The Middle Woodland period, dating between approximately 200 BC and AD 300, is noteworthy because of the widespread, though not numerous, construction of small conical burial mounds, as well as long-distance exchange of distinctive artifact types and materials - such as copper from the Great Lakes area, mica from the southern Appalachians, and shells from the Gulf coast - across much of eastern North America.
The apparent increase in mound construction was not accompanied by major changes in community or settlement organization. People continued to live in small communities of several circular or oval structures. A tribal form of social organization may have been present, consisting of a number of interacting, more or less equal clans, or people claiming descent from common or mythic ancestors. - US NPS
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