Woodland and Mississippian Indians

Woodland and Mississippian Indians. . Woodland Tradition Indians, around 2,000 years ago, developed exotic mortuary cults, built burial mounds and effigy earthworks, and traded great distances for obsidian, copper, mica, and conch shells. They explored and exploited the caves of south central Kentucky where they mined gypsum, epsomite, aragonite, mirabilite and selenite crystals. They made the first clay ceramic vessels, relying equally upon hunting, gathering, fishing and horticultural pursuits for food., The last prehistoric cultural tradition, the Mississippian, around 700 years ago, exhibit a series of parallel, if not diffused cultural traits originating from Mesoamerica, including the bow and arrow, corn agriculture, truncated (flat-topped) mounds for use by a priestly elite and civil authorities, town plazas, and many similar iconographic designs as found at Kincaid and Wickliffe Mounds.