andrew Jackson (Trail of Tears)
 Unrecognized American Indian Tribe by US Federal Government (to date)
 Written out of history books, stolen identity, paper genocide
 Doctrine of Discovery (1493-to date) mandated under the US Constitution
 Louisiana Purchase (1803)
 Republic of West Florida (1810) – modern day Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi
 Sundry Law – Act of 1790
 Transatlantic Slave Trade – [started with enslavement of Indigenous Indians]
 Eminent Domain - Boom Co. v.Patterson,98 U.S.403, 406 (1879)
 General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
 Racial Integrity Act 1924 – “One Drop Rule” lobbied by Walter Plecker
SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS: CHAHTA TRIBE
DESCENDENT OF MISSISSIPIAN MOUND BUILDERS
Queen Chief
Elwin Warhorse Gillum of Slidell
36

37. economic culture
• Economics of these tribes were effected
when European settlers, explorers, and conquers came to
the Americas
• As stated in oral history and documented these
American Indians were involved in trading not only in
North America but the Caribbean, South and Central
America
• Land redistribution resulted in loss of identity and
culture
• US Law and Policy consistently worked as system to
confine and destroy
wealth and tribal sovereignty
• By using the Pen as a weapon in the case of Paper
Genocide “Black” Indians were not provided recognition
to land rights, identity, and have little authority over
their ancestral land i.e., mound sites and archeology
37
Featured: Etowah Georgia mound and
Birdman Rogan artifact iconography

38. Before the European came to the Americas we were
in the Swamp area. Before there was a Florida, we
were in the Tchfuncta Chahta region…
38
quote
Oral History of the Chahta Nation in America
“History proves that the Chahta were once in control from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Appalachian Mountains. My grandfather told me “at one time we owned everything
father than a man’s eye can see. But they kept pushing us and pushing us . Trying to
push us off the face of the earth.
Ancient Regions in America Before the European arrived here to the Americas we were
in the swamp area of West Florida. Today those people identify us as Louisianans.
Before there was a West Florida, we were in the Tchefuncta or the Chahta region.
History proves that once the Chahta were once in control from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Appalachian mountains. My grandfather told me our family history being passed down.
He took me outside and told me, ““at one time we owned everything father than a
man’s eye can see. But they kept pushing us and pushing us . They tried to push us off
the face of the earth.” Black Europeans (Moors of Spain) and white Europeans coming to
our land. Here we were independent our own government living well. Until someone
came and decided that we should not be in the place we were in and began pushing us
down. “
Chahta
(renamed the Choctaw)
*Mississippi
Louisiana
Florida (West)
Tchefuncta
archeology

39. What the European began to was change names. My
Grandmother and them, went to bed in West
Florida. Woke up and they was in America. How did
that happen? European migration, European laws,
which placed me in Louisiana.
39
quote The Power of the Pen becoming Law: Land and Identity
“What at the European began to do was to change names. So they started
changing names as they wrote books back to France or Spain. And those
books showed the changing of the names there but here people didn’t see
the change. For instance right now I’m in West Florida but legally by papers
I'm in Louisiana. Now when did we make it to Louisiana and never move,
never caught a boat? Nothing! Still in the same place we been for thousands
of years. But we end up in a place called Louisiana. My Grandmother and
them, went to bed in West Florida. Woke up and they was in America. How
did that happen? European migration, European laws, which placed me in
Louisiana. “
Chahta
(renamed the Choctaw)
*Mississippi
Louisiana
Florida (West)
Tchefuncta
archeology

40. social culture
• Many Black Indian tribes today are not federally
recognized by the US Government
• Others continue to fight for recognition and inclusion
into modern Native American tribes that continue to
classify them as descendants of African slaves and
modern Native American lineage, although some
tribal members have dual ancestry and lineage,
others do not
• Such is the case with the Tchefuncte Chahta who are
descendants of the Mississippi Mound Builders and
Aboriginal Original Indigenous Americans
• Tchefuncte Chahta continue to celebrate their ancient
culture with Mound Building ceremonies and Day of
the Dead ceremonies that resemble both 40
Chief Queen Tchefuncte Chatah Warhorse, and
White House Constituency Roundtable, Director
Gail Adams of the Department of Interior’s Office
of Intergovernmental and External Affairs. photo:
Edwards, Times-Piscayune, 2011

41. archeology
religious culture
Day of the Dead
Ceremony –
Tchecfuncta
Mexico
Ancient Mound
Builders
Tchefuncta
Poverty Point
Chahta Land
West Florida (1808)
Chahta Brick Builders of
Louisiana
“Ancient Mound
Builders”
Bolivia Inka &
Ancient Mayan
lineage
Chahta Olmec Heads
Chata Mountain
Name of Aboriginal
Indian tribe
41
Poverty Point Mound &
Tchefuncte Artifacts “We’re Mound builders. I
am a Mound builder.
Building and making brick.
We were known as being
the first brick makers. Court
records say we were the
richest brick makers. When
Louisiana burnt down, our
bricks rebuilt New Orleans.
We were independent. We
were entrepreneurs doing
business around the world.
Doing long distance trade
and manufacturing. I asked
my Grandfather, “where do
we come from,” he said we
been here always.” Chief
Warhorse, oral history,
(Truths AI, 2018, [YouTube])

42. impact on population
• The research I conducted and studied not only
impact the Tchefuncta Chahta Nation by mere
recognition, awareness, and human family ties
but more importantly effect the reader and those
who find this information and data useful
• Personally, this research as it unfolded for me
these past few weeks and days drastically
provided some healing and closure for my own
Native American, Aboriginal American and
African American ancestors
• I once saw them in shallow graves hidden from
our memories and today, I feel and see them
standing with dignity and honor
• I realize I am a researcher, storyteller, and scribe
with the responsibility of sharing the history that
must be told for the healing of all people on this 42
Featured Artifact for
Museum: Rogan Plate,
Catalogue No.

43. Connections
LOREM IPSUM NTUES RIGHRT TTHERE CONTI
Lorem ipsum ntues righrt tthere conti
III
LEARN MORE
Mississippi Mound Builders
Connections to our Past and Present Human Story

44. Ablavsky,G. (2011). University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Making Indians “white”:The JudicialAbolition of Native Slavery in RevolutionaryVirginia and Its Racial
Legacy,159(5),175.doi:https://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/lawreview/articles/volume159/issue5/Ablavsky159U.Pa.L.Rev.1457(2011).pdf
Baires, S. (2018, February 23). White Settlers Buried theTruthAbout the Midwest's Mysterious Mound Cities. Retrieved from
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/white-settlers-buried-truth-about-midwests-mysterious-mound-cities-180968246/
Barras,C. (2013.).The father of all men is 340,000 years old. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn 23240 -the-father-of-all-men-is-340000-years-
old/
Brown University. (2016, October 05).YouTube: Indian Slavery:An Unspoken History. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ8A52AC2LI
CGSS Late Paleoindian Period: Mississippian Copper Plates. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://peachstatearchaeologicalsociety.org/index.php/20-copper-artifacts/296-
mississippian-copper-plates
Churchward,Albert.The signs and symbols of primordial man. NewYork: E. P. Dutton & co. Retrieved from 10.5479/sil.212089.39088000141432
Churchward, J. (1933).The sacred· symbols of Mu. NewYork: IvesWashburn Publisher.
Clarke, P. & Johnson, R. (2015, May 15). Paleoamerican skeleton· found in theYucatan. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/national/paleoamerican-remains-found-in-the-yucatan/ 1036/ noredirect=on
Clynes,T. (2019, March 14).ThisAncient CivilizationWasTwiceAs Big As Medieval England. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/maya-
laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/
44
Culture
Mississippian
citations

45. 45
Culture
Mississippian
citations
Edwards, S. ( 2011, November 24) White House paysTchefuncta Nation visit· in its 'White House' . Retrieved from https://www.nola.com/community/st-
tammany/2011/ 11 /white_house_pays_tchefuncta_na . html
Fagan, B. M., & Durrani, N. (2017). In the beginning:An introduction· to archaeology.Abingdon,Oxon: Routledge.
Fisher, R. S. (2012). Book of the world:The book of the world; being an account of all republics, empires, kingdoms, and nations , in reference· to their geography,
statistics, commerce...(Vol. 1). Place of publication· not identified: Rarebooksclub.com .
Gray, L. H. (Ed.). (1920).The Mythology of all races: In 13 vol. Latin America.(Vol.XI). Boston: Marshall Jones Company.
Hirst, K. K. (2017, March 08).TheGreat Mississippian Wave of CulturalChange from Cahokia. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/southern-cult-
southeastern-ceremonial-complex-172809
Imhotep, D. (2012).The First AmericansWere Africans: Documented Evidence. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
Indigenous Peoples Research Foundation. (2018). Serpent raises it's head in Georgia. Retrieved from https://www.precontact.org/serpent-raises-its-head-in-georgia
Kumar, M. (2014, May 15). DNA From 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton HelpsAnswer theQuestion:WhoWere the First Americans? Retrieved from
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dna-12000-year-old-skeleton-helps-answer-question-who-were-first-americans-180951469/
Little,G. L.,Turman, D., & Roe, H. (2009).The illustrated encyclopedia of NativeAmerican Indian mounds & earthworks. Memphis,TN: EagleWing Books.

46. 46
Culture
Mississippian
citations
Morgan, D. (2002, October).Archaeology and Prehistoric Mississippi. Retrieved from http://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/articles/74/archaeology-and-prehistoric-
mississippi
Ogilby, J. (1671).America: Being the latest, and most accurate description· of the New world:Containing the original of the inhabitants , and the remarkable· voyages
thither:The conquest· of the vast empires of Mexico and Peru , and other large· provinces and territories , with the several European plantations in those parts:Also ,
their cities , fortresses , towns , temples , mountains , and rivers:Their habits , customs , manners , and religions:Their plants, beasts, birds and serpents. . . London.
Pintado,V. S. (1805) Map of Louisiana, Spanish West Florida. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2013585050/.
Pipe from theWilliamVaux Collection, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, DOI: 10.1080/01461109.2017.141991
PopeVI A. (n.d.).The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Retrieved from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/doctrine-discovery-1493.The Doctrine of
Discovery , 1493, A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Pope AlexanderVI.
Power, S. C. ( 2004 ). Early art· of the Southeastern Indians feathered serpents and winged beings.Athens: University of Georgia Press.
R.Veit & M. Lobiondo. (2018): A Problematic Mississippian
Taylor, S. (2018, November 15). Stolen Moundville artifacts recovered after 40 years. Retrieved from https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/news/20181112/stolen-
moundville-artifacts-recovered-after-40-years
Truths,A.I. (2018, September 18). Chief Warhorse CONFIRMSThat Dane Calloway Is 100% CorrectWithThe InformationThat He Presents. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5xt_xGUrtA

47. Thanks for
watching this
presentation
I enjoyed this class; doing
this research, and
expanding thought,
analysis, and perspective
based on scholarship
47