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The designs on these art pieces comes from th eMisissippian and Hopewell cultures. These people inhabited the southeast and parts of the midwest in ancient times. Archeaologists date the Hopewell/Adena culture from about 400 B.C. to about 400 A.D., and th eMississippiean culture from about 900 A.D. to early 1600's. Many tribes today are ancestors of these people, esppecially tribes in the southeast such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw, and Seminole.

The copper pieces are mostly replicas of old Mississippiean and Hopewell pieces, and may believe that they were used as ceremonial regailia.

Gourds are among the earliest cultivated plants on the Americas. Their use as bowls, storage containers, dippers, ... and dates back to ancient times. The designs come from shell carvings and pottery.

To view a larger version of one of the thumbnails below, click on the image.

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