托福听力短文 II-14-2

(MA) I understand your professor has been discussing several Eastern Woodland Indian tribes in your study of Native American cultures. As you have probably learned, the Eastern Woodland Indians get their name from the forest-covered areas of the Eastern United States where they lived. The earliest Woodland cultures date back 9,000 years, but the group we'll focus on dates back only to about 700 A.D. We now call these Native Americans the Mississippian culture, because they settled in the Mississippi River valley.

This civilization is known for its flat-topped monuments called temple mounds. They were made of earth and used as temples and official residences. The temple mounds were located in the central square of the city, with the huts of the townspeople built in rows around the plaza.

The Mississippian people were city dwellers. But some city residents earned their living as farmers, tending the fields of corn, beans, and squash that surrounded the city. The city's artisans made arrowheads, leather goods, pottery, and jewelry. Traders came from far away to exchange raw materials for these items.

In the slides I'm about to show, you will see models of a Mississippian city.