Timeline of the Mississippi

7000 BC: Pottery is first made by Mississippi dwellers. This marks the beginning of the Woodland Period in eastern North American history.

7000-4000 BC: The Eastern Agricultural Complex develops. Plants like squash, little barley*, Huauzontle (Chenopodium berlandieri), and sunflowers are grown for their seeds. Erect Knotweed and maygrass were also domesticated as large sources of starches and vitamins/minerals respectively.

6800 BC: Iva annua, commonly known as Sumpweed, becomes an important component of religious ceremonies in the Archaic Mississippi Culture.

6800-4800 BC: During this period, Sumpweed undergoes genetic mutations that result in humans no longer being allergic to the plant. It falls out of use in religious ceremonies because of this.

4700 BC: Sumpweed is deliberately cultivated as a food crop for its oily, edible seeds.

4000 BC: The plants domesticated over the past three thousand years begin to be deliberately cultivated. This beginning of Agriculture in the Americas marks the end of the Woodland Period and the beginning of the Mississippian Period.