By 1100, the corn-producing world of North America had led to the emergence of wealthy settlement societies, such as Snaketown, T. J. Ruin, and Pueblo Bonito. To this, one has to add Cahokia, sited in a place called the American Bottom just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Here, the blufi's bow out to leave a long, flat area some 30 or more kilometers long and about 15 kilometers across. Apart from the river, this bottom land was fllled with marshes and curving lakes from old riverbed loops. Unlike the lower Mississippi, which would remain flooded far longer into the summer, here the floods receded by May, allowing for a perfect growing period. Furthermore, the loess, washed down by thousands of streams and rivers made this one of the most fertile spots in all of the Americas. But it meant that one had to live not above the river on the safety of the blufis, as had been traditionally done, but practically in the river itself.
By 1000 CE, a dozen or more settlements were located here on sand berms, some of which were only a meter or two above flood level. During the flood, water spreads out over most of the bottom, forming a shallow lake with long curving islands crowded with houses and bustling with activity. Cahokia was at the center of all of this, geographically and conceptually.16 Goods and raw materials arrived from far afleld: red flint clay, galena, hematite, Burlington chert, and diabase. In sprawling work zones, these valuable materials were transformed into statuettes, pigments, tools, and ritual paraphernalia.17 Although many of the surrounding communities had mounds of their own, Cahokia had an astonishing 120 of them, leaving no doubt that it was the main ceremonial center and, at its height, the most elaborate ceremonial center in all of North America.
Its central area faced northward onto a marshy lake that had once been a river channel. During the flood season, boats could navigate right up to the very edge of great plazas that dominated the site. There were several of these plazas, the largest of which was almost 500 meters long on each side. To make it flat, higher areas were shaved down and lower areas fllled in. Here, elaborate events were staged that must have attracted thousands of pilgrims from far away (Figures 16.20 and 16.21).
Dominating the northern end of the city was Monk’s Mound, measuring at its base an astonishing 290 by 230 meters. In the flat landscape, it would have been visible from 20 kilometers away. It had a complex shape with two terraces and a stairway leading from the plaza to the summit 30 meters above the ground. Although we call the structure a mound, it is possible that the Cahokians perceived of it in mythological terms as a turtle, an animal they associated with strength, fertility, and perseverance; the turtle was present at the creation of the cosmos and its back is held to portray the cycle of the year. It is estimated that 43.1 million baskets of soil (22 million cubic feet) were needed for the construction. The required material included not only local soil, but, typically, also colored soil, the origin of which is not yet known but which must have been brought in on rafts from hundreds of miles away. Once on site, the blue-, red-, white-, black-, gray-, brown-, and orange-colored soils were laid down in layers of varying thicknesses throughout the entire mound. The difierent colors, of course, represented difierent cosmological and spiritual forces and quite possibly also difierent “people"
The other Cahokia mounds were conical, square, or rectangular. Some were flat topped, others ridged. The conical ones tended to be burial mounds. The flat-topped ones were probably platforms for the houses of chieftains or workstations for specialized crafts. Ridged mounds might have been used for celestial observations since they seem to relate to the grand plazas that were aligned to the cardinal directions. There are so many mounds that it is obvious that Cahokia was a construction site almost during its entire life span. The site seems to have had elevated ceremonial roads or causeways, similar to the Hopewell ones, but their traces have mostly vanished.
At some point, the Cahokians built a set of circular solar calendars, flrst to the south of the plaza and then later to the west consisting of wooden poles set at precise intervals around the circle. The one to the west was rebuilt flve times and had a diameter of about 130 meters.
Figure 16.20: Cahokia, USA, regional plan of the American Bottom. Source: Mark Jarzombek/Timothy R. Pauketa, Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 98
Figure 16.21: Cahokia, USA, site plan. Source: Mark Jarzombek
Figure 16.22a, b: Monk's Mound, Cahokia, USA: (a) view, (b) axonometric. Source: Mark Jarzombek
A third circle (built around 1000 ce) had forty-eight, 7-meter-high posts of sacred red cedar and has been dubbed Woodhenge by the archaeologists. Red ochre pigment found in some of the post pits suggests the posts may have been painted. The poles mark out the equinoxes at sunrise, when the sun rises due east. The shadow from one of the posts would have marked these sunrises, making it appear as if Monk’s Mound gave birth to the sun, marking the start of the new year (Figure 16.22a, 16.22b).
Not all archaeologists agree the structure was used for astronomical purposes. Some argue that it was a ceremonial space or that it was used to survey and plan the location of the numerous mounds. Another interpretation holds that the circle was a cosmogram of the world center. As such, the purpose was not to serve as a passive solar observatory, but as an active place for harnessing the energy of nature and transmitting it to the community. Also possible is that it was part of a ritual used during mourning.18
As to the houses, they were mostly rectangular in plan with a wood frame and thatched roofs, but whether these were gabled or held up by a bent pole is not known. Some of the walls were covered with a stucco-like mixture of clay and grass. Such houses would have been found by the hundreds in various clusters throughout the American Bottom.
There are several theories as to what type of polity the Cahokians practiced. Some claim that it was the center of a mercantile society that controlled Mississippi River commerce. The economic argument has considerable legitimacy because, unlike the Hopewell people, who crafted items for their own use, the Cahokians made things for export. Their typical pottery and ornaments can be found far and wide. Others hold that it was mainly a ceremonial site, controlled by a priestly elite. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between, for it seems now that Cahokia was not a single chieftain kingdom, but a composite of several chiefdom communities that, because of their commercial success, used Cahokia’s grand ceremonialism to coordinate their efforts, stabilize their common enterprise, and celebrate and renew their alliances.19
To judge from the evidence, all was not peaceful. Around 1100 wooden stockade was built surrounding the central section of Cahokia. It was rebuilt three times over a period of two hundred years. Each construction required 15,000-20,000 oak and hickory logs, 1 foot in diameter and 7 meters tall. It was obviously a defensive structure that even had projections from which archers could shoot arrows. The reason for the decline of the city between 1200 and 1400 is much debated. Deforestation is one possible cause. The failure of a corn crop, a protracted drought, or civil unrest might also have demoralized a possibly shrinking population. Farther south, in Moundville, in Mississippi, or at Ocmulgee in Georgia, one also notes signs of societal disintegration in the corresponding time span, indicating that the problem was not just a local one. Was the decline of Cahokia linked to the problems that people in the Southwest were facing at the same time? Perhaps a cooling weather pattern or a drought played a part. Whatever the reasons, they must have been severe enough to bring about a relatively rapid reduction of populace and finally a total exodus so that the city was eventually abandoned.20
World History
