Mississippi: The Seventh Cradle of Civilization

[Gwyain]

The Early Mississippian cultural area occupied the Mississippi Embayment from just above the confluence with the Ohio River in the North, to just below the confluence with the Yazoo River in the South, encompassing around 350 miles from North to South and around 120 miles East to West at its widest. The area was bounded to the west by the Ozark Plateau, to the south by the bayous of the Mississippi River Delta [1], to the east by the Mississippi Loess Plateau, and to the north by the still rather frigid post-glacial terrain [2].

1. The Mississippi River Delta was significantly further inland at this point, to somewhere around modern Baton Rouge. While inland, the delta was likely full of swamps and bayous and so it gives a convenient boundary.
2. The Younger Dryas was only just coming to an end around 10,000 BP when the Early Mississippians are developing and taiga still extends south to cover much of the Midwest at this point (and the Mississippi valley, meanwhile, was warmer and wetter than it is today). The taiga receded over the course of the next 2,000 years, but ecological succession takes time, thus the northern limit.

 

[wendishman]

I like this! Any timeline with alternate civilizations in different areas of the world without successful civs developing is a must read on my end.

Though from your perspective given that the Mississippians did develop their own plant domestication why the ultimate failure in OTL?

Neat coincidence that you post this a day after I start with my much more difficult/implausible Alaskan cradle of civilization.

 

[Gwyain]

I admit I only skimmed those two references, but I don't see anything in either that suggests pig domestication taking place before plant domestication rather than alongside or after. Could you point me to where they talk about it?

Neither of the articles about pigs in China are quite so explicit to state that it occurred before agriculture, but there is a strong implication of it given it does appear to have occurred earlier. The relevant portion from the Hongo article (https://doi.org/10.1093/af/vfab021) comes from the introduction:

"Pigs were domesticated independently in at least two locations of the world: in northern Mesopotamia by c. 10500 Before Present (BP) and in China by c. 8000 BP." Emphasis mine.

"In China, sedentary communities emerged by around 11000 BP both in the Yellow River Valley in northern China and the Yangtze River Valley in the south (Liu 2005). These settlements provided the setting for the beginning of domestication of pigs, where some wild pigs took advantage of the anthropogenic niche and the “commensal” pathway proposed by Zeder (2012) could have started." Here we see discussion about the early commensal pathway beginning among sedentary, but pre-agricultural communities in China.

"Wild millets were initially exploited in the northern region, where domestic types of millet were attested by 7800 to 7500 BP (see below) ... Rice (Oryza sativa) was the main crop in the southern Neolithic, where the domestic form of rice was reported as early as 8000 to 7000 BP at Kuahuqiao 跨湖桥 in the Lower Yangtze delta." Emphasis mine once again. Here in we have dates for domestication of cereals in China.

The Rosenburg article I cited and the research at Hallan Çemi is far more explicit though that pigs were likely pre-agricultural domestications.

I like this! Any timeline with alternate civilizations in different areas of the world without successful civs developing is a must read on my end.

Though from your perspective given that the Mississippians did develop their own plant domestication why the ultimate failure in OTL?

Neat coincidence that you post this a day after I start with my much more difficult/implausible Alaskan cradle of civilization.

I think one of the biggest issues is that the EAC developed rather late. While the Calabash appears along the Mississippi by 7,000 BP, most of the rest of the complex doesn't seem to have been cultivated until closer to 3,000 BP. That doesn't leave a large window to develop the crop package or to build up much of a civilization. To get around that I needed to get agriculture to develop early than it did, for which the Platygonus domestication is a big component. By having a domestic* animal early on to help alleviate food shortages and increase sedentism and population. Combined with the 8.2 kya event** causing some short term climate change, this stimulates the early agricultural development.

* Or rather, semi-domestic early on. I have a post planned out going into this in more depth late, but one of the leading hypothesis on early pig domestication is that it occurred by managed females that were allowed to breed with wild boars [1] as agriculture became more prevalent, this shifted to fully managed herds.
**Another topic I'll cover more in a later post

1. Redding, R. & Rosenberg, M. Ancestral pigs : A New (Guinea) model for pig domestication in the Middle East. in (1998).

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

No need for Grey foxes as you already have dogs that came over the Bering Strait with the humans.

 

[Tessitore]

No need for Grey foxes as you already have dogs that came over the Bering Strait with the humans.

On the other hand it never hurts to have a more specialized verminator, which looking at the chapter in question is what the foxes would be. A cat-substitute rather than a dog-substitute.

 

[Leonidas]

Excited to see where this goes!

 

[King of the Uzbeks]

Interesting stuff

 

[Quinkana]

On the other hand it never hurts to have a more specialized verminator, which looking at the chapter in question is what the foxes would be. A cat-substitute rather than a dog-substitute.

I do think a specialised verminator makes sense, and other than foxes I could see the local ferrets or minks be domesticated.

 

[Quinkana]

Or rather, semi-domestic early on. I have a post planned out going into this in more depth late, but one of the leading hypothesis on early pig domestication is that it occurred by managed females that were allowed to breed with wild boars [1] as agriculture became more prevalent, this shifted to fully managed herds.
**Another topic I'll cover more in a later post

Tbf you can say that pigs either started to show genetic differences or that artifacts associated with domestication like fences for pigs start popping up. And I do think it's fine as it follows the timeline of domestication for other civs and it'd be a rough guess anyways as you can have more substantial changes on the animals occur later.

Considering little barley germinates well if frozen for a week I'd think it puts quite a hard cap on where little barley is and isn't competitive. I don't think little barley will be grown on the lower stretches of the Mississippi. Tbf I think one of the big things that you could change ittl is to make the other plants more competitive. Maybe make goosefoot have a tetraploid strain that becomes the main strain planted (tetraploid plants grow bigger and the seeds get bigger. Quinoa is a tetraploid plant) or have them become less bitter?

 

[Gwyain]

No need for Grey foxes as you already have dogs that came over the Bering Strait with the humans.

On the other hand it never hurts to have a more specialized verminator, which looking at the chapter in question is what the foxes would be. A cat-substitute rather than a dog-substitute.

This is indeed the role of the gray fox. A partially arboreal predator that benefits from the abundance of prey items around humans. Like cats, their direct usefulness to humans is questionable, at best (I say as a loving cat owner ).

Considering little barley germinates well if frozen for a week I'd think it puts quite a hard cap on where little barley is and isn't competitive. I don't think little barley will be grown on the lower stretches of the Mississippi. Tbf I think one of the big things that you could change ittl is to make the other plants more competitive. Maybe have a tetraploid strain that becomes the main strain planted (tetraploid plants grow bigger and the seeds get bigger. Quinoa is a tetraploid plant) or have them become less bitter?

Right you are about Little Barley. That's one of the big constraints on the crop package, and its going to heavily limit the overall population in the south for a quite some time. That's going to have some important effects later on (to give a hint, it gives me a convenient out regarding Mississippian language).

I'm also hoping to get the next update or two up towards the end of this weekend.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

indeed the role of the gray fox. A

As someone who has always wanted a fox as a pet (stupid laws) I'm all for this

 

[Gabingston]

I imagine that Little Barley would become the staple crop IOTL's Upper Midwest, New England and Canada, along with becoming common in Northern and Eastern Europe plus Northeast Asia upon TTL's Columbian Exchange

 

[Quinkana]

This is indeed the role of the gray fox. A partially arboreal predator that benefits from the abundance of prey items around humans. Like cats, their direct usefulness to humans is questionable, at best (I say as a loving cat owner ).

Grey foxes as dedicated verminators is quite interesting and I'd like to see how myths of foxes change as they get domesticated. Also I'd think some sort of mustelid would be domesticated as a minor verminator too a la polecats.

PS I was thinking about metalworking and I'd think it'd be better for the Americans to go from copper metalworking to iron metalworking as tin doesn't seem to be a resource that could be exploited by the Mississippians.

 

[Quinkana]

I imagine that Little Barley would become the staple crop IOTL's Upper Midwest, New England and Canada, along with becoming common in Northern and Eastern Europe plus Northeast Asia upon TTL's Columbian Exchange

Tbf I think Russia would adopt little barley but the main problem with little barley is that at most it'd be an annual crop since it needs the winter freeze, although if the yield is big enough I'd guess little barley would still be an important crop especially in areas where corn cannot grow well.

Instead, I think goosefoot would be a much better option. Using quinoa's numbers I could see goosefoot flowering in four month's time (or even less!) and if knotweed can keep up I think they'd be more competitive and be grown in different places. Wild grass would also be a good supplement which is why I think they'd be domesticated too.

PS one of the things things ittl Mississippi plant domesticates have is time. Time to develop mutations to become better crops. I'll not be surprised if little barley becomes less dependent on the freeze and that a lot of the main crops like little barley, goosefoot and knotweed develop tetraploidy or even hexaploidy to have bigger grains.

 

[piratedude]

I imagine that Little Barley would become the staple crop IOTL's Upper Midwest, New England and Canada, along with becoming common in Northern and Eastern Europe plus Northeast Asia upon TTL's Columbian Exchange

Tbf I think Russia would adopt little barley but the main problem with little barley is that at most it'd be an annual crop since it needs the winter freeze, although if the yield is big enough I'd guess little barley would still be an important crop especially in areas where corn cannot grow well.

Instead, I think goosefoot would be a much better option. Using quinoa's numbers I could see goosefoot flowering in four month's time (or even less!) and if knotweed can keep up I think they'd be more competitive and be grown in different places. Wild grass would also be a good supplement which is why I think they'd be domesticated too.

PS one of the things things ittl Mississippi plant domesticates have is time. Time to develop mutations to become better crops. I'll not be surprised if little barley becomes less dependent on the freeze and that a lot of the main crops like little barley, goosefoot and knotweed develop tetraploidy or even hexaploidy to have bigger grains.

Sound interesting, and i wonder how the introduction of Maize later on might be changed ittl? Perhaps with a bigger headstart on domestication of other cereals & pseudocereals, maize wont become nearly as dominant

 

[Some Bloke]

So can we expect Aztec Boar Boyz... i mean, Pig-riding Cavalry of the North America?

Waaaaaaaagh!

 

[Arkenfolm]

PS I was thinking about metalworking and I'd think it'd be better for the Americans to go from copper metalworking to iron metalworking as tin doesn't seem to be a resource that could be exploited by the Mississippians.

A few spots along the North Carolina/South Carolina border such as Kings Mountain have relatively rich deposits of cassiterite (including placers) exploited sporadically since the 19th century. This tin belt has isolated occurences in Georgia and another large source of cassiterite in Coosa County, Alabama. This area was OTL a major source of copper for the Mississippians and later natives, so I'd expect southern Appalachia to be a center of metalworking experimentation and thus eventually tin production.

There's a couple other sources further north in the Appalachians such as central Virginia and along the Maine/New Hampshire border. IIRC some of these were exploited as early as the colonial era. North of the Great Lakes there are some deposits as well. This is not far from the other major center of metalworking in eastern North America, the copper mining on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that occurred for millennia.

 

[Michael B]

A flaw in domesticating peccaries is that I do not find any reference of them ever living in south eastern America. Not saying that they could not have though.

 

[Quinkana]

A flaw in domesticating peccaries is that I do not find any reference of them ever living in south eastern America. Not saying that they could not have though.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790316303785

They do live around what the author showed was the original cradle.

 

[Kalvan]

Well, we have little barley, wild rice, and sea oats as available domesticable grain crops, with corn (maize), ammaranth, chia, and quinoa coming in later.