Below is a link to a recent article which discusses the possible reasons for the rise and decline of the Mississippian culture that I thought to be very interesting. In this article the authors believe major changes in climate in the mid continental area of North America were the main reasons for both the rise and decline but that the decline may have been accelerated by significant society reactions to an already declining agricultural base. Seems to boil down to too much corn and then not enough corn. It is a good example of what is generally considered a basic truism in Biology regarding the fate of animal populations and species when they become extremely specialized regarding their source and/or kind of food utilized. They decline and may go extinct. Those species that are the most generalized regarding their food and habitat are the ones that are most successful.
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The decline of the Mississippian culture.
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The mound builders have always fascinated me. I suspect that as populations rose around these centers of prominence, the food growers were eclipsed by the urban dwellers. As the search for resources spread further outward, food, firewood, and water became depleted and, starting with the inhabitants on the fringes, a subtle but vast migration away from the centers began.Child of the tides
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