Secular Culture?

Our study of the indian mounds of Wisconsin left me with a rather persistent and nagging question. Did a secular culture exist among the tribes that built the mounds in Wisconsin, or was every aspect of every day life tied up in religion for these people? Although this answer can never be discovered without the aid of a time machine, I think some modern day cultures can shed some light on this question.

I feel like in general hardship breeds religiosity. If one lives under harsh circumstances or finds one's self confronted by a tragedy they tend to turn to the supernatural or religious. In the United States a lot of people live very comfortably, and thus there is a large secular culture. On, the other hand we known that the mound builders built mounds in a time of much cultural change and internal strife, not to mention the fact that they had to work hard to survive in a world without fast food and grocery stores. This would seem to point to a culture very heavily reliant on religion.

Another factor that would seem to point to a lack of secular culture in the mound builders is that ubiquity of the mounds and mound burials. Robert Birmingham the author of the book we were reading points out that at one time there were 20,000 mounds in Wisconsin, with many containing burials. From this he says that it could be that a large proportion of the mound builder population were buried in the mounds. This would mean that the majority of a population were all buried in the same manner, with the same ceremony and spiritual undertaking. This would point to a large scale religious tradition and a highly religious culture among the mound builders.

Now if I only had that time machine to find the real answer.