Episode 01: Cahokia and the Mississipians, Part 1
Photo Caption: Monks Mound in Cahokia, facing west. Taken in December 2022, by your host.
Cahokia is the largest North American city you’ve never heard of. And its builders, the Mississippians, who were they anyway?
In Part 1, your host discusses the rise of the Mississippians from the cultures that came before, the ascent of Cahokia from a large village into a city with no equal, the stupendous Monk’s Mound, and much more!
Clarification: The mound count at Cahokia’s height was 120 mounds, today there are ~70-75. Thanks to Lori Belknap, Superintendent of the site for the clarification!
Show Notes/Sources:
Ancient Civilizations of North America (The Great Courses Course and Guidebook); Edwin Barnhart (2018).
Early Humans: Ice, Stone, and Survival (The Great Courses Course and Guidebook); Suzanne Pilaar Birch (2023).
Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi; Timothy Pauketat (2009).
Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians; Timothy Pauketat (2004).
Cahokia Mounds; America’s First City; William Iseminger (2010).
Cahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis; Biloine Whiting Young and Melvin L. Fowler (2000).
Cahokia: City of the Sun; Claudia Gellman Mink (1999).
America Before: The Key to Earth’s Lost Civilization; Graham Hancock (2019).
Sacred Places North America: 108 Destinations; Brad Olson (2008).
Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: 100 Discoveries That Changed the World; National Geographic (2021).
Site Brochure, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (2023).
Surveying Cahokia; XYHT, Jeff Thoreston (2023).
The Milky Way Path of Souls at Cahokia; William Romain, Cahokian (2023).
Cahokia: Mississippian Metropolis; Ancient Americas Youtube Channel (2022).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciOvaIm51M
Cahokia (wikipedia page) (Accessed 2023).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia
Monk’s Mound (wikipedia page) (Accessed 2023).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monks_Mound
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (wikipedia page) (Accessed 2023).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex
Mississippian Culture (wikipedia page) (Accessed 2023).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture
S4 E2 Mississippian Religion, ArchaeoEd podcast (2022).
https://archaeoed.com/2022/10/01/s4-e2-mississippian-religion
S4 E3 Mississippian Burial Patterns, ArchaeoEd podcast (2022).
https://archaeoed.com/2022/11/01/s4-e3-mississippian-burial-patterns
The Chronology of Monks Mound; Timothy Schilling, Southeastern Archeology (2013).
https://www.academia.edu/5152940/The_Chronology_of_Monks_Mound
Warfare and the Materialization of Daily Life at the Mississippian Common Field Site; Meghan Buchanan (2014).
Some Perspectives on Cahokia and the Northern Mississippian Expansion; Thomas Emerson (1991).
The Elements of Cahokia Shrine Complexes and Basis of Mississippian Religion; Susan M. Alt and Timothy R. Pauketat (2017).
Ancient Skywatchers of the Mississippi Valley. PowerPoint presentation for The Maya Exploration Center 9-27-2019; William F Romain (2019).
Alternative Histories and North American Archaeology; North American Archaeology; Timothy R. Pauketat and Diana DiPaolo Loren (2005).
https://www.academia.edu/19634248/Alternative_Histories_and_North_American_Archaeology
Monumentality in Eastern North America during the Mississippian Period; David Anderson, in Early New World Monumentality, edited by Richard L. Burger and Robert M. Rosenwig, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida. (2012).
Maize and Mississippian Beginnings; Amber M Vanderwaeker, et al, in Mississippian Beginnings, University of Florida Press (2017).
https://www.academia.edu/101884876/Maize_and_Mississippian_Beginnings
An American Indian City; Timothy R. Pauketat, et al, in Medieval Mississippians (2014).
https://www.academia.edu/19633787/An_American_Indian_City
Diasporic Connections: Cahokia and the Greater Southeast; Melissa R. Baltus, et. Al, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory (2020).
https://www.academia.edu/89101543/Diasporic_Connections_Cahokia_and_the_Greater_Southeast
Paradigms Lost: Reconfiguring Cahokia’s Mound 72 Beaded Burial; Thomas E. Emerson, et. Al, American Antiquity 81(3) (2016).
https://www.academia.edu/27275447/Emerson_et_al_2016_Cahokia_Mound_72_Beaded_Burial_plus_Supl
Fecal Stanols Show Simultaneous Flooding and Seasonal Precipitation Change Correlate with Cahokia’s Population Decline; AJ White, et.al, PNAS (2019).
Metropolitan Life on the Mississippi; Nathan Seppa, Washington Post (1997).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm
‘Megafloods’ Spurred Collapse of Ancient City of Cahokia, New Study Finds, Blake de Pastino; 2015
http://westerndigs.org/megafloods-spurred-collapse-of-ancient-city-of-cahokia-new-study-finds/
America’s Largest Earthwork, Cahokia’s Monks Mound, May Have Been Built in Only 20 Years, Study Says; Blake de Pastino; 2015
Ceremonial ‘Axis’ Road Discovered in Heart of Ancient City of Cahokia; Blake de Pastino; 2015
http://westerndigs.org/ceremonial-axis-road-discovered-in-heart-of-ancient-city-of-cahokia/
Victims of Human Sacrifice at Cahokia Were Locals, Not ‘Foreign’ Captives, Study Finds; Blake de Pastino; 2015
http://westerndigs.org/victims-of-human-sacrifice-at-cahokia-were-locals-not-captives-study-finds/
Sacrificial and Common Graves Alike Reveal Diversity in Ancient City of Cahokia; Blake de Pastino; 2015
Epic Fire Marked ‘Beginning of the End’ for Ancient Culture of Cahokia, New Digs Suggest; Blake de Pastino; 2015
Fresh Look at Burials, Mass Graves, Tells a New Story of Cahokia; Diana Yates, Illinois News Bureau (2016).
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/391694
Ancient Bones, Teeth, Tell Story of Strife at Cahokia; Diana Yates, Illinois News Bureau (2016).
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/391703#image-3
'Revealing Greater Cahokia' Details Research on Ancient North American Metropolis; Diana Yates, Illinois News Bureau (2019).
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/742413#image-1
Mississippian Period; Adam King, New Georgia Encyclopedia (2021).
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/mississippian-period-overview
The Mississippi Period: Southeastern Chiefdoms A.D. 900 – 1541; George Sabo III, (2013).
http://archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=The%20Mississippi%20Period
Cahokia's Emergence and Decline Coincided with Shifts of Flood Frequency on the Mississippi River; Munoz, S. E., et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(20), (2015).
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501904112
Mississippians Were the Mound Builders in North America; Hirst, K. Kris; ThoughtCo (2021).
https://www.thoughtco.com/mississippian-culture-moundbuilder-171721
Lost Cities #8: Mystery of Cahokia: Why Did North America’s Largest City Vanish?; Lee Bey, The Guardian (2016).
Prehistoric Panopticon: Settlement Visibility at Ancient Cahokia Mounds; Pierce, D. E., & Matisziw, T. C, Space and Culture, 24(2) (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331218805388
Cahokia Mounds Photo Gallery Earthworks of Eastern North America; James Q. Jacobs (2006).
http://jqjacobs.net/archaeo/cahokia.html
Cahokia Mounds Civic and Sacred Landscape; Sally A. Kitt Chappell, SAH Archipedia, (2012).
https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IL-01-163-0015-01
Native Americans:Prehistoric:Mississippian; Museum Link Illinois (2000).
https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/miss.html
Native Americans:Prehistoric:Mississippian:Identity; Museum Link Illinois (2000).
https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/m_id.html
Native Americans:Prehistoric:Mississippian:Economy:Food; Museum Link Illinois (2000).
https://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/pre/htmls/m_food.html
Georgia’s Prehistory; Janel Dora Wilson (Accessed 2023).
https://slideplayer.com/slide/8456376/
