Mounds built by Mississippian culture a millennium ago - Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site 198
What and Why
During the turn of the last millennium, a native Mississippian culture and polity called Cahokia (pronounced /kəˈhoʊkiə/) settled near the present town of Collinsville and built a major city, lasting from mid-9th century to mid-14th century CE. During its heyday, the city covered more than 15 km2 and had around 20,000 people, making this vast pre-Columbian native settlement once the largest and most sophisticated urban centre in North America. This particular polity built a number of impressive earthen mounds, now called the Cahokia Mounds, as ceremonial and partly astronomical structures.
The establishment of Cahokia coincided with the rise of agriculture, particularly the cultivation of maize, bean and pumpkin, which allowed for a surplus of food and consequently, a growth in population and settlement complexity. This agricultural abundance facilitated the development of a hierarchical society with specialised roles, including religious leaders, artisans, and labourers. The area included a wide bounded market plaza for merchants, a residential area for the common people and another for the upper-class, a ball court for a game known as chunkey, maize field, solar calendar of wooden poles, and the mounds which served as residences, sometimes graves, and for religious and political purposes. Cahokia became a regional hub of political, economic, and cultural influence, connected through extensive trade networks that extended all around continental North America.
These mounds are now administered under the National Park Service under Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The site has immense historical, cultural, and heritage value, providing insight into the early development of urbanisation in North America.
Toponymy
'Cahokia' means 'wild geese' in the local Irenwee language and was adopted as the name of the area.
The governing city Collinsville is named after the Collins's family who established the township in the area in the early 19th century CE.
See
The site map is illustrated as below, with each mound identified with a specific number. There are more than 120 mounds or earthworks identified in the site.
Monks Mound
The most iconic feature of Cahokia is Monks Mound, the largest earthen structure in North America, standing about 30 m high and covering 56,000 km2. It is often advertised that the base of this mound is larger than the Great Pyramid (Arabic: الهرم الأكبر, Al-Haram Al-Akbar) in the blogged Giza (الجيزة), although it is evident that this mound had been built and added over a course of several centuries. The access staircase-ramp is clearly a very recent addition.
This particular mound was named because during the ealry 19th century CE, the land was actually claimed by French people or their descendants. A small group of Trappist (Latin: Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae) monks from France took over this particular mound, which obviously was the largest, and made a small produce garden on the top of its terrace. As a result it was named the Monks Mound by Henry Brackenridge who visited the site in the early 19th century CE.
The Monks Mound was likely the political and ceremonial centre of the city, with a large building on top that served as the residence of the ruler or as a temple. The top terrace of Monks Mound likely served as the site of ceremonial purposes. This structure would have symbolised the political and religious power of the ruling elite and was visible throughout the surrounding settlement, reinforcing the authority of the leadership. The sheer size and construction of Monks Mound demonstrate the complexity of Cahokian society and its ability to organise large-scale labour efforts.
Nowadays, standing atop of the Monks Mound on a good day with a good camera, one can see the nearby city Saint Louis from afar, as above.
Citadel
The entire Cahokian citadel is deduced to look like the artist's impression, taken from the signages as below. The city housed at its peak more than 20,000 people in the city, comparable with many big cities during the era. While there are 120 mounds identified in the original plan, only 80 remains today.
The city, with its ramparts, is oriented properly with the cardinal axes with the Monks Mound right at the centre. Right in front of the Monks Mound is the Grand Plaza for communal gathering and the chunkey game. This particular area also shows that the site had been expertly levelled and landscaped and hence reveals the Cahokian incredible engineering skills during the time.
According to the signages, the main mound is aligned 5° east of north, a direction for the observation of the maximum southern moon rise of 5° west of north, albeit in reverse. This is thought to have had symbolic connexion with their lunar maize goddess of the underworld.
The central area is protected by an elaborate stockade or wooden palisade for defensive purposes. Apparently it is also revealed that the elite citizens usually stayed inside the palisade while the commoners stayed outside it. This apparently was the social order then.
Until recently, it was thought that Cahokia 'mysteriously vanished' sometime in the early 15th century CE but recent excavations have established that the decline was contributed by the gradual departure from the city, most likely due to overpopulation, climate change and natural disasters especially floods.
Other mounds
Cahokia also included numerous platform mounds that supported buildings such as residences for the elite, council houses, or temples, as well as conical burial mounds used for important individuals, all scattered around the central precinct.
Signages for other mounds, in this case Mound 51.
One notable discovery is the unassuming Mound 72, where archaeologists found the burial of a high-status individual, often referred to as the 'birdman', surrounded by elaborate grave goods, including thousands of shell beads arranged in the shape of a falcon.
There is also a falcon signum clay tablet found in the dig.
Astonishingly more than 250 other skeletons were discovered from Mound 72 and surrounding smaller mounds. It is believed that many of these were sacrificial victims, based on signs of ritual execution. Some were even attributed to have been buried alive. The presence of multiple sacrificial burials in the same mound indicates that ritual sacrifice may have been part of Cahokia's religious practices. All these can be seen inside the visitor centre.
Woodhenge
Approximately 1 km west of the Monks Mound stand the reconstruction of the Woodhenge, a series of large timber circles being almost parallel to the Stonehenge in our blogged Amesbury, except that this one was constructed by timber poles. The current woodhenge is all a reconstruction as the site was discovered by salvage archaeological digs during the 1960s CE and pretty much only a few decayed poles and pits were found. There are at least five different woodhenges, with the largest Woodhenge IV being almost 150 m in diameters with 60 poles, literally resembling a giant clock. The others had 24 or 48 poles, again inferring astronomical connexions.
The central post of Woodhenge, is believed to symbolise the axis mundi, the centre of the universe in Mississippian cosmology. It represented the connexion between the heavens, earth, and the underworld. This symbolic significance would have reinforced the ruler's role as a mediator between the people and the divine.
Currently annual equinox and solstice sunrise observation events are held at the site.
Woodhenge is believed to be a solar calendar (as blogged in Mount Emei (峨眉山), marking equinox and solstice events for agricultural cycles and religious observances. During the equinoxes the sun rises due east of the timber circle. Standing at the centre of the circle, it appears that the sun rises right in front of the Monks Mound.
In addition to its function as a calendar, Woodhenge definitely had served ceremonial and ritual functions, especially those related to harvesting. The site of Woodhenge, with its large circular configuration, would have provided a dramatic setting for ceremonies that emphasised the connection between the people, their rulers, and the celestial forces they believed influenced their lives.
Getting There and Around
The site is located in the middle of nowhere and one has to drive. Within the site, the area can be explored by foot in spite of its size.
UNESCO Inscription
Cahokia Mounds, some 13 km north-east of St Louis, Missouri, is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was occupied primarily during the Mississippian period (800–1400), when it covered nearly 1,600 ha and included some 120 mounds. It is a striking example of a complex chiefdom society, with many satellite mound centres and numerous outlying hamlets and villages. This agricultural society may have had a population of 10–20,000 at its peak between 1050 and 1150. Primary features at the site include Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas, covering over 5 ha and standing 30 m high.
References
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