The Mississippi Indians
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The Mississippi Indians
Ever since I was young, I wanted to learn more about the Indians that used to live in the area of my hometown of Bay St. Louis, MS. Luckily, deep in a large group of woods nearby, my team of archaeologists and I stumbled upon the remains of an old Indian household. This household, was preserved to almost the same as is was back when the Indians lived in it. There were many things inside the house that helped us to have an understanding of how these Indians lived.
The house was made of large sticks and logs, which were held together by thick layers of mud between each one. The roof was made out of straw, which was also held together by mud. The mud that held the whole house together, had been there so long, that over the years, it became as hard as cement and kept the house in almost perfect condition. The mud also may have been used as a type of insulation to keep out the elements.
One of the firs things that caught our attention, when we walked in the house, was a large net. It was a net that was strung between two large sticks. The main thing that we believed that the net was used for, was fishing. It would make perfect sense, considering that the Indians lived right by the Jordan River, Bay of St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico. There were also many ponds and creeks that were nearby the household. On a very reliable archaeological website, we found where other archaeologists discovered that Indians in other parts of the country used very similar tools to fish with. The Indians would pull the to sticks away from each other to where the net had a slight curve in it. They would then drag then sticks along the ground to where the net would catch anything that it passed. The fish were not able to escape because of the slight curve in the net. If they tried to swim side to side, they would still run into the net. The Indians would start in slightly deep water and drag the net to the shore, trapping fish and other creatures on the sand, where they would then collect them.
Another way that we could tell that the Indians were fisherman is that we found many remains of shellfish in the house. There were necklaces that had small shells from shellfish on them. There were also small piles of both clam and oyster shells where it seemed they collected the shells after they ate the shellfish. Besides being used for necklaces, they also used the shells for other things. There were a few large oyster shells that seemed to be used for mixing paints. There were a few of the shells that each had a different color paint in them. Since there were no paintings around, it seems that the paint would prob have been used to paint the bodies of the Indians.
There were even a few pieces of pottery. The pottery had seemed to be made of the clay that is very commonly found along the banks of the rivers and creeks of Bay St. Louis. There were a few plates that were made of the