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A mural in the exhibit gallery of Parkin State Park depicts life at Parkin in the 1500s. (Courtesy Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism).

When the Plum Bayou people of the Toltec site, and other groups in the Mississippi Valley, combined the domesticated plants of the eastern agricultural complex of North America with corn and beans from Mexico, they laid the foundation for the Mississippian way of life, a way of life based solidly on agriculture, rather than on gathering wild plant foods. From A.D. 900 on, more places like Toltec began to appear in the Mississippi Valley, from Memphis north to St. Louis, and Toltec itself was soon overshadowed. Between A.D. 900 and A.D. 1200, the people of this area, whom archeologists call the Mississippians, went from being part-time gardeners who still depended on the old reliable wild foods such as nuts, seeds, meat and fish, to being almost full-time farmers. This greatly expanded the population.

Since the Mississippians were primarily farmers, they were far more dependent on their fields of corn, beans and squash than any people previously. One of their main gardening tools was a hoe with a large chipped stone blade eight to ten inches long and four or five inches wide. Notice the polish on this specimen, from long use in sandy soil. The Mississippians were also excellent woodworkers. Their three basic woodworking tools were the celt, the adz, and the chisel. Celts were simply stone axes, used for cutting down trees and cutting and splitting wood. The Mississippians used celts and fire to clear their fields and to get wood for building their houses and their elaborate fortifications. The adz is a more specialized tool, used for hollowing out wood. Chisels were used for shaping wood. (Courtesy Arkansas Archeological Survey)

The photograph on the right shows Mississippian arrow points. The Mississippians were armed with very powerful bows of oak or bois d'arc (Osage orange), the latter one of the best bow woods in existence, equal to the yew wood used for the English long bows of Robin Hood's days. The Spaniards learned, to their dismay, that the Indians could shoot arrows through their shirts of chain mail and completely through their horses. Mississippian warriors were also armed with chipped stone daggers and swords. (Courtesy Arkansas Archeological Survey)

Click on one of the following to learn more about community life at these individual archeological sites.

Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park

Parkin Archeological State Park

Ancient Monuments

CAST

NPS