Final answer:
Both the Middle Woodland and Mississippian period societies built mounds, but their subsistence strategies and technologies differed, with the Mississippian culture adopting intensive agriculture and the bow and arrow. The Mississippian period also saw more complex social hierarchies and larger trade networks than the preceding Middle-Weblands period.
Step-by-step explanation:
The social organization, subsistence strategies, and technology of the Middle-Weblands and Mississippian period societies demonstrate both similarities and differences. While both periods were characterized by mound-building cultures, the technologies, and subsistence practices evolved significantly over time.
- Both the Middle Woodland and Mississippian societies were known for their practice of mound-building. The Middle Woodland period is associated with the Hopewell tradition, which built mounds largely for ceremonial purposes, whereas the Mississippian mounds often formed the basis for larger, more complex urban settlements.
- Subsistence strategies shifted from a mix of hunting, gathering, and limited agriculture in the Middle Woodland period to more intensive, corn-based agriculture in the Mississippian period. This agricultural intensification supported higher population densities and led to the development of chiefdoms centered around the mounds.
- In the realm of technology, the Middle-Weblands peoples used spears, bows, and blowguns for hunting, while by the Mississippian period, the adoption of the bow and arrow had become more widespread, especially for hunting smaller animals.
- The Middle Woodland period saw the emergence of significant trade networks across the Eastern Woodlands, a trend that continued and expanded under the Mississippians, with artifacts found hundreds of miles from their origin, indicating extensive long-distance trade.
- Social organization evolved from semi-egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups in the Middle Woodland period to more hierarchical societies in the Mississippian period, as evidenced by the complexity of the mounds and the societal structure surrounding them.