We continue the story about the ancient civilizations of North America, since we know a lot about the civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America in Russia. Actually, as you know? It was just lucky: there were people who worked with this material and wrote the corresponding books: "The Fall of Tenochtitlan", "The Secret of the Mayan Priests" … But the cultures of the North American Indians of the Copper Stone Age in this regard were less fortunate, that's why less is known about them. Last time, we stopped at the fact that almost a third of the North American mainland was occupied by land, on which the so-called "Mississippi culture" flourished. And there was a city of Cahokia, so large that many European cities - its peers - could envy it.
Here it is - the ancient land of Cahokia!
So, what is this Cahokia, why is it given such attention? This is the name of a huge, "Mississippi culture" agricultural settlement and a group of mounds that existed between 1000 - 1600 AD. It was located in the resource-rich lower floodplain of the Mississippi River at the very junction of several large rivers at once in the central part of the modern United States. Since 1982 it has been protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
"Hill of monks"
During its heyday (1050-1100 AD), only the center of Cahokia occupied an area of 10-15 square kilometers, and about 200 earthen mounds rose on this land, which were located around vast open areas. And everywhere there were thousands of clay and straw houses, temples and other public buildings. True, the adobe nature of Cahokia's buildings has played a truly cruel joke with this city, although one cannot immediately guess what it is like that. It turns out that the proto-city of Cahokia was also built … by the ancestors of today's Ukrainians. That is, "digging" the Black Sea alone is not enough for them. Give them the American mainland now. Of course, all this nonsense is found only on Ukrainian sites, and even then not on all, and Americans would be very surprised if they read this, but what does not happen in the world, right? And the basis for these statements is as follows: there was, they say, "Trypillian culture" in Ukraine, and they built adobe huts covered with reeds and straw and … the inhabitants of Cahokia had exactly the same "huts". So they are also Trypillians, and since Trypillians, then … Ukrainians! That is, the logic is as in the well-known anecdote: "Mom - my husband said that I am not telling the truth, and since I am not telling the truth, then I am lying, and since I am lying, then I am lying … Mom - he called me a bitch!" There was also something about embroidered shirts, but then I just didn't read further. Whoever is interested in this near-scientific nonsense, let him find it on the Internet.
"Hill of the Monks". Aerial view.
It is believed that for no more than half a century, the population of Cahokia could have been about 10,000 - 15,000 people, and then increased even more. Trade relations of its inhabitants were established practically throughout North America. And then, when Cahokia ceased to exist, the people who lived here dispersed throughout the mainland and brought the Mississippi culture with them to new lands.
"Cave Hill"
Cahokia's development as a regional center began around 800, but it was not until 1050 that it became a hierarchically organized cultural and political center, inhabited by tens of thousands of people, feeding on the adjacent crops of domesticated plants, primarily corn from Central America. Well, the chronology of Cahokia is as follows:
1. End of the "Woodland period" (800-900 AD). Numerous villages are emerging in the Mississippi Valley.
2. "Phase Fairmount" ("Late Woodland" 900-1050 AD). Two "bulk centers" are emerging, one in Cahokia and the other in Lunsford Pulcher, 23 km to the south, with a total population of about 1,400-2,800 in Cahokia.
3. "Phase of Loman" (1050-1100 AD). "The Big Bang of Cahokia". About 1050 in Cahokia, there was a sudden increase in population, in which its number was estimated at 10,200-15,300 people in an area of 14, 5 square meters. km. The changes accompanying the population explosion also included the organization of this society, architecture, all material culture and rituals, some of which were probably associated with the migration of some people from other regions. Large ceremonial squares appeared, monuments in the shape of a circle ("wudenges"), demarcated by a fence inhabited areas of the elite and commoners and the central core of the city with an area of 60-160 hectares. There are also 18 mounds, surrounded in the past by defensive palisades.
4. "Stirling Phase" (1100-1200 AD), Cahokia continues to control the lower floodplains of the Missouri and Illinois rivers and their adjacent hilly elevations of about 9,300 square kilometers. km, but the population is decreasing (possibly due to the unsanitary conditions prevailing in such a crowded city without treatment facilities) and by 1150 it is 5300-7200 people.
5. "Phase Moorhead" (1200-1350 AD) In Cahokia, there is a sharp decline in population: no more than 3000-4500 people.
"Hill of the Monks". You can clearly see how great it is!
In the city itself, scientists have discovered as many as three large sites of clearly ceremonial purpose. The largest is Cahokia itself, located 9.8 km from the Mississippi River and 3.8 km from a rocky cliff that stood on the plain and was an excellent landmark. Here, on an area of 20 hectares, is the largest mound Monks Mound ("Hill of the Monks"), which is surrounded by another 120 registered earthen "platforms" and mounds.
It is possible that in ancient times it looked like this …
Two more districts, unfortunately, were affected by the sprawl of St. Louis, but despite the territory of East St. Louis, 50 mounds were identified and another residential area with a clearly high status was found. On the opposite bank of the river there were 26 more mounds, but all of them were plowed up and destroyed.
Figurine from Cahokia. (National Museum of the American Indian, Washington)
Within a day's walk from Cahokia, there were 14 more of the same "bulk cultural centers" and hundreds of small agricultural estates. The largest of these nearby centers was most likely the so-called "Emerald Acropolis", again a mound in the middle of the prairie near a water source. Although this complex was located 24 km from Cahokia, they were connected by a wide road. It was clearly wider than was required for movement. But for ritual processions it was best suited.
Reconstruction of "Monks Hill" (Missouri History Museum)
It is believed that the "Emerald Acropolis" was a large temple complex, which had (!) 500 buildings. The earliest buildings date back to around 1000 AD, while the rest were built between the mid 1000s and early 1100s, and their use continued until 1200. Of course, these structures can only be called buildings conditionally, since they were adobe structures covered with reeds. But among them were both religious buildings and round buildings (the famous Indian "sweat rooms"), built next to deep pools.
Copper of Cahokia. (Museum of the Mounds of Cahokia)
What is the reason for the prosperity of Cahokia, scientists ask themselves a question and … they find quite a lot of answers. It is believed that the floodplain area of the river at that time contained thousands of hectares of well-drained land suitable for agriculture. And here there were enough swamps and lakes, which provided the inhabitants with hunting prey, that is, animal protein. Cahokia was close to the rich steppe soils, as well as to the mountains where ornamental stone was mined. Canoes and rafts floated here from above and below, delivering goods. The trading partners of the Kahokians were the inhabitants of the eastern plains, the valleys of the upper Mississippi, as well as the Great Lakes in the North, and the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast in the South. Judging by the finds, shark teeth, shells, mica, quartzite, as well as native copper and products from it were traded here.
Figurine from Cahokia. (Museum of the Mounds of Cahokia)
All this wealth certainly fueled primitive greed among migrants from remote areas. American scientists conducted an isotopic analysis of bones found in burials and confirmed that a third of the deceased were immigrants from other parts of America. Well, the fact that the population of the city was large is again evidenced by the size of the "Mound of Monks". It is estimated that 720,000 cubic meters of land had to be moved to fill this 30-meter "structure", 320 meters long from north to south and 294 meters from east to west. It turns out that it is even slightly larger than the area of the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt and is 4/5 of the size of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan.
Reconstruction of the settlement. (Museum of the Mounds of Cahokia)
The large area south of the "Hill of the Monks" has an area of 16-24 hectares and is bounded by circular embankments in the south, east and west. Scientists believe that at first it was the place from where they took the land for the construction of the mounds, but then this site was purposefully leveled and from the end of the 11th century they began to use it as a square. Interestingly, for some reason, all of it was surrounded by a wooden fence.
The same reconstruction from the other side (Museum of the Cahokia Mounds)
Today, almost all the mounds are numbered and are being actively excavated. And what is not found in them. Basically, they find mainly the foundations of structures and burials. For example, Kurgan 72, 860 m from the Hill of Monks, stands out for the fact that in its 25 burial objects the remains of more than 270 people were found (perhaps such a large number is the result of a sacrifice) and many artifacts, including beams of arrows, products from mica and a lot of shell beads: from 12,000 to 20,000 such beads!
Tips. (National Museum of the American Indian, Washington)
Kurgan 34 in Cahokia is complex during the Moorhead Phase and is interesting in that an almost unique set of copper forging tools was found in it. Here they found eight pieces of native copper and sheet copper with traces of annealing on charcoal.
Crockery (Robbins Museum, Massachusetts)
But the end of Cahokia, like its rise, was unexpected or, on the contrary, it would be more correct to say, expectedly fast. And this was due to the fact that any primitive society, becoming more complex, at the same time becomes more and more vulnerable to external influences. That is, it constantly balances on the razor blade.
Market in Cahokia (Reconstruction)
Its end is believed to have been associated with a wide range of impacts, including hunger, disease, nutritional problems, climate change, environmental degradation, social unrest, and hostilities. But perhaps migrants also played a role in whirling Cahokia. After all, there were one third of them!
A tip from Lorida …
It turned out that the highest level of population in Cahokia lasted only about two generations, and this is not enough to form a single cultural ethnic group. You need at least three generations living in conditions of stability. There was a flood, and more than one, with the water level rising to 12 meters. As a result, people were doomed to starvation. Plus bad ecology. After all, thousands of residents, huddled in such a small area, needed an effective sewage system, but they could not find it. The result is a complex of problems: hunger, disease and the inability to solve them in conditions of social stratification. And the inhabitants of Cahokia, who were still alive, simply dispersed in all directions, carrying with them the "light of civilization." Well, after years, nomadic Indians came here, who saw only hills in the grass-covered green hills!
District Etova. "Kurgan S". View from "Kurgan A"
