Cahokia - History

History

Although there is some evidence of Late Archaic period (approximately 1200 BCE) occupation in and around the site, Cahokia as it is now defined was settled around 600 CE, during the Late Woodland period. Mound building at this location began with the Emergent Mississippian cultural period, about the 9th century CE. The inhabitants left no written records beyond symbols on pottery, shell, copper, wood and stone, but the elaborately planned community, woodhenge, mounds and burials reveal a complex and sophisticated society. The city's original name is unknown.

The original site contained 120 earthen mounds over an area of six square miles, of which 80 remain today. To achieve that, thousands of workers over decades moved more than an "estimated 55 million cubic feet of earth in woven baskets to create this network of mounds and community plazas. Monks Mound, for example, covers 14 acres (5.7 ha), rises 100 ft (30 m), and was topped by a massive 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) building another 50 ft (15 m) high."

The Mounds were later named after a clan of historic Illiniwek people living in the area when the first French explorers arrived in the 17th century. As this was centuries after Cahokia was abandoned by its original inhabitants, the Cahokia were not necessarily descendants of the original Mississippian-era people. Scholars do not know which, if any Native American groups, are the living descendants of the people who originally built and lived at the Mound site, although many are plausible. Native American bands migrated through different areas, and those living in territories at the time of European encounter were often not the descendants of peoples who had lived there before.