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People
throughout eastern North America lived in thousands of large
villages.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people resided in each village,
organized around a complex economic, social, and political
structure.
The people increased their reliance on intensive gardening
for most of their food.
Although the developments were not as elaborate in Virginia,
Late Woodland people developed strong identities as each adapted
to its local setting.
In southwestern Virginia, the transplanted Mississippian and
local cultures thrived; in the Shenandoah Valley, the Earthen
Mound Burial culture grew; and to the east, the Coastal Plain
Indians prospered.
Village
life broadened the social sphere, wealth, and security of the
residents. The resulting social structure demanded more
coordination of functions from the tribal leader, who assumed
greater responsibility and status.
The
Late Woodland people achieved a richness of culture that was unmatched
to date.
Sophisticated craftsmanship created a wide range of
pottery forms, stone artifacts, and bone tools such as awls, fishhooks,
needles, beamers, and turtle shell cups.
Accoutrements for the rich, such as beads and pendants,
were made from imported shell and copper.
Ceremonial and symbolic objects of stone, copper, and shell
were also manufactured.
A wide range of rather elaborate burial customs reflected
the people's fascination with the passage from life to death.
Villages
became more complex; house building more substantial.
In typical villages, various sizes of house were placed in rows
around a plaza with perhaps a council house or temple elevated
on a nearby mound.
A palisade may have surrounded the entire village.
In
farming, beans arrived from the southwestern lands about A.D.1000 to join
corn
and squash as the three major crops.
Tobacco came by way of Mexico.
Animals, especially deer and turkey, were heavily hunted,
as well as turtles and sometimes bear and elk.
A wide array of natural plants, nuts, and berries were
gathered.
Since
the preservation of artifacts from the Late Woodland period is
outstanding and the cultures are rich and dynamic, archaeologists
have been able to collect much information about group variation
across Virginia.
Although many of the pieces are missing, we know certain things
about a few of the more prominent groups.
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A
ceramic vessel with strap handles and a mole and snake effigy
on the surface
A
bone awl and fishhook
.
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