The
What
comes to mind first when reading the articles about
So,
if we sum up all the information we can draw from several articles available on
the Net, this is how Garden Eden is supposed to have looked like before the
European intruders came to America:
Due
to the region they lived in – which was the fertile
Around the great urban center, farmers grew crops to
feed the city-dwellers, who included not only government officials and
religious leaders but also skilled tradesworkers, artisans
and even astronomers. The city was the center of a trading network linked to
other societies over much of
Articles
try to prove that the Cahokian way of life was an
easy one. At least in the beginning of the existence of this city, there were
no fears of starvation or such. On the contrary, corn was a steady and constant
food supply and there was often a surplus, so that was used for trade. “They
traded from the
THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SYSTEM
Articles
speak of
A chief is often viewed as god-like serving as the
medium for communication with the supernatural in the upper and lower worlds
(see below). As such, the elite will manipulate religious beliefs and world view
to gain social control for themselves, their family or the chiefly corporate
group. (http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/RiverWeb/Projects/Ambot/prehistory/mississippian/top.html 09.10.2001)
On
the whole, we can say that “status, gender, age and kinship all determined the
role of each person.” (http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/archaeology/sites/northamerica/calife.html
23.07.2001) Accordingly, a woman was able to achieve a highly respected
position in the Cahokian society, but she rarely
became chief.
Since there was plenty of food –
especially corn – available, people didn't have to spend all their time growing
or hunting food this society developed a system of division of labor.
Besides farming other professions developed such as
craftsmen, farmers, fishermen, warriors, and other skilled workers. They all
constituted the last of four distinct classes, scientists suspect the Cahokian society consisted of. These were the ones of the
Sun Chief; the priests and chieftains; the leaders; and finally the commoners
or working class.
To keep the growing populace orderly and, perhaps more
important, to manage corn surpluses,
“The rulers lived atop the mounds in wooden houses and
literally looked down on others.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm 20.07.2001)
Many
articles about
It
is suspected that the chief and the elite class held significant power. This
seems to be demonstrated by the capacity of organizing the significant
population of
However, there
are still arguments about Cahoki’s role in the American Bottom. The traditional
model is the one of Cahokia as a highly integrated chiefdom, which might have
exercised enormous influence over the whole area, as well as over peoples throughout
eastern North America.
In an alternative model, the American Bottom is described as an area with several quasi-independent, yet probably Cahokia-dominated, chiefdoms throughout the Mississippian Period. “In both re-constructions Cahokia was the mound center of a complex chiefdom which clearly interacted with other groups both within and outside of the American Bottom.”
(http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/RiverWeb/Projects/Ambot/prehistory/mississippian/top.html
09.10.2001)
ECONOMY - HOW
CAHOKIANS EARNED THEIR WAY OF LIVING
Besides fishing, hunting, and the gathering of berries and other plants, Cahokians grew corn. Cahokia’s corn-based economy was one chief reason that allowed many people to live in one place.
Crops cultivated by Cahokians were diverse, and
included corn, chenopodium, knotweed, maygrass, little barley, marsh elder,
sunflower, squash, gourd, tobacco, and perhaps amaranth. In addition, they
probably tended wild bean, panic grass, and black nightshade; they may have
also grown persimmon and sumac trees. (http://archaeology.about.com/library/weekly/aa100597.htm?rnk=r1&terms=cahokia 05.09.2001)
ART AND CRAFTSMANSHIP
As mentioned before, Cahokians were also skilled craftsmen.
Craft production in the town of Cahokia included
arrowheads, axe-heads, shell beads, carved-stone figurines, and copper
ornaments, typically manufactured from exotic (non-local) materials. A
distinctive pottery style, red slipped or highly burnished ceramics, was made
at Cahokia, and copies and originals are found far from the American Bottom. (http://archaeology.about.com/library/weekly/aa100597.htm?rnk=r1&terms=cahokia 05.09.2001)
Some
articles argue that they were probably used in ceremonies and rituals and not
created for the mere sake of art (have a look at
http://members.fortunecity.com/allnutt/transamerica/ta2000/megcass/cahokia.html). The pottery,
for instance, "contains
decorative elements that historically were powerful symbols of the continuity
of life, as well as warrior status (Hall 1991). The falcon or thunderbird motif
is present on Cahokia pottery […]” (Robert J.Jeske in
http://csf.colorado.edu/jwsr/archive/vol2/v2_na.htm 05.09.2001)
Generally speaking, the Mississippian art seems to be full of icons and symbolism.
Much of this symbolism is apparently directly relevant
to the ideological structure of the Mississippian world. In general, beings
associated with the upper world are those that fly or soar, whereas beings that
burrow, dive, or live in the water are tied to the lower world. Beings that represent the upper world such
as the falcon, and supernatural Thunderbird , for example, are often also
associated with the four cardinal directions. Similarly, underworld beings such
as serpents, mythical feline-serpents, and horned beings may also be associated
with the four cardinal directions. (http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/RiverWeb/Projects/Ambot/prehistory/mississippian/top.html 09.10.2001)
It is believed that Cahokian did a lot of trading of exotic or prestige goods.
Since Cahokia
Mounds was so close to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers,
people who lived far away could get to this business and religious center
easily. It also meant that the people who lived here could start trading with other North American
Indian settlements. There was no money exchanged in this trading. (http://members.fortunecity.com/learnto/cahbook.html 19.07.2001)
Hence, there are articles arguing that parts of the findings at the Cahokia site might not be Cahokian artworks but items that found their way to Cahokia by terms of trading.
HOUSING
Cahokians seemed to have a special kind of architecture which
indeed may have had more similarity with modern architecture than the one of
typical Native American dwellings.
The
most common buildings at Cahokia were single-family dwellings,
build with wooden poles covered with walls made of woven grass and the roofs
were thatched with grass. These probably were windowless and had one doorway.
It is suspected that public buildings
were located on top of some mounds. “The largest and most impressive buildings
at Cahokia were the temples of religion and government, the grandest being the
5000 square foot home of the great chief atop Monks Mound” (http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/archaeology/sites/northamerica/cacity.html 23.07.2001). They have probably been very
large to be able to hold large numbers of people during important ceremonies.
There
are articles which describe Cahokia indeed comparable to a modern city. For
instance, we can take a look at
http://www.interlog.com/~gilgames/cahokia.htm
(20.07.2001), where Cahokia is described as a place where we could find
artificial reservoirs, “roads linking
the city to outlying areas and other towns”, whole temple complexes, which the
author describes as “reminiscent of Mesoamerican civilizations in Mexico and
Central America”, a port and even a sort of ball-court, “where various games
were played (for sport or ritual) (also reminiscent of Mesoamerican
civilizations in Mexico and Central America)”.
The
article even suspects certain neighborhoods of houses to have existed in
Cahokia, which formed some kind of clan, family, trade or other social-unit
sub-organization, indicating a type of complex social structure.
As
in almost all sites
with multiple mounds, the Cahokian mounds surrounded a main plaza area. This is
supposed to have functioned as a communal space for civic and religious
functions.
It is a good bet that the size of any plaza at Cahokia
is a proxy indication of the numbers of people who participated in the building
and use of that space. For this reason, Cahokia's central plaza--covering about
50 acres--is telling of a giant labor force and enormous social gatherings
unmatched elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley. (Timothy R. Pauketat
in
http://medicine.wustl.edu/~mckinney/cahokia/ProjComp1997.html
19.07.2001)
RELIGION
We cannot be sure how reliable the
information about Cahokia’s religion is. Only a few sites mention this issue
and if they do they tend to refer to it as the so-called “Southern Cult”, the
kind of religion that is associated with Mississipppi cultures. Due to this
theory, the leader was called “The Great Sun” and was worshipped as a god. This
suggests that religion was the means of asserting authority.
He
would live on top of the highest mound, and his wife would live on top of the
next highest. The Indians believed that living that high brought them closer to
the heavens. If the "Great Sun" died, his wife was strangled and
buried with him. Others would be killed also to go along with him into the
world of death. (http://www.germantown.k12.il.us/html/woodland2.html
05.9.2001)
The belief of human sacrifices as
part of the Cahokian religion is strengthend by several findings. However, one
must not draw any conlcusions without hard facts. Although many findings appear
as obvious answers to several questions, there are sites which stress that
these questions are far from being answered yet.
What
the archaeologists discovered left more questions than answers. The ancient
people were designated Temple Mound II, Mississipian Culture, people who lived
by agriculture and trade. Their ceremonial building (temple? home? priest's
lodge?) was atop the main mound. They threw human bones in their garbage pits
(cannibalism?) and practiced rituals which included the burial of 53 young women
and four headless, handless men with the body of a chief.? priest? king?
Whatever his rank, this dead man lay at rest on a blanket of 20,000 shell
beads, with a copper staff and 700 arrows near at hand. (http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/RiverWeb/Projects/Ambot/Archives/vignettes/people/Prehistoric%20City.html
15.10.2001)
Moreover,
we have to think of the assumption that Cahokians
practiced human sacrifices as it is expressed in articles like
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm,
which mention Mound 72 and the excavation discoveries in this context. I doubt
that the ones who were sacrificed did that voluntarily. Of course, maybe I
should also think of the possibility that people have such a strong belief that
they do it voluntarily; however, I doubt that all of them were that religious.
Several sites see the assumption of
Cahokians as being associated with the “Southern Cult” as backed up by
different pieces of craftsmanship ornamented with symbols, which show “a
preponderance of female characters, serpents, and birds. Archeologists surmise
that the emphasis on women and other living things suggests fertility's central
role in the culture. Fertility symbols were reproduced in wood statuary, pipes,
and pottery.” (http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/feature/feature.htm
05.09.2001)
However, there are sites which appear
to be stating things which are not
proven yet, just in order to create a “round” story, and sites like
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/feature/feature.htm
advise against drawing conclusions too fast.
It
is now realized that postulating a religion on the basis of similar types of
burial artifacts may be an erroneous assumption. More likely, similarity in
exotic artifacts was due to a Mississippian exchange network linking hundreds
of large and small communities, which functioned to promote the exchange of
prestige goods for food. (http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/feature/feature.htm
05.09.2001)
EVERYDAY LIFE
There seems to be a lot of evidence that Cahokian life included a great deal of music, song, and
dance. It is assumes that they regularly engaged in games of chance and skill.
In
their free time, they played shell guessing games, gambled with dice, and
amused themselves by attempting to catch hollow bones on the tips of pointed
stick to which they were tethered. The premier sport at Cahokia was chunkey, a contest in which two players threw javelins at a
rolling, concave stone, attempting to mark the place where it would come to a
stop. (http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/archaeology/sites/northamerica/calife.html
23.07.2001)
Usually,
the plaza seems to have been the place for activities such as games or
religious ceremonies. However, as mentioned before, no Cahokian
writing was found so far. Therefore, many of conclusions about the life of the Cahokians are based on vague assumptions.
CAHOKIA’S
RELEVANCE FOR THE AMERICA OF TODAY
There are different opinions on the
importance and relevance of Cahokia for the American history. Some argue that
Cahokia was – in many ways – more prominent than other towns in the American
culture; yet it had no particular relevance for America of today.
Some argue that Cahokians are like John
Hancock, whose moment of glory came 600 years after theirs. To them, the Cahokian signature was, like Hancock's, simply bigger than
the rest, but not representative of anything more advanced or creative. “I
don't think Cahokia was qualitatively different “from these other settlements,”
Smith says. “It was the same framework of organization, writ large.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm 20.07.2001)
Others,
however, argue that it probably had an enormous influence on the way America
developed.
Others, including Hall, suspect that Cahokia practiced a "cultural
hegemony," meaning that it had a cultural influence beyond areas it could
control militarily. It likely had profound impacts on people up and down the
river. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm 20.07.2001)