Two decades ago Mississippian cultural origins were commonly viewed as the outcome of well-bounded Woodland populations evolving in situ. Different Mississippian polities were conceived of as organizationally comparable as they had evolved in similar environmental and cultural contexts. Today it is difficult to address the topic of Mississippian origins without directly engaging with evidence of organizational variation. Moreover, migrations, pilgrimages, violent conflicts, and other far flung entanglements now appear to have pervaded the early Mississippian past.