Cahokia: Mississippian Metropolis

Cahokia was the largest city ever built in the pre-columbian United States. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, this city of great mounds and plazas continues to capture our imagination. Join me as I explore the Cahokia in detail and discover how it helped usher in a new Mississippian order across the Eastern United States.
Introduction: 00:00
Big Bang: 6:00
Cahokia site overview: 13:29
Life at Cahokia: 28:16
Cahokian Religion: 31:20
Influence of Cahokia: 34:57
Late Cahokia: 37:54
Patreon: / ancientamericas
Facebook: / ancientamericas ​
Sources and Bibliography:
docs.google.com/document/d/1y...

[@jonathanhall5061]

Hi! I'm an archaeology student and the Eastern Woodlands has been one of my focuses since before I even got into college. I think this is honestly one of the most detailed and well-researched Mississippian history education videos on KZbin! It goes into a lot more in facts and nuance than most people care to bother. Which is why I really hate to give nitpicks in my thoughts and comments, which there are a lot of but also a lot of stuff I liked as well: - 4:27 You really can't talk about the Mississippians without talking about the Hopewell and their antecedents, but I guess you may have videos on that. There's a lot of cultural continuity that needs going over. - 5:30 We don't know if corn is thanks to the Medieval Warm Period or if the climate phenomenon exactly had an effect in the American Bottom; it could be that a combination of a cold-hardy variety of maize appeared alongside a social revolution that incorporated it. We do know that pre-800-900 maize in the upper Mississippi has been ruled out recently, though, which is more a confirmation of previous consensus. - 6:24 Ah, classic Pauketat. He does a lot of great and hard empirical work, but he's also known to throw stuff like that out there, without necessarily any evidence, just to get people thinking. - 7:15 Good mentioning on the reorganizing of Cahokia. It was a really big deal. - 7:25 It's probably worth clarifying mounds were not initially covered in grass. Mississippian mounds had an outer layer of brightly colored clay to seal the whole structure from moisture. Although only a few Cahokian mounds were excavated with this part of the stratigraphy recorded in detail, it's probably the case here too (and some mounds were given a cap of black clay, presumably to render it decommissioned). - 8:22 Which _also_ doesn't necessarily exist, something else that's fun to point out to people. There was a Tula (which is also confounded by Nahuas calling every big important city a "Tollan") and it was very likely an important regional center in the Valley of Mexico, but the older narratives of a massive Mexico-spanning empire are very much overblown and cultural similarities are better explained by the interconnected intercultural movements and cultural revolution(s) spurred by Epiclassic migrations, resulting in what Mesoamericanists now dub the International style. This actually has origins _before_ Tula's construction. - 9:17 Is that a Cahokia and the Hinterlands reference? ;) - 12:55 Nuanced takes on symbolism, nice. - 13:40 Also citing Tim Pauketat, PBS' Cities in the Sky documentary said Cahokia's city grid is aligned to both the solstices and the lunar standstills which form the alignment points. But I don't know which one of Pauketat's works they're drawing from. - 15:52 Yeah there's actually a lot of debate on how many terraces Monks' Mound originally had. What is agreed on is that it used to be one single pyramidal platform and then was buttressed with at least one additional platform (the First Terrace). Support for the Second Terrace being a real thing, at least after a potential initial slump, was confirmed by the presence of clay half-sphere bulkheads providing strengthening support. The Fourth Terrace, however, did not seem to exist at the same time as the Major Structure (the uncreatively named big building on top that seems to be neither temple nor house). Instead, it was constructed after the Major Structure was demolished and a new, smaller building that more clearly seems to be a temple/charnel house was put up. There's also a few other odd buildings occupying the northern half of the summit alongside Major Structure, but the southern half is actually still mostly unexcavated even though that's where Nelson Reed thinks that's where the actual ruler(s)' house(s) could have been. - 16:34 Monks' Mound and other mounds start out as a large core filled with the readily available "gumbo clay" of the riverbeds of the American Bottom; it's everywhere, but it also has a very bad problem with keeping its shape, expanding when wet and contracting when dry. This isn't usually good for a foundation, but it works just fine if the moisture can be controlled. The core can be covered in layers of silt, sand, gravel and other forms of clay to drain the excess moisture and also keep too much from drying out. The baseline moisture level can then be determined largely through the water table but with added layers of stability for short-term changes. For some mounds, including parts of MM, clay or silty-clay can be used to create form-holding bulkheads for the inclusion of other fill. Then there are the added layers of brightly colored clay whose reasons aren't completely known; they could represent different stages or fill some cosmological purpose. And the outer layers of mounds weren't even basketfuls at all, rather entire "blocks" of cut sod, placed turf-side down to allow the root systems to grip onto the upper layers. This step provided an immense amount of shape retention and for steep surfaces to be built. After that, a veneer of visually appealing clay can be applied. - 17:05 This is an unfair assumption. Mounds in general are meant to undergo maintenance in their active life as part of a purpose-built social institution, but after abandonment can still retain their form a lot longer than many European earthworks. After Cahokia was abandoned, trees and shrubs began growing on its surface and the root systems overturned most of the earlier stabilizing structures. But they, in turn, kept the mound mostly intact throughout time. The significant majority of the slumping and degradation occurred after the 50s, when the trees were removed and the water table lowered due to all the well digging happening in St. Louis. Without access to groundwater, MM's gumbo clay core shrunk. With grass in place of trees digging their roots in and all previous waterproofing structures gone, the mound was also vulnerable to outside moisture. So when bad storms started to come MM filled right back up and started shaking apart. - 17:22 Sometimes I forget that barrow/borrow is one of those regional things. - 24:05 The existence of this sheer quantity of shell beads is also how we know professional craft specialization at Cahokia may well have been a thing. It takes five hours to drill ONE marine shell bead, and the flint microdrill bits have to be replaced every 15 minutes. About 153,710 person-hours of work were put into their production. - 24:31 Here the contexts of the Mound 72 burials are being mixed up. While I understand the need for a quick summary, the way it's worded jumbles the burials together meanwhile each of their unique situations are vastly different and important in their own parts. - 25:10 "Sacrifice" is something that's easy to apply to ancient American contexts with little discretion. In this case, many of the upper layer burials may well have been some form of retainer sacrifice as seen with the Natchez (or Mesopotamia for that matter). But as for the hundreds of people below those burials who don't seem to have been given any respect in death, Tim Pauketat believes they actually represent a much more political-based execution. - 25:38 That's only true of the smaller portion of the honored dead at the various features, but the ones violently killed below them were ALL local and probably represented members of some kind of distinct community within Cahokia. Hence Pauketat's interpretation of some kind of potential revolution, especially since it coincided with the reconstruction of Cahokia. - 28:52 yay for mentioning the continuance of EAC crops :) - 29:45 Wattle and daub is also found all around the world. Those old medieval-ish timber frame houses in Europe are basically the same concept. - 29:52 omg, going into the house shapes 😩I think a lot of sources think the T-shaped buildings had an elite context to them, coinciding with ethnographic reports, and there are also L-shaped buildings which may have been for storage. The Mound 34 copper workshop at Cahokia also had an irregular shape. - 35:25 Ayy this is a pretty good goods overview, but it leaves out one of the most commonly exchanged items in the Middle Mississippian sphere: hoe blades, made from Mill Creek chert! Chert from Mill Creek had the advantages of being incredibly strong and durable, albeit needing more skill to work. The nature of Mill Creek's relation to Cahokia is frequently debated but there is a chance Cahokia was directly controlling or commissioning Mill Creek for production. - 37:30 One of the arguments for Aztalan being a Cahokian outpost is its prime location as a collection and distribution center for both perishable and non-perishable goods. Other places like the Rockland site are also thought to have served this purpose. - 41:19 good recent research on deforestation; in hindsight it is a lot to assume a society born into millennia of forest management would forget how to sustainably harvest wood, and that this would affect them more than other societies in similar situations And lastly (in the next comment)...

[@jonathanhall5061]

- 43:30 Sounds like you weren't looking hard enough! Osage has a lot of peculiar callbacks to the older Eastern Woodlands cultural and physical landscape. This includes an origin story where they all lived in one large village by a river, which interestingly did flood in this story and the survivors retreating to "hills". That was originally thought to refer to the flood at Cahokia back when archaeologists thought there was one. The unrelated Ho-Chunk also have an interesting story that seems to reflect a time when their society was more stratified, any many people in the Southeast also preserve a time of mounds in their oral tradition. But if you consider that the Arthurian legends reflect the contemporary material culture of the storytellers a lot more than pre-Anglo-Saxon England, it makes more sense that not all stories precisely reflect the kind of history we're looking for. In fact, a lot of stories and histories about the storyteller's contemporary culture, all around the world, don't immediately reflect the facets of civilization an archaeologist or historian would look for or talk about. Which is why so many of them have a kind of timeless feel.

[@AncientAmericas]

This is fantastic feedback! I really appreciate it when people who are much more knowledgeable than me weigh in on this stuff and provide honest criticism. Thank you!

[@kenjohnson5498]

I grew up near the mound and the left terrace was fine for years until they did a dig in the early 80's and it eroded after that due to them not putting it back together correctly.

[@ChadKovac]

Get a hobby. Lol jk you know your stuff. Very cool.

[@nonyabidnazz7487]

the only thing I care about is that these "facts" of which you speak are about HUMAN BEINGS that occupied this land for millenia prior to the Europeans who raped and pillaged and STOLE from our ancestors.. I'm indigenous.. from the Pueblos of what is now known as New Mexico 🇲🇽 it's offensive to hear WYPEPO speaking about OUR culture and historic/sacred sites as fodder WE EXISTED and some of us still do!! my maternal grandfather was 100%!!! y'all "discovered" NOTHING!! you obliterated whole nations of people and now you're pontificating about your "discoveries" as IF the trauma of the past never existed.. WE ARE HUMANS AND WE'RE STILL HERE FFS!! wow!!!

[@GenerationX1984]

Cool how the biggest ancient city in the U.S. was near St. Louis. This country had a whole history before Columbus that we rarely heard about in school.

[@corneliusdeskins9875]

I just saw that there were 62 million here before Columbus. There is more to the story, and why was the year 1890 called the last generation. Something is not right, It seems that there are too many cities that have a so-called underground city. Which were inhabitants. Seattle built their city on two-story below the ground, and what about the orphan trains. If they are lying now you know they are always lying.

[@JohnBrownsBody]

@@corneliusdeskins9875 What are you talking about?

[@corneliusdeskins9875]

@@JohnBrownsBody I was going to get a degree in Archaeology. I live in the Ohio valley where 100 years ago there were Mounds everywhere, but not now After finding out it's all clocks and mirrors after I was told what I had to do to make it, I got a Job on the Railroad which didn't end my dream. Where are the Giant's bones? Where in the 50s they were dumped in the Gulf of Mexico, Where did over 62 million inhabitants disappear? One state to look at is Nebraska, In the late 1800s. Here is a question where did all those Insane asylums come from? when its population was low., and most were living in sod houses Why do most states have these buildings, why are there so many cities raising their streets one to twos. stories. look at Seattle, the Annanaika and Mud fossil university, the Mud-flood, and the Orphan Trains would be my first start.

[@shealdedmon7027]

@@JohnBrownsBody Cornelius is talking about the history you were never taught. It's not just Seattle that was built on ruins but most major cities in the US. It's truly mind boggling what we've been lied to about. When it comes to this subject my favorite channel is Jon Levi's channel. This topic isn't new. There are many who have been looking into our history and it's narrative for almost ten years. Some maybe longer. If you look up Jon Levi's channel and watch a few videos with an open mind. It will be hard for you to deny we've been lied to on a massive scale.

[@JohnBrownsBody]

@@shealdedmon7027 I don't want you to dismiss me off the bat as someone who isn't openminded... but c'mon man really? I watched a number of his videos and every single one overtly claims there is a shadowy conspiracy and "they" (never actually states who) are evil and want to hide true history (with no stated reason or goal) and that he is a righteous truthseeker bringing true history to the masses. This is pretty classic New Age style conspiracymongering. One of the jumble of theories he is pushing is Tartaria, which has been pretty thoroughly dismantled by people who study this stuff for a living. He cites no sources or research to back up anything besides googling things and using maps during his videos. He pumps out a lot of videos all with very vague ideas of what history is being suppressed, and doesn't seem to be making very many positive claims other than real history has been falsified by a massive conspiracy. Who stands to gain from engaging in a wide-reaching conspiracy not only to erase the history of an advanced precivilization via not only books, but physical monuments and falsified archaeological and archival evidence/ This would require an incredible amount of work to do for literally no good reason whatsoever. Linguistic evidence doesn't even line up with anything he is saying, which is something you literally cannot fake unless you go around teaching people fake languages and murdering everyone with a linguistic link to the 'wiped' civilization. Once again, I don't want to come at you in a seemingly hostile way because these conspiratorial ideas that this channel is pushing have a tendency to instill feelings of 'being enlightened about true history' in their followers who then turn around and ignore anyone who isn't 'in on it', but this stuff just isn't supported by anything other than a KZbin channel with very flimsy evidence. Hope you keep watching Ancient Americas and other very informative and facts based channels, and try and steer clear of these channels that intimate that there is a global shadowy conspiracy to falsify true history. Because that stuff is almost always just dudes trying to get attention.

[@budelderson6123]

I grew up close to the mounds. The Cahokia Mounds are a special place and should be treated as such. This mound complex is one of the last we have in the area after the settlers destroyed the others. It's worth studying and preserving.

[@plasticwax]

I’m originally from Southwestern Illinois. Years ago one of my aunts found a book in her basement from the 1920s about Cahokia. It contains detailed photos and maps. She gave it to me because of my interest in that area and archaeology.

[@biffbutowski2447]

What is the name of the book so I can search it in the library

[@glendagraves1637]

Can you have the book reprinted at this time or is the book still in print? Name?

[@aimeeripley3812]

Name of the book please?

[@tj_6964]

It’s one of the only UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the continental US, that’s how important the site is to world history.

[@hillogical]

And in my home state of IL!! I've had the pleasure of visiting this site a few times

[@Slashplite]

Chaco site and Mesa Verde are not UNESCO?

[@giga3132]

@@Slashplite They are. OP said “one of the only.” Not “the only.” The United States has 11 cultural heritage sites. For comparison, Mexico has 27. EDIT for clarification: There are 24 sites in total in the US. 11 are cultural sites. 12 are natural sites. 1 is a mixed site (Papahānaumokuākea).

[@MaleusMaleficarum]

Because UNESCO is complicit in continuing to hide the evidence of very ancient civilizations in N.America

[@seekernz7790]

Not "one of the only" this is an oxymoron! It can be either 'the only one' or one of a specfic number. it is one of 23 Unesco sites in the USA.

[@arkinyte13]

I feel like Cahokia not being taught in most American history classes is a crime.

[@AncientAmericas]

Indeed it is.

[@mongofungo9243]

Can't teach about every tribe in the world in school. That's part of a parent's job

[@arkinyte13]

@@mongofungo9243 You don’t have to teach about every tribe, just big influential ones like Cahokia, Plains, Chaco and Iroquois. Or you can teach about tribes depending on where the school is located.

[@zarathustra8776]

Yes it is

[@jacobmccandles1767]

I was taught about it in about the late 80s.

[@TheKeksadler]

Cahokia was one of those semi-local sites that I learned about by complete accident as a teenager and it completely captivated me. I fondly remember speculating about how a massive native empire existed in the heart of the country and the fact that its people seemingly vanished without a trace before any European explorers could explore the area continued to fuel my wild imagination. Certain near the top of my list of places to visit if I ever stumble upon a time machine.

[@ryanharris1052]

Great video. Being British I haven’t been taught much pre Colombian American history and thus was pleasantly surprised to learn about the amazing developments occurring. While aware of great civilisations in central and South America I was unaware of any major cities in the north and was thus amazed and astounded to learn about this great city. It’s great learning how much you do not know and having the chance to explore so much.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! Don't worry, there's plenty more!

[@nozzzzy]

I grew up in the USA and even we didn't learn about this stuff. They really didn't teach much about anything pre Native Americans and even then, most of it was about post Columbus interactions with Native Americans... my whole life I assumed that's all there was here after the damn dinosaurs. 😂

[@lindasue8719]

I live in Canada likewise was taught nothing. I hope that "New World "history education in the schools has changed in more recent times.

[@stevenleslie8557]

The history of North American pre-Columbian Indians has been grossly understated. I've always known natives inhabited what is now the US and Canada, but I thought they were largely nomadic or simply hunter gatherers or at best subsistence farmers in very small communities. To know there were probably millions of people who covered the land in the whole of the area is mind blowing.

[@arkinyte13]

Hollywood and the education system really did a number on the minds of America.

[@bobbybigboyyes]

@@arkinyte13 They brainwashed everyone out there.

[@asagoldsmith3328]

That's manifest destiny for ya

[@noluckduck9096]

@@arkinyte13 right, how many Cowboy and Indian movies showed anything like this

[@arkinyte13]

@@noluckduck9096 Zero, all natives lived in teepees according to old boomers.

[@suehodgson5494]

We lived in St. Louis for years. It is absolutely amazing how few people, even local people, know much about Cahokia. GO SEE IT if you are ever in the area. It is just astoundingly interesting. Years ago, before the fabulous museum that is now there, my young family visited Cahokia on a blistering hot day in July (July in St. Louis is just miserable) and we entered a small reconstructed Cahokian dwelling house. Cahokian houses are dug into the ground a few feet. It was cool, pleasant. I knew then that those people were geniuses. The more I learn about Cahokia the more I want to know.

[@williamcollins4082]

What aggervates me is I can never catch them open !!! Only access to that big hill ...

[@arthas640]

That was a common construction technique of the time, many rural houses in europe were "hovels" and were usually a couple feet in the ground. It helps keep you cooler in summer and warmer in winter and it's a better insulation then waddle and daub and made the homes a bit more fire resistant

[@huntrrams]

@@williamcollins4082 I live in Illinois and stopped by during a road trip. It’s worth checking out and mound is huge! I wished I could check out the museum but it was closed.

[@bucket0rocks]

not a real great neighborhood. madison county WM is close by, and has some equally impressive mounds too. same goes for that neighborhood.

[@arthas640]

@@aryanprivilege9651 actually my profile picture is a cartoon chibi version of Arthas from Warcraft 3 but now that you mention it the pic does look alot like a castle or tower and now I cant unsee ot

[@sunstirade1085]

I live within 45 minutes of this. The amount of arrow heads and practice targets we find in the local farming fields is pretty impressive!

[@CrankyOtter]

My grandma grew up near there and thought arrowheads were naturally formed because “you just find them in the fields”. Wasn’t until my parents took a knapping class that she realized they’d been made deliberately. (This didn’t imply she thought native people incapable of making them, it was just a conclusion she drew as a kid finding arrowheads wherever she looked that remained unexamined for decades.)

[@Drojah]

9:04 there are one or two mounds left on the st. Louis side of the mississippi. You can see one right off highway 55 near Chippewa. My family always knew it as sugarloaf mound. There was a house on top of it for many years, but the Osage nation fought a lengthy legal battle to have the house demolished and take ownership of the mound.

[@YahwayorNoway]

My grandmother was born in polaski mounds territory...no one acts like they know much about the tribes there. 1st I hear about the Osage. Thanks

[@missourimongoose8858]

Unfortunately we still haven't learned our lesson because a mound in Fenton missouri was destroyed to build a Walmart not that long ago so for everyone out there who loves this stuff need to realize we must also fight for it on behalf of native Americans and there contribution to the human story

[@wendycrawford1792]

Missouri mongoose. This is the epitome of man’s greed and stupidity!!!!!

[@rodneygriffin622]

I remember that happening. So sad.

[@missourimongoose8858]

@@wendycrawford1792 there is a mississippian site around my families land that we have kept secret for over 30 years, I made a video showing it on my channel for a missouria tribe historian

[@paprika7577]

What the fuck. This makes me so mad

[@JJoy-bk8yr]

That's horrible!

[@deloreandorian]

YESS! I've been waiting to see Cahokia since i started following your channel 8 months ago. I live in St. Louis and that site is undeniably where I got my love for an fascination with Native American cultures as a little kid. Thank you so much!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I've been waiting to cover this since I started the channel. It's one of my favorite sites as well.

[@willhall796]

Same! Going to Cahokia for solstice snd eclipse then to Gus’ pretzels was a highlight of my childhood

[@theronsmith3303]

St. Louis here too!🙌🏾

[@Bunnicula71]

It is an underwhelming experience, as the tech was dirt, dirt, and more dirt. There is no art, no inscriptions, just wood and, wait for it, more dirt

[@deloreandorian]

@@Bunnicula71 Hi Joe Mama

[@MrDusk41]

Been to Cahokia a couple times, I live in the region but still a bit of a drive. Really pretty place. I still remember my dad saying "Maybe they just built up to see something not flat?"

[@dubuyajay9964]

Yeah, hills are nice.

[@charlesparr1611]

I had a friend who lived in Saskatchewan, he moved away as soon as he could because 'I hated living in a place where you could sit on your porch and watch your dog run away from home for two days.' There is an oppressiveness to flat land that is hard to explain to people who don't live in a place that makes you feel like an ant on dinner plate.

[@nathanbrisebois8756]

​@charlesparr1611 I have driven from Alberta to Ontario a few times. It takes 3 days of driving, and Saskatchewan is definitely the most boring and longest leg. You almost get snowblindness, but it's canola-blindness lol. The Trans Canada Highway is straight the whole way except for a single large S curve and when you get into the town of Swift Current. An extremely mind numbing drive

[@upscaleshack]

Growing up in Missouri and having seen the Mississippi in flood many times, I also wonder "wouldn't it be nice to have a dry spot to wait for the water to recede?"

[@jeffaltier5582]

Top-notch job. This is easily the best overview of Cahokia I have seen. Outstanding scholarship and work.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@nathandennis03]

I live in Peoria Illinois about two or three hours from Cahokia (depending how fast I’m going lol). Not to many people here know about this enormous cultural sight that’s so close to us. I can not wait to show people this video so it can help them understand how aw inspiring of a structure monks mound is and the culture of Cahokia

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! More people should really know about this.

[@ImMrGuyish]

don't worry, here in the St. Louis area, people don't know about it very well either

[@lostnlove2309]

I live 40 minutes from St. Louis, drove past there almost every weekend while growing up. Never been there, had really no idea how monumental it is. I’m hoping to get there this year.

[@bravery12329]

Living near Chicago I knew about Cahokia but last October I was going through the area. Wow pictures do not do justice to this site.

[@AncientAmericas]

@@bravery12329 they really don't. When I traveled down there last year, I'd seen tons of pictures of the site and I was still blown away.

[@michaireneuszjakubowski5289]

Praise be! Ancent Americas blesses us with another video! Growing up in Eastern Europe, I've basically learnt that the entire New World was stuck in Stone Age, ranging from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic. Only later, through reading proper literature, did I discover how wrong that image was, along with all the sweeping generalizations found in the textbooks I was fed when young. Cahokia, I think, stands as a perfect example of that. It's one-of-a-kind complex, the remains of a similarily unique culture, and a very advanced one at that.

[@alecpayne18]

Considering the location, it is probably not one of a kind...its most likely that mesoamerican influence gave rise to the mounds. They are on the main rivers leading to the gulf of Mexico, very close to the mesoamerican cultures.

[@revjoe250]

Yeah, unfortunately, we learned the same thing in America as kids. If we're lucky, we get to learn a few tidbits about the local native history, but for the most part schools still teach the same "Europeans brought the ignorant savages civilization" myths. The only difference is it's not always painted as a positive--like, we were intruding upon a perfect native eden unspoiled by civilization--but it's fundamentally the same mistake.

[@yaddahaysmarmalite4059]

To help you further along, many native american cultures were very sociologically sophisticated to the point that it made the newcomers, the colonial europeans, appear very uncivilized. This is because many native peoples preferred to develop their societies/culture rather than their technology. High technological development is not the only indicator of a sophisticated people. Think on that for a bit. Doesn't it seem true that the modern USA proves that high technological development is possible when the society/culture is rather anarchic and random? and before anyone chooses to be offended by that statement, think about how modern, white americans value "rugged individualism"- politically correct terms for anarchic and random.

[@user-ub4ud9gy4d]

um, they were Neolithic, meaning using stone tools with no metalworking. You can have a town, or even an empire, and still be neolithic. 20 thousand people is not a "metropolis," by the way. That's a town.

[@jasonstewart3748]

We tried to kill them all. We were paid 20 pounds for women and 40 for men and when the Americans took over it was 2 dollars a day and 25$ per scalp and if you were a civilian you would have gotten paid between 75-200$. This is the very first thing people need to be taught when speaking of native Americans. Look at us all the romanticism and the sick use of their sacred land as tourist attractions.

[@alexanderren1097]

Listening to this description, my instinct is that Cahokia was an extremely powerful imperial capital. Possibly the most powerful empire in North America. So much of the physical description and archeological evidence for a rapid rise of power makes me see many parallels with the rise and fall of Rome, Assyria, and many other great "Old World" empires. It's too bad there are no written records or surviving oral traditions. I'm sure it would be an amazing story!

[@dubuyajay9964]

Scroll up and read the bottom of the pinned comment.

[@hairyjohnson2597]

I'm a huge fan of this channel. I would like to add, here in Louisiana there's a mound known as Watson brake. Its actually not far from my house. It's owned by a few different siblings. A few of them want archeological studies done to the mound and one or two doesn't. Well, the Gentry family has always let me and my siblings duck hunt and fish near the mounds off the river. Even though they aren't cleared and there is alot of shrubbery and overgrown foliage you can still see the one mound coming out and towering above the forrest floor stretching up to the height of a few of the pines. The mound is apparently also the oldest mound in North America as well.

[@AncientAmericas]

Watson brake is a really fascinating site. I really hope more work can be done on it.

[@Bambisgf77]

Is this near Marksville in Avoyelles Parish? Thanks!

[@Hannah-jb5xj]

fertile american bottom 🥺🥺🥺

[@AncientAmericas]

I don't make the names.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@AncientAmericas literally everyone in the Southeast is like "yeah, sounds right."

[@pheonix6119]

Nooooo! Teacher said to stooooop!

[@uglymeez236]

Ayo? 🤨

[@nickbitters7014]

You called?

[@jackturner4917]

You and Mr. Fosaaen dropping Cahokia videos back to back. You spoil us. It's mind boggling to me how little we know. The human sacrificing is such an intriguing mystery. I would bet they were captives from other tribes but all we have is speculation. American history is so underrated and you always put a smile on my face.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@NathanaelFosaaen]

I swear we didn't coordinate that. It was a complete accident.

[@fullmetaljackalope8408]

@@NathanaelFosaaen I just subbed your channel and it looks super interesting. I bet I like it. Lol

[@youngking2503]

They could've been from rival nations however we don't really know for sure. Personally I think they're more likely political enemies or "criminals" however it could just be all of them

[@mikebyars9463]

I’m originally from Mississippi the state and I can remember seeing mounds growing up driving down the Natchez Trace and just visiting them while driving around the state. We also used to walk creek beds and find shards of pottery and arrowheads. I still have some of both. The arrowheads are all unique made from different color and types of rocks and all made in different shapes(some shorter and fatter and some longer and skinnier like spear points), and some of the pottery has a simple u shape almost stenciled around the rim. Would love to go back soon and do some more exploring.

[@hallowedsparrow9432]

I'm sad that I didn't get the notification for this. As a recent anthropology grad who did their final project over Chaokia and the Mississippian culture I would have loved to watched this the day it came out. Well, gonna binge it now here's my late welcome back!

[@bizuko2307]

I am endlessly fascinated by Mississippian culture, to the point that if there was more easily accessible material on it I would probably be more obsessed with it than Mesoamerica (and yeah, went and ordered that book you recommended right away). The lack of oral history about this haunts me, because it just makes me think about how a *lot* or oral histories were lost post-contact because of disruptions due to displacement and disease (disease especially since the elderly - y'know, the people who tend to keep stories - would've been effected the most). So who know what was lost. Certainly a lot about Mississippian culture in general, if not about Cahokia specifically...

[@AncientAmericas]

Definitely agree with you. Most Mississippian literature is not really geared towards a wide audience which is a shame because it deserves a bigger audience. If you're hungry for more, the Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages channel has two great videos on Mississippian culture that I'll link below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3Wzaq1-l69-hJo&ab_channel=StudyofAntiquityandtheMiddleAges kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJzbi5J4ad6ieKc&ab_channel=StudyofAntiquityandtheMiddleAges Yeah, the loss of knowledge is tragically incalculable. I really wish I could go back in time with a good translator and lots of ink and paper.

[@MrChristianDT]

The only oral history we have on these sites- at least, the Mississippian sites in the same areas as Cahokia which are contemporaneous with it- says that the Illinois Confederacy (which the actual Cahokia tribe were a part of) joined forces with the ancestors of the Dhegihan Siouan tribes (Quapaw, Osage, Omaha, Kansas & Ponca) & drove them out in a war. We don't know who these people were, or where they went, though. Speculation suggests that they have or had some sort of cultural connection to the Pawnee, but we don't actually know of there is any direct relation, there.

[@MrChristianDT]

@Mafla Ballesteros Juan David It's not always the most accurate or informative, no, but you can often glean some minor information from it. Besides, this lines up with other oral histories of Siouan & Algonquian people migrating away from the east after the Iroquoian peoples begin aggressively expanding, which we know, due to archaeology, started sometime roughly around 1100 AD. Shawnee oral history seems to be the one I can't get much of anything particularly useful from, other than an admission that the Powhatan should have also claimed descent from the Lenape, just like the Nanticoke & Mohicans. You also get issues like Puebloan & Navajo oral histories contradicting one another & some people in each community being completely under the belief that the misinformation coming from the other side is being made up by white people. I don't even know what to make about that, until we can use newer methods to accurately date Anasazi sites. It's also possible, from what we see there, that the fighting never made it as far as Cahokia itself & the people just surrendered & left without much of a fight after outlying communities were destroyed? The French also got this story from a nation of people which is now virtually extinct- just the Peoria of Oklahoma is all that's left. I don't know what to make of the work that's been done so far, but I'll try to keep an eye on it & see where it goes.

[@andrewmckeown6786]

I think the theory of multiple massive tsunamis, caused by ocean strikes of a shattered comet, sweeping across continent from multiple directions, best explains the empty landmass discovered by europeans. Lots of compelling evidence

[@irena4545]

@@andrewmckeown6786 Must have been pretty selective tsunamis, that they impacted just one continent...

[@michaelriverside1139]

As a Mexican, I'm profoundly impressed but just as intrigued by this civilization as they seemingly (I know they don't, but it's fascinating the similarity nonetheless!) share some mothifs with the Nahua such as the Ehécatl-Quetzálcoatl Mask and yet, their presence in North America is evident with the links to the Thunderbirds... I'd love to know more about the Thunderbirds since they seem to be just as omnipresent there as the Feathered Serpent across Central America!! OH, also... Is there any kind of relationship between the Cahokia Civilization and the myth of the Ani-Kutani from Cherokee Legends?

[@AncientAmericas]

That's a great question for another episode. In regards to Ani-Kutani, I really can't say. That's a better question for a Cherokee.

[@Mr.Obongo]

The scientific name for Thunderbirds is argentavis magnificens. They’re extinct mow. Many of these kinds of legends trace back to mega fauna.

[@michaelriverside1139]

@@Mr.Obongo That's an interesting theory, but saying Thunderbirds are the same as Argentavis is kinda preposterous since one is a Mythological Being, while the other was a concrete species that existed in the ancient past... Not to mention Argentavis Fossils have only been found in South America thus far While I certainly agree with some of those theories, such as Greek Cyclops being based-off Elephant Skulls...

[@xochiltepetzalailhuicamina2322]

Cahokia is Caouquias in French transliteration and Cahuaquias in Aztec Nahuatl is those left behind. Peoria is pronounced Peewalia and the Aztec nahuatl word for beginning or origin is Pehualiztli. And Ilinois Michigamea/Mishikamia/MexicaMaya are in my theory their descended from.

[@askmehow20]

Por que somos familia estos gringos los Dan mala information ..

[@GeekGirl-ub7ki]

The most disgusting part of this to me is that, to this day, public schools in the USA do not teach children that these were large civilizations who built cities. They maybe give a cursory paragraph or two that Missipian Native Americans built mounds and the Pueblo Native Culture built houses. They persist in teaching Native Americans were mostly tribal and migratory for their entire history (which was only mostly true of plains tribes and not true for the tribes on the East Coast and Mississipi areas). Glad to find this channel!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@jerryware1970]

We were taught this in the 1970s in Texas

[@emotionalfriendone43]

This is all 8th grade history.

[@AmericanMayan]

They won't teach it because it's black history. Native American people are FOUNDLINGS. These were not primitive areas

[@AG-xc9yh]

@@emotionalfriendone43 I don’t know what school you went to, but I didn’t learn anything like this in 8th hrade

[@mikeymasters8459]

I’m an anthropology major with an emphasis in Native American studies. Excellent content!! Btw, you should consider a future episode on Spiro Mounds, a Caddoan-Mississippian ceremonial complex along the Arkansas River. Also considered the farthest western satellite within the Mississippian ideological sphere (that we know of) I’m from the area, hence the plug.

[@AncientAmericas]

Spiro is an incredible site! It's on my list of topics but I have no clue when I'll get to it.

[@tristanvanderkleij8206]

Those "wattle and dobb" houses with wall trenches can be found all over the Dutch province of Drenthe. Many people lived in such houses untill the 19th century, because the province was so poor. In the Netherlands, we call them "plaggenhutten".

[@bobbybigboyyes]

It's "wattle and daub" here in England where many thousands of homes and buildings of it still exist. Some new ones are still made that way.

[@theimmortal4718]

We call them Cobb

[@grimble4564]

I don't understand how more people aren't interested in pre-colonial America. It was a completely different place culturally and ecologically. The amount of meaningful information all of us have lost thanks to ignorance, stubbornness, and laziness is absolutely heart-wrenching.

[@AncientAmericas]

You and me both.

[@MassachusettsTrainVideos1136]

@T R Based

[@mariekatherine5238]

Couldn’t agree more! Because of the Eurocentric curriculum taught in American public schools, most people think the only thing in the US before Christopher Columbus was small bands of hunter-gatherer Indians.

[@slthbob]

The amount of meaningful information all of us lost... yea... tribes of humans that never developed writing have always been at that disadvantage... as each orator in the oral tradition only tells the stories that give them the best food from the listener... pretend harder friend... stone age wisdom is a myth... if it weren't... poverty would be considered a utopian dream... like the Bushman of the Kalahari

[@okaywhatevernevermind]

@T R jews for hitler?

[@GhostofCicero]

I grew up in Moundville, AL. We were taught that out site was the largest and most important site of the mound building culture. Of course I learned about magnificent Cahokia later in life and was floored by it. Moundville is still an impressive site and I would love for you to do a video on it sometime. I did see one comment below regarding something I have pondered for years but seen no scholarly work on. Even as a kid I thought the mounds at Moundville and the art found there was strikingly similar to Central American culture. I figured they built their pyramids out of dirt and clay because they didn't have access to stone. But is there a solid connection between the cultures? Was there a migration? Trade of ideas? If anyone knows of any solid research to either support of refute a connection please let me know.

[@AncientAmericas]

That depends on who you ask. Some people think that there's a very good chance of it and others are more critical of a Mesoamerican influence. There are good arguments for both sides.

[@theyoungexec-cc2cd]

Same people

[@michaelcimino-hurt3630]

The museum at Cahokia is excellent and worth a visit.

[@AncientAmericas]

It's actually in the middle of a renovation so hopefully it'll be even better when they're done.

[@atlasaltera]

As a geography enthusiast, I'm surprised to learn a geography term from you! It's too bad we don't use "American Bottom," or even "the American Bottoms," more widely. It's cool to think about all the the fertile flood plains the Mississippi affords. I wonder if this area could be fit to be called the "Upper Mississippi Delta," just as the (Lower Inland) Mississippi Delta is confusingly referred to as a delta or "the Delta," even though it is upland from the true delta on the Gulf Coast. Cahokia seems to occupy the sweet spot that Yangzhou or the Inland Niger Delta cities occupy, a geographic area that future trendy anarcho-archaeologists and James Scott and co. might investigate. Brb, reading about chunkey.

[@AncientAmericas]

I'm glad I could teach you something! I didn't know about the term either until I started researching this.

[@atlasaltera]

Finished the video! It's quite fascinating that water was an issue in this area, which shows how much ingenuity and constant work is required in urban planning instead of taking your natural resources for granted. Also, it would be cool to compare with Mayan peoples that last bit about no local cultures having much to say about this historical moment. What did Mayan peoples have to say about the left behind objects, roads, monuments, and abandoned cities of of earlier periods?

[@charlesandrews2360]

Not far south is Cairo Illinois where the Ohio meets the Mississippi River. The area is called Little Egypt.

[@1970joedub]

Well, Sponge on resides in “Bikini Bottom” play in words :)

[@santigardipee9303]

Lecture 1: America's Butthole - The Untold History

[@indigenouspodcast2257]

Wait, I want to know about Aztalan! Just kidding. Great video! Loved the depth you went into regarding the homes and communities along with the possible reasons for the decline. Had a good time sharing the experience with you!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! It was a really fun day! I'm glad we could meet up.

[@indigenouspodcast2257]

@@AncientAmericas you’re welcome! I am too! Thank you for the invite!

[@mrmarmellow563]

GO Need More ON The GREAT BIG EARTH OF ANCIENT MAIZE-BOTTOM❣️

[@hughjass4736]

Thank you for not just showing one image every 30 minutes and utilizing visuals, earned a like.

[@AncientAmericas]

You're welcome!

[@wendollah]

What is amazing to me is this history was NEVER taught when I was in school. I am happy to watch and listen and learn. Thank you!

[@Coratlan]

I visited cahokia over this past summer and its really underrated. Theres a good collection of artifacts and informational materials in the visitor center and the tour guide we got was very knowledgeable about the site and we had a good conversation about how extensive the trade routes went where goods from the coast and even OBSIDIAN tools from either mesoamerica or from yellowstone made their way to Cahokia. Definitely recommend more people check it out

[@xochiltepetzalailhuicamina2322]

Corn or Maize is of Mesoamerican origins domesticated from Teocinti from Southern Mexico. Something making the Mississippian culture possible. I think Aztec Mexica and Quiche Maya are descended from Illinois Michigamea(MexicaMaya). I have videos on my theory on my channel.

[@yrobtsvt]

The small human sculptures in the Cahokia visitor center seem very evocative to me

[@lazenbytim]

American pre-history is so poorly understood because of the establishments vanity. They hold on to this old narrative that America was only peopled around 13,000 years ago when the evidence mounts for an occupation of at least 50,000 possibly 100,000 years BP. Very interesting video, glad that you guys are catching up at last.

[@schizomode]

Some of that obsidian came all the way from cascades in Oregon near the Bend area there is a huge obsidian flow feild there that the natives collected from and traded it far and wide to make arrowheads.

[@Coratlan]

@@schizomode oh perhaps thats where he said its from and not Yellowstone. (I just remember out west) but still for items to go so far means we really dont give Precolombian trade networks enough credit. Hell just corn itself going from Mexico to New York and The Andes was a feat in itself

[@dracomadness792]

I always tell people I talk to about how my ancestors had mega cities and large populations in small areas. Some don’t believe cause all they’ve known is we have been hunter gather’s. Great video as always! Keep up the inspirational work

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@RonJohn63]

The problem with claiming that they were "mega cities" and had "large populations in small areas" is that they were "mega" with "large populations" compared to _their_ time; definitely not to our time. Thus, people rightly do not believe that your ancestors built New York City.

[@dracomadness792]

@@RonJohn63 well there sure wasn’t a hundred mega cities back in those days. But Tenochtitlán, Machu Pichu, several Mississippi communities and a couple more throughout the lands had close to or well over 1-2 million. Which back in those days was sometimes more than cities in Europe. You would be correct in saying they aren’t so mega nowadays, but even still today a million plus people in a city is crazy.

[@jzjzjzj]

@@dracomadness792 no they didnt? the largest city in the americas was tenochtitlan and that only had a population of 200,000 and cahokia and many other cities did not compare to that

[@dracomadness792]

@@jzjzjzj That’s what we know for certain 100% documented fact. But if you look at the size of the city and area you can clearly tell there were so many more people. I also believe that statistic was recorded after disease was running rampant through these populations. Also keep in mind these are all oral stories. So they will most definitely have a little extra sprinkle of fantasy in them. Maybe the populations of these huge cities were less than a million. But if we still compare that to the city of Tenochtitlán. Maybe 3-4 times larger. There might not be significant proof but if you listen to elders from tribes that lived along the Mississippi River. They always tell tales of large civilizations back in the day.

[@annaboudreau5504]

I recall visiting the Cahokia mounds site in the 1960's and '70s with my father, who was a professor of anthropology in Chicago. I found it fascinating and so glad I came across this channel!

[@SnailHatan]

God damn, I need the name of the guy who read the journal entry. Man has the absolute most perfect voice for this period of time. I want to hear him read mountain main and frontiersman books

[@AncientAmericas]

His info is in the bibliography and he's a voiceactor for hire so have at it!

[@RAClaus3]

I grew up right next to Cahokia Mounds, I've been fascinated by them for years. As a kid my grandpa used to sled down Monks Mound during the winter.

[@AncientAmericas]

Wow! So you lived in the subdivision that used to be in the grand plaza?

[@RAClaus3]

@@AncientAmericas I grew up in Collinsville, which is primarily on the bluffs that overlook the site, as well as the flat area around the bluffs, which would probably overlap with the former subdivisions of the city. My middle school was right down the road from the site proper.

[@RAClaus3]

@@AncientAmericas My grandfather had an uncle who owned a farm in what is now the national park portion of the site.

[@RAClaus3]

@@AncientAmericas Collinsville High School has the symbol of the thunderbird warrior found at the site on the side of our school, my middle school was constructed in the shape of a thunderbird, and the mascot for the intermediate school is the thunderbird. What's annoying is that there is a town not too far away called Cahokia that everyone assumes is where the site is located, even though it was built before the excavations began and named after the Cahokian tribe that used to live in the area. My one complaint with the museum, is that while it's informative, it's also outdated, referring to the native inhabitants as Indians. I'm 31 years old, and they have not changed a single thing from when I was a kid.

[@AncientAmericas]

@@RAClaus3 that's really interesting! You're actually in luck with that last complaint because the museum is undergoing a renovation this year.

[@FamilyGallagher]

I’ve listened to everything I can find on Cahokia for the last several years and this is by far the best yet. Absolutely love it and hope that the topics that are called out as possible additional episodes are made in the near future. Hats off, this great work and very valuable to anyone interested in this fascinating subject.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@williamgreen2673]

Attended a field trip there in 3-4 grade, really moved me. Have been back many times, my children always liked it. Just a place of wonder and awe.

[@fronts3165]

So cool. I visited and climbed Monks Mound on a school field trip in 9th grade back in the mid 70’s. There were no stairs then. Your presentation was much more detailed than the information we learned in school.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@markmcarthy596]

Was just speaking with Harry Hubbard today in fact. He’s inSo Illinois finding artifacts and exploring ancient areas and I’m in St Louis exploring mounds and finding artifacts. Many ancient wonders to be found

[@markmcarthy596]

See our channels

[@mgibbar]

Thank you for the additional insight. I just returned from a trip to the Mid-West and Cahokia was the first site on my list. Our family use to hold reunions at the park within the mounds. I use to play on Monks Mound. I returned with a greater appreciation for what was underneath my feet. I was elated to see the interpretative center present although one was not when I was a kid. Many of my friends near Cahokia have no idea as to its significance. I hope that our education system recognizes the need to acknowledge this site.

[@oldreprobate2748]

Grew up here and later the kids and I would go there on Sunday mornings to eat breakfast and fly kites from the large mound. There's a museum there that's a must see.

[@robertallen4774]

I recently came across the statement that the Yuchee (or Uche) people claim to be descendants of the builders of Cahokia. The historic Yuchee lived in the western foothills of the Appalachians and definitely had a Mississippian culture. Their language survives, but is not linked to any other known language

[@AncientAmericas]

Interesting. I did not know that.

[@stevenhe198911]

Interesting,language actually can connect a lot of hidden dots

[@janetprice85]

Interesting as my mother's family were Yuchi/ Creek originally from SC that intermarried with Scots- Irish settlers and fought for the Revolution and moved down to Ga. after. There are mounds in north Ga too.

[@kodys2087]

I really appreciate that this channel takes the time to explain the scientific reasoning behind the archaeological knowledge, be it soil stratification, information from pollen, etc, rather than just making broad statements with the expectation viewers will just accept it as fact. Regarding the general video content the voiceovers, images, editing, and themes are all excellent, and as an Iowan I am a sucker for any video with corn. I've been waiting for a video about Cahokia and Mississippians since I first found this channel. I'm very interested in Medieval History (~500 CE to ~1500 CE) and it always irritates me when I'm discussing this time period with people who claim that North America had no extensive cultures or civilizations like their contemporaries in Central or South America. It's a part of history that is not taught nearly as much as it should be, especially in the United States, and hopefully this video and your channel continues to educate people on these amazing historical groups.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@michaeljdauben]

Great video! I was staying in St Louis for work a number of years ago and drove over to Cahokia one weekend. It was amazing seeing the mounds and learning a bit about the "mound builder" culture in the United States.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@baneofbanes]

One of the few sites you talk about that I’ve actually been too.

[@AncientAmericas]

It's an amazing place!

[@ohthatstea]

Love learning about ancient cultures the world over and when I tell you when I first found this channel I was curled up watching every video like I was on a Netflix binge

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@lispiscringe2943]

Been waiting for a good Mississippian culture video, and you didnt disappoint. Great as always!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@ronrice2249]

I was raised in DuQuoin, Illinois, about an hour from Cahokia, and have been past Cahokia many times, although I have never stopped. Everybody in that area is familiar with Cahokia Downs.

[@RichUnclePhil]

It’s always so awesome to see a new video from you! Great work, as always!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@LautaroArgentino]

Great content as always! Previous to finding this channel I wasn't aware there were cities like these north of Mesoamerica. Here where I'm from we are never taught these cultures even existed, when learning about indigenous peoples we learn mostly about Mesoamerica, Andean and local cultures like the Guarani and the Mapuche. Also we ought to appreciate maize, and grain crops in general, more. They are the backbone of civilization!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! Yes, the world does need to appreciate maize much more than it does.

[@zeamaiz945]

You couldn't be more right, especially that last part!

[@LautaroArgentino]

@@zeamaiz945 username checks out haha

[@patriciarouse2801]

Genocide thought is learned behaviour.

[@LautaroArgentino]

@@patriciarouse2801 what?

[@thevenbede767]

Thank you for doing what you do. I sadly only really know much about Eurasian history but you doing these videos is helping me with American history

[@AncientAmericas]

Thanks Venerable Bede! I'm a big fan of your historical work as well!

[@thevenbede767]

@@AncientAmericas you better be because my work is totally historically accurate and not unfair to Mercians. They really were that bad.

[@archaeoedpodcast]

Very well researched and presented! Your channel deserves every view it gets and more.

[@AncientAmericas]

Hey there Dr. Ed! Thank you!

[@jeffreybrady5323]

You should do a video over Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma. The amount of artifacts recovered from that site is impressive.

[@AncientAmericas]

Yes! Spiro is on the list but I'd like to see if I can actually visit the site before I do an episode on it.

[@hokep61]

​@@AncientAmericas Many of the original artifacts from Spiro mounds are located at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa and the Woolaroc museum near Bartlesville.

[@aditsoma6902]

I wish there were channels like this for ancient cultures outside of America too. I mean there are a lot of good ones but none has the perfect package that this channel offers. Your videos are detailed, concise, with good visuals and graphics and, most importantly, they keep you interested on the topic without overly dramatizing historical facts. Thanks for your amazing work!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! If you'll permit me, let me give you some recommendations on other channels that do nice deep dives into cultural history: Ancient American History: kzbin.info/door/ixq2XFpbRsEGkwyAYzZ4rw More Ancient American History: kzbin.info Indigenous History and Indigenous Topics: kzbin.info African History: kzbin.info More African History: kzbin.info/door/12lU5ymIvSpgl8KntDQUQA Jewish History: kzbin.info

[@aditsoma6902]

@@AncientAmericas wow thank you! They all look very promising!

[@AncientAmericas]

@@aditsoma6902 I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

[@ziumzium5049]

About the Near Eastern ancient civilizations I can wholeheartedly suggest you History with Cy channel.

[@AncientAmericas]

@@ziumzium5049 oh yes! Good call!

[@BeyondEcstasy]

Finally! This is so underappreciated in NA.

[@terryr.t.2113]

Living near Poverty Point in Louisiana, I was fortunate to be able to spend time walking, looking and imagining what the area was like a coupla thousand years ago. Also spent time when the LSU Archeology folks were here doing some excavating. Later being able to see the displays at the site's Center. Used to ride my small dirt bike over and spend the day with the students on digs. Even got to take home some of their culled items from the digs.

[@njzeigler4370]

I lived in Collinsville just a few miles from Cahokia and spent most of my free time there hiking around. One of the most interesting places to wander around wondering!

[@AncientAmericas]

It's an incredible place.

[@nitsudocsicnarf347]

I live near Pinson Mounds in West Tennessee. They are working on the new archaic site the state has acquired.

[@jtmcgee]

I always get excited when I see one of your new videos ready to watch. All of your videos are informative and entertaining. I really appreciate the effort you put in. The maps, images of artifacts and old pictures are really great for immersion and visual learners. You are on my short list of channels I recommend. Thanks

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I'm definitely a visual learner as well and I think that it's really important to see the products of these cultures.

[@jacobhenry5673]

I think you definitely bring up a good question about why there is no oral tradition of Cahokia. I think one of the things to discuss about Native American oral tradition is that according to Vine Deloria, oral tradition is not perceived in the way of Western Chronology. While Western History originated in a form chronologically of series of events that leads to present day in Native American Oral History, where it commonly focuses less on the events but more on the effects that happened because of a single event. As with all stories it is mythologized into oral tradition and to Vine Deloria is tied to the land, landmark, or location that the important event happened. To the Sioux the Battle of Little Bighorn is barely event recorded in Sioux history or event in its recorded history because it had little to do with their religion than the White Buffalo Woman because of a great role she played in Sioux culture and religion as well as the Black Hills. This would lead me to speculate that either the descendants lost its oral history due to moving and resettling in other areas of the Mississippi where there was no need for the oral histories of the Cahokia due to the fact, they no longer were related to environment that surrounded Cahokia. Or they deeply mythologized the migration or impact of the society by phrasing as Holy People, evil, etc. Or (and this a very big if) Cahokia more or less had no effect on the religion of the Mississippian people. To further speculate, Cahokia was not mainly a people but a city-state with a priest ruling class over a federation of people who lived at the city. Regardless as a Native American it is always fascinating to hear about cities in Pre-Columbian North America because it really shows how parallel people in the 900AD-1100 AD were close to their European counter parts. And to me it complicates and makes me even more curious on why there was no Grand State Institution in the North American outside of Mexico.

[@AncientAmericas]

I've actually since had a few indigenous people reach out to me and say that their tribes do have traditions about Cahokia so that statement should probably be qualified. However, it still seems under-remembered and there's still a lot of room for speculation.

[@ShalomMichael]

What a fascinating presentation. Great narration, informative, interesting and entertaining. Well done.

[@xochiltepetzalailhuicamina2322]

Cahokia originally spelled Caouquias transliterated in French. In Aztec Nahuatl cahuaquias means those left behind. In my theory, I think the Aztec Mexica(Mehsheeka) and Quiche Maya are descended from Illinois Michigamea/Mihshikamia/Mexicamaya

[@doncook2054]

interesting....

[@bluekachina2229]

Me too

[@alive2583]

No you’re not wth are you talking bout you bot

[@jip230]

YES! I've been waiting for you to do an episode on Cahokia! Thank you for giving us a spot light on North American pre-Columbian cities and civilizations

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I hope it was worth the wait.

[@matthew_thefallen]

Discovering this channel is fresh air to my feed! Fantastic!!🙌

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@veggieboyultimate]

Cahokia is a good lesson to modern cities. Some of the things in Cahokia still persists in the cities we have today.

[@thinkinaboutpolitics]

Thank you for preserving some of this history for us.

[@AncientAmericas]

You're welcome!

[@janetprice85]

Used to have family reunions near the park at Cohokia, Ill. and visited the mounds. Visit if you get the chance. Amazing construction.

[@AncientAmericas]

It's a great place!

[@budweber9802]

A very interesting history lesson about the early days of Cahokia. I have lived here (and still do) the better part of my life. I appreciate learning from those who have taken an interest in exploring and researching the beginnings of such a historical rich community. This video is just a start. There is a lot of French history in Cahokia from the 1700's and on. Thank you very much for taking the time to put all these pieces together into a very detailed learning experience.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@bethanykarasek7819]

Thank you so much for this!! I visited a site connected to the Cahokia culture earlier this year in Wisconsin and I was dying to know more but all I could find was the same simple information that was on the info boards at the site. Your video is so well put together and gives me so much more supplementary information to what I learned a few months ago!

[@bethanykarasek7819]

It was Aztalan! I just got to the part of the video where you talked about it :)

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! And you're welcome.

[@verylostdoommarauder]

The worst part is that there are no written records. These people could have had a mythology as extensive and interesting as Greek and Egyptian mythology but we’ll never know it.

[@pixels2u]

Right - without the Maya glyphs, statuary and murals, we'd never know about their extensive and mindblowing religious system that motivated massive building and human sacrifice (and much more). But they had stone to work with.

[@kirkdavis3929]

I grew up in Indiana, the Mound builders always interested me, as we have mounds in Indiana and Ohio as well, I think the mounds were a way of protecting the inhabitants from floods..

[@artofescapism]

Super cool video, very informative and interesting! I went to Cahokia and loved it- such a fascinating site! I appreciate all the work and detail that went into this!

[@MarkCorder]

I love your presentations! I know you've mentioned the Plum Bayou Culture of the Late Woodland and the site at "Toltec Mounds" in Arkansas - but I'd love to see you do a full episode on it. Extensive excavations have been done there that have revealed an amazing amount about the lives of these mound-builders.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you. Someday, I'd like to cover those topics.

[@harropizza]

Excellent vid as always. Genuinely curious as to how long you spend making these as the production quality and content is always fantastic.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thanks! Depends on the episode. This one is probably the most demanding. I started reading up on it back in August. I'd say most take about 4-6 weeks.

[@Timby_]

As always, absolutely loved this!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@ReliableDragon]

Fantastic video, thank you so much for covering this in such great detail!!

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@DaraS84]

Thank you for this! I learned a lot from this. We live near the Miamisburg Mound in southern Ohio, and there were once quite a few mounds around here. I've been trying to do more research on them.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I've actually visited the Miamisburg mound and its an amazing place. Southern Ohio has so many incredible sites.

[@themattmarchand]

When you showed the mound map it immediately appeared as the constellation Orion - the hunter

[@AncientAmericas]

Wow! I never noticed this when I was making that map but I can see what you're talking about. That is eerie.

[@themattmarchand]

@@AncientAmericas so curious as to the different mound shapes (rounds vs squares) and if they correlated to particular celestial bodies or purposes. Awesome video(s) thank you for them!

[@AncientAmericas]

@@themattmarchand I never came across any astronomical explanations for them. I think most archaeologists would tell that the shape has more to do with the function of the mound. I'm not aware if anyone has tried to connect the layout of Cahokia to specific stars in the sky. It's a neat idea to consider though.

[@themattmarchand]

@@AncientAmericas understood! It appears that they have a good understanding of equinoxes and celebrating celestial events using these mounds, so it may not be far fetched for them to have planned a ' celestial mirror ' honoring the heavens in this massive complex

[@warrendourond7236]

Awesome stuff! I’m a big fan of your work. I find it interesting that trade and commerce are so quickly dismissed as being central to Cahokia’s existence. To me when you look at this site, poverty point, teotihuacan, or Caral Suppe, more than any thing else these places seem to be trade hubs that have relationships with regions far and wide. Why is commerce always ignored in favour of religion as being the catalyst for civilization?

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! Just to clarify, I don't want to give the impression that commerce wasn't important. It definitely was and people went out of their way to way to get goods that they wanted. However, we should keep in mind that trade is always going to happen among populations and that there definitely were goods coming in and going out of Cahokia, just as there were at other smaller contemporary sites. At Cahokia, there's not really any more focus on trade than there was at any other site. What was different about Cahokia is that it was a cultural epicenter and that culture was it's greatest export. That's really what made Cahokia different from its Late Woodland/Early Mississippian contemporaries. It's worth noting that you can probably find people who disagree with that consensus. Does that make more sense?

[@warrendourond7236]

@@AncientAmericas perfectly sir! I should have been more clear that my contention is with the common narrative and not with your analysis or portrayal. I’m just an enthusiast and IF I had a field of expertise it would be Peruvian archeology. So I don’t know enough about Cahokia to contradict the established understanding. But it seems that in a lot of the earliest sites in the Americas people got together at specific sites to trade. And the social constructions of culture and religion came after, while agriculture helped it scale up. I think about American culture and how it has nothing that makes it better than any other. Yet it is the worlds largest economy, and to participate in that economy an adoption and understanding of that culture is important. I believe it was often the case in ancient times as well. Perhaps not in every case, but often. Cahokia like Caral Suppe likely was a good place to trade in land goods for coastal ones, it’s a common theme in history. Thanks so much for your reply! I really am a big fan!

[@missourimongoose8858]

@@AncientAmericas my family has a mississippian site around our property which is a huge rock bluff with red paintings of stuff including a man with a spear and dog, some kinda dog headed thing and some other stuff that I'd like you to take a look at if you don't mind I made a video showing it on my channel for a missouria tribe historian, we were told my a native American expert at Washington University that it's a shrine to the underwater panther God so that man took a bunch of pictures and I haven't heard anything since then but we were told to keep it's location secret and I'd love any info I could get thank you I love your content

[@fullmetaljackalope8408]

@@missourimongoose8858 wow I really want to see! Going to find your channel.

[@missourimongoose8858]

@@fullmetaljackalope8408 I wish i knew how to allow comments on those videos lol

[@ellemnop123]

The Delaware oral history, Walam Olum, chronicles their migration from Siberia to the Eastern Woodlands, 10,000 of them, with a multigenerational stay in Cahokia. The dates of the Walam Olum match the date of expansion of the Cahokia complex. The Delaware seem to account for the enormous influx of people, new construction techniques, etc. Now, the extent to which they borrowed Siouxian culture (Chunkee, etc.) vs. whether they brought those practices with them -- this I have yet to explore.

[@AncientAmericas]

That sounds incredible! I would love to know more.

[@ellemnop123]

@@AncientAmericas How would I contact you to share files? Thanks!

[@AncientAmericas]

@@ellemnop123 Go here and click, view email address. www.youtube.com/@AncientAmericas/about

[@sku32956]

That was fun to watch I really enjoyed it ,I have been reading up on a huge settlement of Native Americans . The Etzanoa settlement was populated by the Rayados a Wichita sub-tribe lasted around 1500 to 1720, had a population of at least 12,000 located in S. E Kansas. Probably the second largest settlement in North America of Native Americans.

[@charlesbabcock1530]

Been there many a time and always marveled at the grandeur of it...

[@AncientAmericas]

It's an amazing place!

[@shaneabrahamson8732]

Learned about this in college. Lived in Wisconsin and visited Aztalan, interesting stuff.

[@AncientAmericas]

I'm hoping to visit it the next time I pass through.

[@elfarlaur]

Love this video. I learned about Cahokia during an archaeology class over a year ago. It's really a shame that so few people even know that these Mississippian cultures ever existed. Hopefully this video will help remedy that.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I hope so too.

[@kimberlyszucs1973]

Been there many times. One of my absolute favorite places to go. What a great video. Thank you

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@dennistate5953]

"Bottom" is abbreviation of "bottomland," meaning lowest topological elevation, elsewise waterways' alluvial plains and wetlands, tremendously diverse and productive -- and critically important ecosystems.

[@thecaveofthedead]

Your series continues to astonish. Thanks to your vids, when I read Wengrow and Graeber's The Dawn of Everything, I was a lot more familiar with, and had more context for, many of the cultures and sites that they discuss in that book. One thing that intrigued me in their book that I'd like to know more about were North American spiritual societies that they said allowed people to find allies in places that they'd never visited - far from home and even among people who didn't speak their language. Their discussion of the great mobility of many Americans is something I'd like to know more about. They say many people travelled very great distances from their places of birth during their lifetimes and that there were gathering places of diverse groups.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! That's actually new to me. I'll have to check it out!

[@billgreen2348]

Yes, clans crosscut tribes and tribal boundaries. For example, a Bear Clan person from one tribe would be welcomed and not seen as a potential enemy by another tribe. Clan organizations are very well studied throughout North America and are still important aspects of many tribes today.

[@billgreen2348]

I meant to say that a Bear Clan member from one tribe would be welcomed by Bear Clan members from other tribes.

[@thecaveofthedead]

@@billgreen2348 Yeah thanks. This is what I was trying to say. I guess I'd heard of these clans as a general thing. But before I read the book I knew nothing of the international implications. I feel like it might be fascinating enough for an episode looking into it.

[@austinsontv]

The whole city imitates the Orien Constellation, complete with bow and phallus(mound 72)! Monks mound is the body. I just visited here this summer and I was so excited, but my copilot kept saying "It's just a pile of dirt???" LOL yea! That's why it's so astounding! 🤣

[@fullmetaljackalope8408]

Monks mound is so amazing when you see it in person. It’s the coolest pile of dirt ever. Lol. Did you hear the About the Orion thing from chuck here on KZbin? That’s where I heard it from and I’ve always wondered if other people thought that too or just chuck. It really looks a lot like Orion.

[@austinsontv]

@@fullmetaljackalope8408 cfapps? Yea! Love his videos. Found a whole set of mounds along the James River in North Dakota as well that are unmarked and all but lost to history. 150 in 40 miles!

[@fullmetaljackalope8408]

@@austinsontv wow that’s a lot! Amazing they’re still there! You hear Cfapps died right? Super sad 😞.

[@austinsontv]

@@fullmetaljackalope8408 what? He was so awesome!!!!

[@bobbybigboyyes]

As does everything in and around Stonehenge in England. It exactly mirrors the constellations.

[@alexmason2659]

As a half Choctaw we are mound builder's and descended from the Mississippians

[@bertanelson8062]

Appreciate this video! The book, 1491, about more recent archaeological ideas about North America (North of Mexico) will help most viewers round-out their ideas of who the native inhabitants really were. For one thing, native contentions that they've been around 40,000 years and MORE are finally being recognized. Though the book is ten years old or older by now, it still is a far better account than any that have gone before, I believe. The book doesn't do much about Cahokia as I recall, since it is a large overview of inhabitation spanning thousands of years. There is no doubt, however, that the population was far greater than anyone, other than natives themselves, has ever acknowledged.

[@AncientAmericas]

Ah yes, I love 1491. The book is starting to show some age but you have to love it for how joyfully it explores ancient american peoples. I do hope someone writes another book of its kind soon with new research.

[@Tinkering4Time]

Cahokia. One of the great tragedies of American archaeology.

[@AncientAmericas]

Just wait until we get to Spiro. You'll be pulling your hair out when we talk about the site history.

[@mchervino]

Not sure what you mean by this, but yeah, like AA said, spiro is the real tragedy.

[@thelordandsaviorgigachadrr888]

An even bigger one in my biased opinion is the destruction of all but one of the Springwell Mounds in Detroit

[@afrz4454]

Great video, I really enjoyed it. It’s interesting that even though corn was present nixtamalization was not. I am also intrigued by the fact that they have depictions of thunderbird which is well known here by the First Nations of Canada.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! You can find thunderbirds/birdmen all over the eastern woodlands in the US and Canada. Cahokia didn't have a monopoly on it.

[@thecaveofthedead]

@@AncientAmericas I was also wondering whether the posts at the woodhenge might have been lavishly decorated like some Pacific Northwest people do with totem poles.

[@MrChristianDT]

I know tribes in the southwest commonly used Saltbush to nixtamalize corn meal. They're not native anywhere east of the Mississippi River, so they might not have had those & I admit, I don't really know of or how tribes in the east did that, assign they did at all. Maybe they just hadn't worked out method to do so, yet?

[@afrz4454]

@@MrChristianDT it’d be interesting to find out how far north and south it made it. It is interesting that corn not only made it but that it kept being selected to be bred to different new species that better suit each area however that very important preparation methods didn’t, like the nixtamalization.

[@BeyondEcstasy]

Love this. I remember visiting Spiro on a road trip and was struck by how some in the town didn't even realize the significance of the site of Spiro. Also would love a video on the Serpent Mound in OH.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you! I'm actually hoping to stop by the serpent mound on an upcoming trip.

[@SoqueFilms]

Great video. I'd love to see one on the mystery behind the origin of the Cusabo people of pre-/post-colonial South Carolina and their relationship to the Guale tribes of Georgia. There is a great amount of disagreement as to whether their origin was in the Caribbean or some North American tribe. In a somewhat similar way, the origin of the slaving tribe, the Westo, is greatly debated, but they are post colonial and I don't know if you cover that. Likewise, I'd like to here something about the Mississippian culture around Cofitachequi and how it fits into the greater Mississippian culture. As I understand, it might have been one of the last functioning towns of this kind around when it was seen by the last European visitor, Henry Woodward, in about 1671.

[@AncientAmericas]

Thank you!

[@CyFr]

Thanks for this. I'll certainly be interested in what you can find about the snake mounds and the Aanishanabe/Ojibwe people. Or anything you might find about the Mi'kmaq, the Iroquois, etc.