Cahokia is a modern-day historical park in Collinsville, Illinois, enclosing the site of the largest pre-Columbian city on the continent of North America. (296-298). Please be respectful of copyright. World History Encyclopedia. It is most likely that Cahokia faced societal and environmental problems at the same time (just like the US is doing now!). The clergy, who were all of the upper class and, as noted, had established a hereditary system of control, seem to have tried to save face and retain power instead of admitting they had somehow failed and seeking forgiveness and this, coupled with the other difficulties, seems to have led to civil unrest. Cahokia is thought to have begun as just another small village, one of many, located between a forest and a river on a wide plain conducive to agriculture. My name is AJ and Ive been an archaeologist for about 10 years. All rights reserved, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But just 200 years later, the once-thriving civilization had all but vanished . Cahokia people - Wikipedia Once found near present-day St. Louis in Illinois, Cahokia suddenly declined 600 years ago, and no one knows why. Then, the fall of Cahokia might have had a domino effect on other Mississippian city-states that depended culturally and politically on Cahokia, he adds. They are hunted for food in the hills. However, it seems that climate change, in the shape of flooding and droughts, hurt some people more than others people with farms in low-lying areas and in bad soil could make less food than their neighbors, which may have affected their decision to leave and try for a better life somewhere else. The authority figures of the Adena and later Hopewell cultures were also responsible for the cultivation of tobacco which was used in religious rituals which took place at the top of these mounds, out of sight of the people, or on artificial plateaus created in the center or below the mound where public rituals were enacted. There is no mystery to their disappearance, however, nor was the site permanently abandoned in c. 1350 CE. Just as people today move to new places when their hometown isnt working out for them, many people who lived at Cahokia moved to other parts of the Mississippian territory to join or start new settlements. Archeologists call their way of life the . Once found near present-day St. Louis in Illinois, Cahokia suddenly declined 600 years ago, and no one knows why. If we only started driving electric cars, everything will be fine. Scholar Charles C. Mann describes the variety of the mounds: Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Indeed, they seem to have [had] little purpose. Mound 72 shows us the importance of religion and power at Cahokia. Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Clay readily absorbs water, expanding as it does. Simpson, Linda. Thats a Western mentality of resource exploitationsqueeze everything out of it that you can. Because they lived in small autonomous clans or tribal units, each group adapted to the specific environment in which it lived. European deforestation created a deep overlying layer of eroded sediment, distinct from the soils of the pre-contact floodplain. However, the people next to Birdman may have chosen to die with him. From an engineering standpoint, clay should never be selected as the bearing material for a big earthen monument. Thank you! Unauthorized use is prohibited. They cultivated corn and other crops, constructed earthen mounds, and at one point gathered into a highly concentrated urban population at Cahokia.