Native American architecture—Southeast
Native American architecture in the Southeast is characterized by a rich tradition of mound building, with significant cultural influences tracing back to ancient civilizations, including interactions with groups from the Great Lakes to Florida. Monumental mounds, such as those at Poverty Point in Louisiana, date back to approximately 1200 B.C.E. and reflect complex social structures. The Adena culture, known for their burial mounds and distinctive cone-shaped dwellings made using wattle and daub techniques, contributed to the architectural landscape of the region. In this context, the Hopewell culture introduced various geoforms, including intricate ceremonial mounds.
The Mississippi tradition, particularly at the Cahokia site near St. Louis, illustrates the height of mound construction with its extensive pyramids, which served as centers for political and religious activities. The Natchez Indians maintained this mound-building heritage into the 18th century, while other tribes like the Creek and Yuchi developed large villages with ceremonial spaces. The Seminoles in Florida adapted their architecture to the local environment, creating unique structures known as Chickees, which featured elevated platforms and thatched roofs. Overall, Southeastern Native American architecture reflects a blend of indigenous traditions and adaptations influenced by European contact, showcasing the region's diverse cultural history.
Native American architecture—Southeast
Tribes affected: Southeast tribes
Significance: Wattle and daub structures, chakofas, and chickees were among the dwelling types of the Southeast, but the best-known Southeast constructions were large earthen mounds, some of which can still be seen
Southeastern tribal architecture is distinguished by a tradition of mound building. Southeastern monumental mound construction may have originated with Mexican Indians who moved to this locale to participate in the trade that occurred from the Great Lakes region to Florida. The concentric ridges of shaped soil that define a large central plaza at Poverty Point, Louisiana, are associated with this cultural influence. They date from about 1200 b.c.e.
The Adena culture of the Ohio River valley (1000 b.c.e.-200 c.e.) raised cone-shaped burial mounds. They also built dwellings that were 20 feet to 70 feet in diameter and had clay-covered latticework walls, a type of construction called wattle and daub. The dwellings were covered with thatched roofs. Adena effigy mounds, known as geoforms, depicting bears, panthers, reptiles, and birds, survive, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. The Great Serpent Mound (800 b.c.e.-400 c.e.) in southern Ohio is 1,247 feet in length and portrays the serpent clutching an egg in its mouth. The Hopewell culture’s funerary mounds, monumental circles, squares, and pentagonal geoforms, found in the Ohio Valley, succeeded the constructions of the Adena.
Under the Mississippi tradition (700-1000 c.e.), communities periodically enlarged their flat-topped trapezoidal mounds. The Cahokia historic site (800 c.e.) near St. Louis, Missouri, was the political, religious, and economic center of the Mississippi tradition. Cahokia’s central pyramid is the largest manmade structure north of Mexico, measuring more than 1,000 feet in length, 700 feet in width, and 100 feet in height, the result of fourteen different building campaigns over three centuries.
When European explorers first arrived in the Southeast, they encountered Indian townsites with shaped mounds dominating the community and its plaza. These mounds supported chieftains’ houses and public buildings or contained burials. The Natchez Indians of Mississippi continued the temple mound building tradition into the early eighteenth century.
Creek and Yuchi Indians built large villages with ceremonial plazas and ball courts. The Creek chakofa was a communal structure with a thatched conical roof. The Cherokees also built communal structures on low earthen mounds to house sacred fires.
By the nineteenth century, many southeastern tribes had adopted European-style buildings. One notable exception was in Florida’s southern marshes, where the Seminoles built wide-eaved, open-sided dwellings with elevated platforms of cypress poles and palmetto thatch known as chickees.