The legacies of the so-called “myth of the mound builders” there are many, from them just building the mounds to the artifacts found at the sites of the mounds. It was also the myth of the vanished race, but they didn’t really vanish just split up. Additionally, with building the mounds they had a maize (corn) based agriculture, shell tempered pottery, widespread trade, social complexity with settlement hierarchies, and the SECC (Southeastern ceremonial complex). Which is a belief system with cosmetology and symbols. A little bit deeper in the SECC they had the above world which was the home of thunders they represented order and stability. The middle world which is humans and their impacts. Finally the beneath world where it is cold and dark is also full of chaos. In conclusion the indigenous people had a complex and innovative society. They also had motifs and symbols that represented different parts of the SECC, like the birdman, redhorn, great servants, and the game called chunky. In addition to the mounds they created many different types of mounds from the platform, burial, earthworks, and mound complexes. These structures they created lasted for thousands of years and are still in good shape. It is amazing how such people could create such structures with the limited tools they had back in the day, especially the mounds that are of animals or in patterns, they created these with limited knowledge and tools it is very impressive. The ideas of the indigenous people I think still persist today, they had symbols that represented their religion and in today’s society, there are many different kinds of religions and they have different symbols that represent each religion. Some other ideas from the people that were trying to solve the myth of the mound builders were that indigenous people were too primitive to build the mounds and all of the other artifacts that were found at the sites, another idea was that the mounds and artifacts were more ancient than the earliest groups of First Nations Culture. Thirdly the stone tablets that were found at the mound sites were conscripted in Europe, Asian, or African alphabets; which we found out that they were all forged and/or fake. Lastly, First Nations peoples said that the mounds were already there when the Europeans asked them, and professed complete ignorance. Some people today believe that those statements are true and with racist intentions refuse to believe that indigenous people were capable of building and crafting such marvelous structures and artifacts. Also today in popular culture in movies and TV shows indigenous people aren’t always shed in the best light sometimes. Not given the credit they deserve that they were the ones that actually built the mounds and are capable of doing amazing things. In conclusion, the indigenous people did in fact build the mounds and craft the artifacts that were found at the mounds, they constructed the structures with limited knowledge and basic tools. They also had a strict and complex religion that the Mississippians followed.

~Autumn Studnicka