Their settlements were connected by trails and waterways.

Agricultural fields surrounded towns.

Public spaces were used for gatherings and ceremonies.

Leaders managed relationships among towns and families.

The people living in these communities were not frozen in an ancient past.

They were adapting to changing conditions, just as every society does.

They traded, competed, married across communities, moved, negotiated, and fought.

By the time de Soto arrived, the region already had a long history of political change.