The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern and Southeastern United States from 800 to 1600, varying regionally. It was composed of a series of urban settlements and satellite villages linked together by loose trading networks; the largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center. The Mississippian way of life began to develop in the Mississippi River Valley. Cultures in the tributary Tennessee River Valley may have begun to develop Mississippian characteristics at this point. All dated Mississippian sites predate 1539–1540, with notable exceptions being Natchez communities that maintained Mississippian cultural practices into the 18th century. A number of cultural traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississippians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, they were distinct from their ancestors in the adoption of some or all of these traits.

The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds. Such mounds were square, rectangular, or circular. Structures were constructed atop such mounds. Maize-based agriculture. In most places, the development of Mississippian culture coincided with the adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which supported larger populations and craft specialization. Shell-tempered pottery; the adoption and use of riverine shells as tempering agents in ceramics. Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rocky Mountains, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Ocean; the development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity. The development of institutionalized social inequality. A centralization of control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one; the beginnings of a settlement hierarchy, in which one major center has clear influence or control over a number of lesser communities, which may or may not possess a smaller number of mounds.

The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex called the Southern Cult. This is the belief system of the Mississippians. SECC items are found in Mississippian-culture sites from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, from Florida to Arkansas and Oklahoma; the SECC was tied into ritual game-playing, as with chunkey. The Mississippians had no writing stone architecture, they worked occurring metal deposits, such as hammering and annealing copper for ritual objects such as Mississippian copper plates and other decorations, but did not smelt iron or practice bronze metallurgy. The Mississippi stage is divided into three or more chronological periods; each period is an arbitrary historical distinction varying regionally. At a particular site, each period may be considered to begin earlier or depending on the speed of adoption or development of given Mississippian traits; the "Mississippi period" should not be confused with the "Mississippian culture". The Mississippi period is the chronological stage, while Mississippian culture refers to the cultural similarities that characterize this society.

The Early Mississippi period had just transitioned from the Late Woodland period way of life. Different groups abandoned tribal lifeways for increasing complexity, sedentism and agriculture. Production of surplus corn and attractions of the regional chiefdoms led to rapid population concentrations in major centers; the Middle Mississippi period is the apex of the Mississippi era. The expansion of the great metropolis and ceremonial complex at Cahokia, the formation of other complex chiefdoms, the spread and development of SECC art and symbolism are characteristic changes of this period; the Mississippian traits listed above came to be widespread throughout the region. The Late Mississippi period is characterized by increasing warfare, political turmoil, population movement; the population of Cahokia dispersed early in this period migrating to other rising political centers. More defensive structures are seen at sites, sometimes a decline in mound-building and large-scale, public ceremonialism.

Although some areas continued an Middle Mississippian culture until the first significant contact with Europeans, the population of most areas had dispersed or were experiencing severe social stress by 1500. Along with the contemporaneous Ancestral Pueblo peoples, these cultural collapses coincide with the global climate change of the Little Ice Age. Scholars theorize drought and the reduction of maize agriculture, together with possible deforestation and overhunting by the concentrated populations, forced them to move away from major sites; this period ended with European contact in the 16th century. The term Middle Mississippian is used to describe the core of the classic Mississippian culture area; this area covers the central Mississippi River Valley, the lower Ohio River Valley, most of the Mid-South area, including western and central Kentucky, western Tennessee, northern Alabama and Mississippi. Sites in this area contain large ceremonial platform mounds, residential complexes and are encircled by earthen ditches and ramparts or palisades.

Middle Mississippian cultures the Cahokia polity located near East St. Louis, was influential on neighboring societies. High-status artifacts, including stone stat

Michael Sarne is a British actor, writer and director, who had a brief career as a pop singer in the 1960s. Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, London, he is of Czechoslovakian descent. Active in the 1960s as singer, he is best known for his 1962 UK novelty chart topper, "Come Outside", which featured vocal interjections by Wendy Richard, he had three more releases which made the UK Singles chart: "Will I What?", in 1962, which featured Billie Davis. In the mid-1960s Sarne introduced the ITV children's quiz series Junior Criss Cross Quiz; as an actor, he has appeared on television, in British series including The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, Jonathan Creek and The Bill. Sarne appeared in an episode of Minder as Billy Beesley, an amateur safe blower, his film credits include a starring role in the 1963 film A Place to Go with Rita Tushingham, directed by Basil Dearden, he appeared in Invasion Quartet, Every Day's a Holiday, Two Weeks in September and Success Is the Best Revenge for Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski and the Hercule Poirot film Appointment with Death.

He played an SS captain in the TV miniseries War and Remembrance. He appeared in The Fourth Angel, as Valery in the crime thriller Eastern Promises, as a stage manager in Telstar: The Joe Meek Story, in 2011 he was the voice of Karla in the spy film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In 2012, he played Father Mabeuf in the film of Les Misérables.. In 2013, he was ` Publican No 5' in The World's End. Films he has directed include Joanna and Myra Breckinridge, an adaptation of Gore Vidal's book of the same name, starring Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Mae West, with Farrah Fawcett and Tom Selleck in roles early in their careers. Joanna broke at the box office, but Myra Breckinridge was a major box-office flop and drew such critical hostility, his career never recovered. A more recent film is The Punk and the Princess, an adaptation of Gideon Sams' young adult novel The Punk, about the romance between a teenage punk rocker and a Sloane Ranger girl, he directed a documentary about the Glastonbury Music Festival in 1995.

He attended the School of Slavonic and East European Studies earning a BA. Sarne had a relationship with Brigitte Bardot only a few days after her honeymoon with Gunter Sachs, he has five children – two from his 1969–1978 marriage to Tanya Sarne, founder of the designer label Ghost. His brother, David Scheuer, had a brief acting career in the'70s. List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart List of number-one singles from the 1960s UK No.1 Hits of 1962 Personal Website Interview Mike Sarne on IMDb

Rodef Shalom Congregation is a National Register of Historic Places landmark in Pittsburgh, designed by architect Henry Hornbostel. Located on Fifth Avenue on the border of the Oakland and Shadyside neighborhoods, it houses Congregation Rodef Shalom, the oldest Jewish congregation in Western Pennsylvania and the largest Reform congregation in the area. Across the street from the temple is the headquarters of Pittsburgh's PBS station WQED. On the grounds of the building is the Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical Garden. At first, Rodef Shalom was not Rodef Shalom, it was 1847, a dozen Jewish Pittsburghers established a burial society they called Bes Almon and purchased land on Troy Hill, on the city's North Side, for use as a cemetery. By 1848, the group had rented a room downtown, on Penn Avenue and Sixth Street, formed a congregation called Shaare Shemayim. Came a split, with members striking out on their own to form congregation Beth Israel in 1852. A year passed, Shaare Shemayim and Beth Israel reunited under the Shaare Shemayim banner.

Rodef Shalom arose around 1855, after a second split in the Shaare Shemayim congregation. But, reconciliation came and, in 1860, the two congregations merged under the name Rodef Shalom; the congregation's charter, dated November 9, 1856, gives as its primary objectives “the furtherance of the cause of Religion” and “the establishment of a good school in which the young shall be instructed in the principles of the Hebrew Religion as well as general branches of knowledge.” By 1860 there were thirty-five member families, with fifty pupils enrolled in the school. The first Jewish confirmation in Pittsburgh was held in 1862 for one boy. In 1859, Rodef Shalom rented a hall on St. Clair Street in Allegheny City. Needing more space and a place of its own, the congregation began construction of its own building in 1861. Designed by architect Charles Bartberger, the first temple was built on Hancock Street in downtown Pittsburgh; the dedication ceremony, on March 20, 1862, featured Rev. William Armhold, addressing the congregation in German.

Josiah Cohen, a teacher in the congregation's day school, delivered a speech in English. Pittsburgh's finest vocalist, Sigmund Apfelbaum performed. At first, Rodef Shalom was an Orthodox congregation, but in 1863, a transformation began when Rabbi Isaac M. Wise, a founder of Reform Judaism in America, came to Pittsburgh, his impact was felt, as the congregation, shortly after his visit, voted to affiliate with Reform, adopting the Reform prayer book. The change didn't suit all Rodef Shalom congregants, with some resigning to form the Tree of Life Synagogue in 1864. Though the vote to become Reform happened swiftly for Rodef Shalom, the transition to full Reform practices did not; as the years passed, services were shortened and men sat together, an organ was installed—music was vital to Rodef Shalom then, as the choir, directed by Bertha Benswanger, was reputed to be “one of the best in the country.” The transition to the English language took time. When Rev. Louis Naumburg became minister in 1865, he spoke in German.

Rabbi Lippman Mayer, who succeeded him in 1870, was more comfortable in German. Mayer, a strong proponent of Reform founded the Jewish Chautauqua Society; the changes didn't stop with language: By 1874, it was no longer mandatory for men to wear a hat or yarmulke and the congregation had joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. A raft of major changes came to Rodef Shalom in 1885 when, Rabbi Mayer and the congregation hosted a meeting of Reform rabbis; the resulting "Pittsburgh Platform" signaled a paradigm shift, declaring that Judaism was a religion, not a nation, that the Bible was an ethical guide, not the infallible word of God. It stated; this Pittsburgh Platform guided North American Reform Judaism until 1937. J. Leonard Levy, a dynamic leader with an internationalist outlook, became Rodef Shalom's Rabbi in 1901, he had served congregations in England. Rabbi Levy was known for his work to strengthen interfaith communication in Pittsburgh and beyond. During his Pittsburgh tenure, he started an international peace organization and co-edited the weekly Jewish Criterion, in addition to preaching at both Sabbath and Sunday services at Rodef Shalom.

At Rabbi Levy's invitation, President William Howard Taft visited Rodef Shalom on Saturday, May 29, 1909. This was the first time that a sitting United States president spoke from the bimah of a Jewish congregation during regular Sabbath services. During J. Leonard Levy's rabbinate, Rodef Shalom's congregation nearly tripled, growing from 132 member families in 1901 to 363 by 1908. Pittsburgh was changing. New immigration patterns brought more Jews to the city and new demographic patterns saw many of these new arrivals and longer-standing congregants moving from Allegheny City and the Hill District to emerging eastern neighborhoods like Oakland and East Liberty. More than half of Rodef Shalom's members still lived near the Allegheny City Temple, so when a move was suggested due to crowded conditions, the congregation opted to expand where it stood; the original Temple building was torn down in 1900, replaced by a Charles Bickel-designed edifice. The new, larger structure was dedicated on September 6 and 7, 1901.

Shortly thereafter, an annex for religious school classes was appended. By 1904, the congregation had outgrown the space. Congregational leaders came to see Oakland and Squirrel Hill as the new cultural and residential centers of Pi