THE SOUTHEASTERN WOODLANDS: MISSISSIPPIAN CAHOKIA—
LATE PREHISTORIC METROPOLIS ON THE MISSISSIPPI
(MODULE 13D)
(Click here to go directly to the Lesson Overview for Module 13D)
(Click here to go directly to the Syllabus Daily Topics Schedule for this lesson)
Read: Fagan (2000:450-468 [if you haven't already read it]).
Read: Fowler (1974, Cahokia: Ancient Capital of the Midwest)
Have read: People of the River (hopefully to have some discussion on a novel about this part of the prehistoric southeast)
Optional: Cahokia: America's Lost City (Time/Life Ancient Voices Video)
A. One can easily imagine the pageantry that must have accompanied civic and/or ritual displays during the Mississippian
heyday—with the key players fleshing out what can be seen only in graphic form in their copper, stone, and shell figural
representations!
B. This must have been especially true for those in the major metropolis represented archaeologically by Cahokia!
C. Cahokia:
1. This is the center discussed a lot in the novel People of the River by Michael and Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
2. Site location:
a. 16 km east-northeast of Saint Louis (in East Saint Louis)
b. On Cahokia Creek
3. Cahokia was the largest prehistoric city north of Mexico!
a. At its peak it may have had some 10,000 inhabitants!
b. Appears to have been the center of at least 50 communities in the American Bottom region
c. May have been the capitol of the Ramie State
d. May have exerted influence in an extensive hinterland perhaps extending as far north as
Aztlan between Milwaukee and Madison!
4. Site center is basically diamond shaped with an interior palisaded core
a. 4.58 km east-west
b. 3.67 km north-south
c. 13.4 km2
d. 120 mounds
e. City center:
(1) Monk's Mound plus 16 other mounds
(2) Basically shaped like a squat boat heading south
(3) Surrounded by a palisade on three sides (Cahokia Creek defining the fourth side)
f. Majority of mounds lie outside the palisaded inner core
(1) One small mound yielded the burial of a high-ranking individual buried with:
(a) Caches of arrow heads
(b) Polished stone
(c) Mica
(d) Six sacrificed male retainers
(e) A separate mass grave containing 53 women
(f) And, this may not have been the real "head honcho!"
(2) "Woodhenge":
(a) A large circle of immense wooden uprights
(b) Called a "woodhenge" because of:
i) Its general form
ii) Its monumentality
iii) Like Stonehenge as a sort of "observatory"
(c) Possible functions of "Woodhenge"
i) Observatory (?)
a) May have functioned like Stonehenge as a sort of "observatory"
b) For astral and horizon alignment observations.
ii) Sun Dance "Temple" (?) (Skip's "take" on this)
a) Given the presence of Hokan-Siouan speaking peoples on the
Great Plains as well as in nearby Wisconsin (Winnebago/
Ho-Chunk), it seems more useful to look at rituals that are
characteristic of this language group
b) The Sun Dance is one of the single most important rituals
found among present-day peoples of the Great Plains—in
particular among the Lakota/Dakota people
c) The Sun Dance place is characterized by having a circle of
large uprights from which those who pledge will suspend themselves
d) Considering the linguistic implications plus the circular
arrangement of large uprights at Cahokia, I suspect that we
may be dealing with a "capital"—at least in the theological
sense - with its most significant ritual temples being the
"Mega-Sun Dance Circles we define as "Woodhenges"
g. Largest monument at Cahokia is the famous Monk's Mound
5. Monk's Mound:
a. About 100 feet high
b. Covers sixteen acres (3 acres more than the great pyramid at Giza!) (6.4 hectares)
(1) 316 by 241 meters(76156 square meters) rising over 30 meters high
(2) Contains over 600,000 cubic meters of earth
(3) Constructed in stages
c. This constitutes one of the largest examples of prehistoric construction in the entire Western
Hemisphere!
D. The Late Prehistoric/"Mississippian" culture persisted to the time of the arrival of the Europeans:
1. The Spanish (DeSoto, Ponce de Leon, Garcilasco de la Vega, etc.)
2. The French
E. We are fortunate to have some early descriptions of their communities, social organization, and belief systems—allowing for
ethnohistoric analoguey to "flesh out" what life might have been like during Mississippian florescence.
F. We are also fortunate that there still are Native American peoples who continue to perpetuate some of the old
traditions
1. The Busk (probably derived [corrupted from?] puskita in Creek) or the Green Corn Ceremony
a. Functions of Busk:
(1) Purify and regenerate the sacred fire
(2) New Year renewal and revitalization
(3) Wipe the slate clean and punish those who committed crimes during the previous year
b. Accompanied by:
(1) Kindling a New Fire
(2) Offerings of maize and other "medicine" to the New Fire
(3) Purification medicine taking
(4) Stomp dancing
(5) Single-pole-game (with animal representations on the top, perhaps like animal decorations
on roofs described by early explorers?)
c. Held in a ritual space with
(1) A ceremonial plaza and ceremonial structures (i.e. the earth-covered "hothouse")
(Note similarity between Plains earth lodge and Okmulgee earth lodge—also, interesting
to note idea as fundamentally maybe an analogueous form—"Southeastern Kiva"[?])
(2) Concern for orderly, cardinally oriented arrangement
G. One issue that still raises its head deals with the apparent similarities between elements of Mississippian culture and
that of Mesoamerica.
1. This goes back to speculations on similarities between the Mesoamerican Olmec and Poverty Point
2. Truncated pyramid construction in both areas (even though the Mississippian ones are constructed of earth)
3. Death imagery in the Southern Cult artifacts
4. Specific points of Mississippian/Mesoamerican similarity:
a. Shell gorgets:
(1) Huaxtec (Northern Mesoamerica)
(2) Middle Mississippian and Caddoan (Spiro, Etowah, etc.)
(3) (Discuss the Gillmore Corridor linking the Caddoan area with Coahuila and the Huaxteca)
b. "Eccentric flints"
(1) Something the Maya excelled in
(2) Also found in Mississippian sites, but the style is different
c. Cultigens:
(1) Maize, beans and squash—the triumvirate—do appear to have originated in Mexico
(Mesoamerica) and traveled hence.
(2) But, other crops were in use by Mississippian peoples as well.
d. The Crystal River Site in Florida:
(1) Mounds arranged in a distinct plaza arrangement
(2) Stairs fronting central plaza
(3) At base of stairs are stones that appear to be reminiscent of stelae (à la Classic Maya?)
(4) In Florida, we also have recent evidence of some intensive wetland agriculture with features
perhaps analogueous to raised fields
e. Celestial serpents:
(1) Flying, winged, horned serpents in the Southeast
(2) Quetzalcoatl and Itzamna in Mesoamerica?
H. The bottom line is that we have yet to work out some of these questions.
I. A Middle Mississippian figurine head was found in the cenote at the Classic Maya site of Dzibilchaltún in Yucatán
thus indicating some kind of contact—direct, or "down the line."
J. Given that Mesoamerican peoples were apparently aware and interested in the American Southwest (for turquoise), it would
appear likely that others may have been prospecting the Southeast for things of value.
K. Terms related to discussion of THE SOUTHEASTERN WOODLANDS: MISSISSIPPIAN CAHOKIA—
LATE PREHISTORIC METROPOLIS ON THE MISSISSIPPI:
1. Cahokia Site (Illinois): general description, significance?
2. Monk's Mound: general description, significance?
3. Book: People of the River: general scene and content?
4. Mississippian developments and the "state": arguments presented? pros and cons? The "Ramey State":
meaning? location? significance?
5. Mississippian and external ("foreign") relations:
6. Mississippian and Mesoamerican relationships: arguments pro and con
7. Positive arguments for prehistoric contact between Mesoamerica and the Southeast
8. Positive arguments for prehistoric contact between Mesoamerica and the Southwest
9. Known items traded between the prehistoric peoples of the Southwest and Mesoamerica
10. Rabbit in the moon—significance?
11. "Pyramid-temples" in the Southeast: autochthonous development versus Mesoamerican origin?
12. Shell gorgets: Caddo and Huaxtec—implications?
13. Flying and horned serpents—implications?
14. Pawnee Morning Star ceremony—implications?
15. Mississippian culture: "autochthonous" or not? why?
16. Crystal River (Florida) site: possible implications?
17. The "Gilmore Corridor": definition? location? possible implications?
18. Shell working: Huaxtecs and Caddo
19. Mississippian social structure: suggested reconstructions?
20. Mississippian society: "stinkards" through the "Sun": define?
21. Ethnohistoric Mississippian society: the Natchez
22. The "pyramid mound": description? implications?
23. "Columbian Consequences" in the Southeast: issues? "players," impact, etc.
24. "Woodhenge": definition? suggested function?
25. "Woodhenge": as an "Observatory"—make the case
26. "Woodhenge": as a Sun Dance temple"—make the case
27. Cultural continuities from Mississippian to present times in the Southeast? — discuss
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