Cahokia
Cahokia
• Site location:
– 16 km east-northeast of Saint Louis (in East Saint
Louis), On Cahokia Creek
– Cahokia was the largest prehistoric city north of
Mexico
– At its peak it may have had some 20,000-30,000
inhabitants
– Appears to have been the center of at least 50
communities in the American Bottom region
Occupation
• This site was first inhabited by Indians of the Late
Woodland culture about AD 700.
• The site grew during the following Mississippian
period, after AD 900, and by AD 1050-1150, the
Cahokia site was the regional center for the
Mississippian culture with many satellite
communities, villages and farmsteads around it.
• After AD 1200, the population began to decline and
the site was abandoned by AD 1400.
http://www.nps.gov/history/worldheritage/cahokia.htm
Cahokia Reconstruction
Additional Reconstruction
http://www.nps.gov/history/worldheritage/cahokia.htm
City Center
• Site center is basically diamond shaped with an interior
palisaded core
– 4.58 km east-west by 3.67 km north-south and 13.4 km2
– 120 mounds
• City center:
– Monk's Mound plus 16 other mounds
– Basically shaped like a squat boat heading south
– Surrounded by a palisade on three sides (Cahokia Creek defining the
fourth side)
• Majority of mounds lie outside the palisaded inner core
– One small mound yielded the burial of a high-ranking individual buried
with: Caches of arrow heads, Polished stone, Mica, Six sacrificed male
retainers, A separate mass grave containing 53 women
Palisade
• Excavations begun in 1966 uncovered a two-mile-long
stockade surrounding the central portion of Cahokia.
• The wall was started around A.D. 1100 and then rebuilt three
times over a period of 200 years.
• Each construction required 15,000-20,000 oak and hickory
logs, one foot in diameter and twenty feet tall.
• The logs were sunk into a trench four to five feet deep and
were supported with horizontal poles or interwoven with
saplings.
Reconstructed Palisade
“Woodhenge”
• Evidence that there were as many as five
Woodhenges.
• These were built over a period of 200 years
(A.D. 900-1100).
• Fragments of wood were identified as red
cedar and used for the posts.
"Woodhenge“ Functions
• Possible functions of "Woodhenge“:
– Observatory (?): May have functioned like
Stonehenge as a sort of "observatory"
• For astral and horizon alignment observations.
• three posts are crucial as seasonal markers -- those marking the first
days of winter and summer (the solstices), and one halfway between
marking the first days of spring and fall (the equinoxes).
– Sun Dance "Temple" (?)
Woodhenge Reconstruction
Burial & Status: Cahokia Mound 72
The wood dates to approximately 1000 A.D.
272 burials were discovered in mound 72.
Burials without litters
Mound 72
Burials with litters
Mound 72
Female Burial Pit (53 between 15 and 30)
Mound 72
Headless Burials
Reconstruction of “Chief” from
Mound 72
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/images/illinois/cohokia/birdmanburial-cc-jefgodsky.jpg
Monk’s Mound
• Largest monument at Cahokia is the famous Monk's Mound
• Monk's Mound:
– About 100 feet high
– Covers sixteen acres (3 acres more than the great pyramid at Giza!)
(6.4 hectares)
– 316 by 241 meters(76156 square meters) rising over 30 meters high
– Contains over 600,000 cubic meters of earth
– Constructed in stages
– This constitutes one of the largest examples of prehistoric
construction in the entire Western Hemisphere
Monk’s Mound
Another View
Mississippian Collapse
• Most Mississippian centers abandoned by
1500s, before contact with Europeans
– Reasons largely unknown.
• Natchez and Coosa still around until
decimated by European disease.
Sources
• http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/marksvil/
marksvle.htm
• http://www.picturesofrecord.com/Mississippi
an%20Culture%20thumbnail.htm
• http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/cahokia.html