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OVERVIEW: THE
SOUTHEASTERN WOODLANDS - MISSISSIPPIAN CAHOKIA - LATE PREHISTORIC
METROPOLIS ON THE
MISSISSIPPI (MODULE 13D) |
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(Click here
to go directly to the lecture notes module above) |
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(Click here
to go directly to the syllabus daily topics schedule for this lesson)
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| A. |
Lesson Overview:
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This
is the final lesson of our discussion of the ancient North American
Southeast and focuses on the immense Mississippian site of Cahokia.
It is sad that most North Americans have never heard of Cahokia, even
though it has one of the largest prehistoric constructions north of
Mexico! Most assuredly, had there been visitors from
thirteenth-century London, they would have been deeply impressed and awed
by what they saw! Students should have been reading, and finished by
this time, the novel People of the River. This is a fictional
account that focuses on life in ancient Cahokia — hopefully providing
readers a vicarious account of what it would have been like to have lived
there when it was a vibrant, active community. Students in this
class have also been working on their own accounts as part of the BACAB
CAAS writing assignment and should now have heightened expectations of
what such accounts should, and should not, involve. This lesson, in
addition to providing focused information on Cahokia, is a time for
students to exercise their abilities to critique creative writing from an
informed archaeological perspective. |
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| B. |
Lesson Objectives: |
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1. |
Profile
the archaeological site of Cahokia to provide a preeminent example of
Mississippian cultural complexity. |
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2. |
Evaluate
various hypotheses regarding the original function of the
"Woodhenges" at Cahokia (i.e., as an "observatory" a
la Stonehenge, or as grandiose "Sun Circles" as in the Sun
Dance?). |
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3. |
Using
what is known archaeologically about ancient Cahokia, critique the novel People
of the River as an accurate — or not — vicarious representation of
life during this site's period of maximum development. |
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| C. |
MATRIX Principles: |
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1. |
Principle 2: Diverse Interest
- nWe should not only think of nthe Past," but recognize that
there are many; that they reflect a varied cultural constituency." |
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Discussion
- Alternative nculturally-sensitive" understandings of Cahokia's
nWoodhenge" - The scale of Cahokia, relative to other sites in
ancient North America, sets it apart. It seems logical that it must
have served multiple functions, with it's having been a ritual center as
one of them. How might ancient people in the area have thought about
the nWoodhenges?" nWe," in the scientific tradition, have
tended to use a comparative approach, noting certain formal similarities
between the large, circular arrays of what must have been wooden upright
poles and the circular arrangement of stones in Megalithic England - the
famous Stonehenge. The alleged ritual/astronomical function of
Stonehenge has been suggested as a viable analog to what people in ancient
Cahokia might have had in mind for their woodhenges. Even the use of
the word nhenge" implies a Eurocentric interpretation. In this
class, instead of only looking at the astronomical interpretation, we
consider other more local cultural analogs. Are there traditional,
American Indian, ritual structures right here in North America that
involve circular patterns of wooden uprights? What are the
linguistic affiliations of those who employ them today? What might
have characterized the linguistic mosaic in the area of the Mississippi
Bottoms in ancient times? We discuss these things and consider the
pros and cons of the idea that the Woodhenges of Cahokia might have been,
albeit on a nmega-scale," Sun Dance circles.
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2. |
Principle 3: Social Relevance
- The role of environment on the development of past societies
(also applies directly to Principle 3: Social Relevance
- the history of cities and urban life) |
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Discussion 1
- Supporting an ancient city in the Mississippi Bottoms - The
site of Cahokia provides a case study of a foremost Mississippian
center. As it appears to be the largest urban site in ancient North
America, with a population peak having been possibly as high as ten
thousand people, we consider this site in relation to the ecological
parameters characteristic of the nearby Mississippi Bottoms area.
What would have been the resources available to the ancient people of
Cahokia? In particular, what are those resources that would have
been of direct relevance to meeting the needs of such a populous
food-producing society?
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Discussion 2
- Cahokia's florescence: Locational geographic considerations
- Locational geographers have developed ways to looking at landscapes as
being sources of particular kinds of exploitable resources, but also as
exhibiting landscape features and patterning that can play an active part
in how communities develop within them. To a locational geographer,
the fact that the Mississippi Bottoms came to, and continues to be, a
nexus of trade and communication comes as no surprise. How can we
look nlocationally" at the Cahokia area? What can we say nstrategically"
about why the region would have been a preferred one? How can terms
like ncentral place" and nsite catchment" be applied to such
discussions?
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3. |
Principle 5: Written and Oral Communication Skills
- n. . . archaeologists must communicate their goals, results, and
their recommendations clearly and effectively. Archaeology
education must incorporate frequent training and practice in logical
thinking as well as written and oral presentation. For any
non-specialist audience, jargon inhibits understanding and makes it less
likely that archaeological goals will be understood and supported.
An archaeologist must be able to make a clear and convincing argument in public as well as professional contexts
based on the analysis and interpretation of relevant information." |
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Discussion
- Students in North American Archaeology were required to have read a
fictional narrative account presenting ancient Mississippian life and
times. For this class, the book chosen was People of the River
by Michael and Kathleen O'Neil Gear (1992, Tor, New York). In the
past, students ave read another book focusing on Cahokia, Cricket Sings: A Novel of Pre-Columbian Cahokia
by Kathleen King (1983, Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio) as well as
the novel about the greater Southeast, Tatham Mound by Piers
Anthony (1991, Avon Books, New York). In this class, we critically
consider such works of fiction as forms of media that present
reconstructions of ancient life ways - a task that us usually left to
archaeologists. Based upon our archaeological understanding, how
accurate are such accounts? How much archaeologically-grounded
detail is presented? If you were an American Indian person, how
would you feel about how your ancestors were portrayed? What kinds
of lessons can you learn from reading such accounts - lessons for what
kinds of things to avoid as well as include in your own writing of
representational creative nhistorical fiction?"
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(Click here
to go to a full list of MATRIX Principles as applied to other modules
for this class)
(Click here
to go to the Cross-tabulation of North American Archaeology Course
Modules, Module Overviews and SAA Seven Principles)
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| D. |
Instructional Procedures: |
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This class is fundamentally a lecture and discussion class. An excellent
Time/Life video — Cahokia: America's Lost City — also can be
scheduled to augment this class hour. While unscheduled, this video was
shown during the time this class was presented in spring 2002 and led to
considerable student discussion. Future incarnations of this course at
Hamline will include this video in the syllabus. |
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| E. |
Assessment: |
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In this class the materials presented will be tested as part of the first
of three examinations. Both essay and short-identification questions can
be developed by consulting the "Terms
related to discussion of THE SOUTHEASTERN WOODLANDS - MISSISSIPPIAN
CAHOKIA - LATE PREHISTORIC METROPOLIS ON THE MISSISSIPPI" found at the end of the class lecture notes for this module (Module
13D).
Essay questions related to this
module can be found by clicking the following (43),
or by searching in the Essay
Bank.
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