Anthro Lecture 5 2.3, Dr. Shawn Lambert
Cahokia Archaeology & History
- Cahokia: multiethnic urban center in AD 1050-1450, in southern Illinois
- Regional capital of Mississippian cultural complex
- Characterized by maize agriculture and mound-building
- Surrounding cultures copy-and-pasted
- Extensive trade networks linked Cahokia to distant communities
- Shared iconography, ceramic styles, and religious beliefs
- Not necessarily shared religious beliefs
- Cultural influence persisted into the 17th century
- Settlement restructuring in A.D. 900
- Settlement hierarchy, with sites nearest best arable land gaining importance (Cahokia)
- Emergent authority?
- Culminates in hereditary authority: Chief
- Largest archaeological site north of Mexico
- Occupied c. 900-1350 AD peaked around 1100 AD
- Center of Mississippian culture: urban, ceremonial, political
- Located in American Bottom floodplain, near modern-day St. Louis
- Bounded by Mississippi and Missouri Rivers
- Fertile land and abundant water made it ideal for agriculture & trade
- Central location connected trade from Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico
- Proximity to resource: wood, stone, game, and riverine food
- Enabled diverse cultural and economic interactions
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Designated by UNSESCO in 1982
- Recognized for outstanding cultural & historical value
- One of only 24 such US sites
- Timeline:
- 700 AD: not much
- 800 AD: emergent period, aggregation of people
- 900 AD: corn staple food, people getting sick (malnourished, rotted teeth)
- 1050 AD: new arrowpoint, Wall Trench House architecture
- 1100-1200 AD: Golden Age of Cahokia, center had 15,000-20,000 ppl
- Last Building Erected on summit of Monks Mound, the largest man-made earthen mound on the North American continent
- 1200 AD: population slowly begins to decline
- AD 1300: Cahokia is gradually abandoned; happening to many cities
- 1600 AD: Indians of Illinois Confederacy move in
- Urban Layout:
- Mounds and plazas organized on a grid
- Spatial planning suggests civic, ceremonial, and political zones
- Monks Mound Worldbuilding ideas
- Largest prehistoric earthen construction in North America
- Over 30 m long & 290 m high
- Functioned as political & religious center
- Constructed in multiple stages over several centuries
- Reflects immense labor organization and ceremonial importance
- Plaza: non-constructed flat areas
- Intentionally flattened
- Served as arenas for many public rites, like feasting
- Public and Ceremonial Spaces
- Grand Plaza possibly used for gatherings, markets, and ceremonies
- Woodhenge: solar calendar w/posts marking solstices
- Mound-and-plaza complexes had religious and social functions
- Ritual feasting and games may have occurred in open spaces
- Formal alignments demonstrate celestial significance
- Public spaces served to legitimize authority
- Defensive Structures:
- Palisades surrounded Cahokia by 1200
- Defensive ditches and bastions suggest fear of conflict
- Possibly a response to regional instability or internal strife
- Indicated social investment in protection and elite space
- Defensive features were also symbolic boundaries
- Multiple construction phases show ongoing maintenance
- Current data suggests mounds were multi-colored (red, white, yellow)
- Craft Specialization at Cahokia
- Art made by Multiethnic Communities
- Chunkee Stone game to settle things
- Displayed on other objects
- SE Ceremonial Complex (SECC)
- The Ideology of Authority
- Myths provide "charter" or justification for social ranking
- "Red Horn"
- Human head-earrings
- "Long-nosed god" who was believed to fight enemies with his big nose
- Human head-earrings
- The Ideology of Authority
- Marine Shell Vessels found in mortuary deposits
- vessels used for brewing and serving the "black drink", which can induce trance-like states
- Maybe human sacrifice?
- Rows of headless men
- Chiefly Authority or State?
- No written language Worldbuilding ideas