Lessons from Cahokia | Chris Otto | TEDxJeffersonCollege

The American Indian has long been a fictional creation designed to serve the purposes of the majority culture. This presentation looks at the most recent information about the inhabitants of the Cahokia mound region near St. Louis and shows them to be a fascinating people offering many cautionary lessons.
Chirc Otto is an Assistant Professor of English at Jefferson College in Hillsboro, Missouri.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@logicofvicky9]

I didn't learn about Cahokia and the Mississipian mound builders until I was in college and took a class from a professor who excavated sites at Cahokia. It struck me as odd that in all my years of schooling, I had never learned about this complex urban society. All American children should learn about actual Native American societies in school. Otherwise all they know about Native American culture is what they see on tv and in movies.

[@demogog3449]

I was taught this in school. Grade school and high school. College too.

[@melissawebbave]

Witches why nobody talks about Wyandotte Serpents Goon squad

[@melissawebbave]

Ever heard Molech and why told people to destroy people goods take nothing bc their infant child sacrifice innocent blood, tainted and creator not wanting their pollution of bloodshed etc others go elsewhere and do same horrors, get others into

[@grammamom]

@@melissawebbave Which is?

[@nojman12]

Its a reason for thT lol, Hidding mississippian culutre

[@gnostic268]

There are Native American tribes and nations today who are part of the dispersed people who once lived at Cahokia. They are the people who should be giving these talks but no one asks them about their stories. It's always non-Native people trying to be "experts" on something that existed long before the first Europeans arrived on this continent.

[@demogog3449]

The Mississipians dispersed and became other tribes. They made new histories.

[@angabluewellness8604]

@@demogog3449 Lets hear from a Native then.

[@maijaliepa119]

Melody Ysmay : I agree with you. Go ahead then, put out your talks. I will listen.

[@blackcitroenlove]

Yep, I'm a researcher and historian, and this subject is essentially my life''s work. I'm also Indigenous. The tribal nations most often linked, for people who don't know, are the Dhegiha speaking peoples (Omaha, Osage, Quapaw, Kaw etc.) and they still have the oral history of this place. "New" histories weren't made, rather they adopted the customs of the Plains cultures in the areas where they migrated. I'm from another tribal nation that adopted the Mississippian civ, and it essentially ran the same way for ours, although our language was (and is) Iroquoian and not Siouan.

[@macarde10]

@@angabluewellness8604 we do hear from them. There are many archaeologists, historians, and other scientists who are descended from the different groups of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Anthropologists also do spend time amongst these same people learning their stories and histories. My father was, supposedly, a full blooded purepecha who was also an historian and didn’t seem to disagree with the idea that his ancestors practiced blood letting or sacrifices. I followed in his footsteps and see no lies being perpetrated or Eurocentric ideas amongst today’s archaeologists.

[@franklucas2340]

Country of Mexico, States: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, all had mounds with plaza or house on top.... Only difference Mexico's was stone, everyone else was dirt, wood, clay. All the same people at one time.

[@codyshoultz1760]

you left out us Hoosiers. We've got Angel Mounds of the Mississippian Civ.

[@jenya-was-here]

WHY IS THIS NOT MANDATORILY TAUGHT IN ALL NATIVE AMERICAN SCHOOLS.

[@IshtarLinqu]

NUPUQI OM-RE KHONECTICS WILL GUIDE YOU

[@demogog3449]

Mississippians were pre-native Americans that we think of. I was taught this in public school.

[@Tainowoman]

colonization

[@nojman12]

Different people

[@oldchineseman7290]

@@demogog3449 wut

[@jms6605]

I don’t believe there was no contact with mesoamerica, the ancients traveled more than we know, the fact that the settlements, were on major rivers, makes it easy to travel through them, too many similarities, the mounds look like the Mayan pyramids.

[@alicialee1731]

It's actually before them one community through all of North and South continent. And also contact to all pyramid found over the world but they may never admit to it.

[@macarde10]

@@alicialee1731 that’s just a whimsical claim. Cahokia isn’t before the maya. Carbon dating seriously upsets your idea, let alone the genetics of those ancient bones.

[@alicialee1731]

I'm going to go by what my family members have been teaching me from their family members and their family members before them we are from here we're not from over there I do consider this to be the old world I don't care about what you say dealing with this carbon dating because we know that the scientists they came here came from Europe and Africa and their information that they have came from us and there's been a conservative effort all over the world for people of color to be homogenized to one local place when we know that we're all over the planet and have been all over the planet since the beginning I would love for them to carbon date since you going by that and these old bones and do it with the people that are of color and they will probably more than likely match those people of that old time I do know we don't match no bloodlines from anywhere else other than those that we have been deliberately mixed with because of greed, slavery, destruction and hiding of Aboriginal artifacts of this land and deliberate miseducation in these public school systems. And I sincerely believe as we go further along the truth will come out about who everyone truly is when this world. And another queen singing My grandmother had was that was given to her by her elders and their elders before them there is nothing today that the white man has made that he has not taken from someone else everything that he has comes from other people and I believe this statement to be true for the people of today not as for the people who were existing in this land with my ancestors back then that were of a pialer complexion I don't connect them to you at all I believe they were different people evidently because we live with them peacefully and the ones who were not peaceful were more than likely killed off by the aboriginals of this land at that time. because their legends of killing so-called Giants and other people which I believe were people from over there across the water until those who came from across the sea came here now they were not peaceful. Even in the annals of so-called Christopher Columbus who was truly a man named Cristobal said that he came to take back the lands of the Hebrews and go to Jerusalem. and it's okay you don't have to believe me you can continue to say Ludacris or even ridiculous but these are books written by people from those lands over there that most people today don't even have access to that talks about the truth of the Americas the true land of the Nietzsche the true land of America the true land of Joseph the true land of Enoch and I can go even further but it's just a shame that my people and your people don't have access to these books so we can really find out what truly went on here when the so-called European came here. so this leaves the true question as to I already know who I am and I know where my people come from the question is do you know who you are and where you come from. And this is not to be mean I'm not trying to be hateful I'm just stating what I have been taught and I now teach my children the same thing with these books that I received from your people in Europe.

[@macarde10]

@@alicialee1731 you also make this about skin tone, while archaeologists do not. That’s very cute and what I call political dribble at best.

[@macarde10]

@@alicialee1731 you also ignore that there are multiple archaeologists and historians who do not agree with your fictitious claims and views, who are not even European or of European descent. Or do you truly believe people of darker skin tone incapable of science?

[@muddabber9925]

i am 57 yo. i learned about the mound building cultures in the fifth grade in a small town in wv...just saying...

[@thomasmills3934]

As true as that may be. I was born and raise in rural illinois and nowhere in grade school or college did I learn about Cahokia or the mississippian civilization. It absolutely flabberghasted me when I discovered that there was a giant ancient ruin right in my own backyard basically...

[@corneliawissing7950]

Sort of off topic: I've read/heard that Cahokia was the place where 5 Red Indian tribes decided to make peace and they kept that peace. Does anybody know anything more about this 5-tribe peace?

[@nlight2832]

Pretty obvious, but worth emphasizing: if you had recorded this HD then we could read the image captions. Thanks!

[@JeramyKelton-lv3pf]

This guy is the definition of agenda.

[@rebeccafreeman9883]

Lol, whyd I have to read this 20 seconds in...no motivation to doubt this...

[@MarcyGreen333]

Thanks for sharing I went there Cahokia Mounds have a good day

[@kenjohnson5498]

Someone needs to look into the mound in Worden Illinois It is right by their water wells, skulls hear say and all sorts of artifacts have been taken off it over the years. Over time farmers rounded it off to be able to plant it and is under private ownership.

[@alicialee1731]

Thank you for speaking of this. So much rich history of my hoe is I feel deliberately not taught

[@macarde10]

@@alicialee1731 “so much history” of your what?

[@bboicrazy8]

You should maybe talk to someone at Illinois State Museum (an archaeologist or curator perhaps) or the closest university with an archaeology program and alert them. The only problem I think is the private land ownership. I'm a museum professional so I know those things can be difficult. I looked up Worden and see it's not far from the river, so it could've been a more contemporary Native American group or related to ancient Mississippians (the same kinds of people at Cahokia). I am in St. Louis and where the city is now there were many more mounds but were leveled for buildings.

[@elo9901]

Pyramids? You don't say. Any one here think it is a coincidence the town where this is located is called Cairo, (little egypt). Not to mention where the lines will intersect when the solar eclipse of 2024 takes place.

[@polymorphiccrystalloid6289]

BROOOO we are the original Egypt!!!! I accessed this through the akashic records

[@ShnoogleMan]

Cairo, IL is further south by the confluence with the Ohio. Cahokia is further north, closer to the confluence of the Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi. It was basically right across the river from St. Louis.

[@oldtommorris5502]

It wwas king Tut

[@ANTSEMUT1]

A pyramid is one of the easiest ways to build things up in place of modern masonry, don't make up conspiracies when there are simpler explanations.

[@elo9901]

@@ANTSEMUT1 Go pray to your white Jesus Ant.

[@perfectscotty]

Good info. I have to look into carl munck and see if he wrote about Cahokia. Look into carl munck, he explains a lot.

[@samraynor1472]

Read the Book of Mormon and you’ll really see it for what it is.

[@jackprier7727]

The "commoners" were that much closer to the great fishing in the unpolluted river!

[@koralblue]

I do not believe in those times Mexico existed as such. It was all one territory with different communities and villages. 🙏🏼

[@demogog3449]

@Kahu Zen they think that is no longer the truth. They discovered a huge city that was abandoned that rivals Greece. The Mayans dispersed due to a threat of some sort possibly disease and waste disposal issues.

[@bboicrazy8]

Mexico as a nation didn't exist in ancient times if that's what you mean but of course he is referring to that region by its modern name for our understanding. It's just like we how may talk about ancient societies as living in England before it was officially a coalesced and identified nation with a name in modern English.

[@nomarcarter3645]

What I share is by no means soliciting, but just as information, bear in mind that many serious archeologists use all types of evidence to gain a comprehension of what they have discovered. In the second to last book in The Book of Mormon, The Book of Ether relates the story of the people that lived at Cahokia, Th name Cahokia does not appear, because before names were individually assigned to cities, they were known by the name of their leader, and their cities name were changed to honor their leader. The book contains historical, cultural, political, economic, and religious information. The Book of Ether should be the first book in The Book of Mormon, but its place as the second to last book in The Book of Mormon is perfect because is like the first scene in a movie is the end, and then discovering how it all leads up to that opening scene. My intentions are not to canvass for integration, but solely to share the valuable historical, cultural, political, economic, and religious content recorded by the pre-Colombian occupants of America, and those of the rest of the Americas. The throve of evidence is undeniable and self-evident, the book connects them together.

[@macarde10]

Nope

[@nomarcarter3645]

@@macarde10 Hope you do. One thing most aficionados do not know is that the original Egyptians, were the grand children of Noah. The only language Noah new or spoke was the Adamic language, which is not Hebrew. Which means that all the interpretation done about Egypt symbols is just "childs" play, since no one in the scientific field do not have the alphabet or samples of such language. Noah was of course Adam's great grandson, and Noah was alive when Adam passed away. Because a tree is 100 years old, it does not make the house it is made of also a 100 years old.

[@macarde10]

@@nomarcarter3645 perhaps don’t force your beliefs upon us. So still a no.

[@nomarcarter3645]

​@@macarde10 Surmising my intentions or opinion is similar to what archeologists do to ancient inhabitants.

[@macarde10]

@@nomarcarter3645 not at all. You’re mixing apples and oranges. Your fairy tale is still a no.

[@katherineirving7189]

What do you mean by fictional creation? I have'nt watched your video yet because of the words- fictional creation.

[@grammamom]

haven't

[@corneliawissing7950]

First watch, perhaps the term will be explained in the video. If it is not, then ask.

[@firstamerican2]

I think that javalyn is called an Atlattle (sp)

[@EdinburghFive]

An Atlatl is the throwing handle attached to a dart (spear) to give the thrower leverage. The image does not appear to show an Atlatl attached to the spears.

[@freeasabird6799]

The truth is unknown, they will say the mounds were built for a "high chief" but that's just conditioning to get us to accept that we should worship the upper class and elites. I'm sure they were built for some spiritual or astrological reason.

[@demogog3449]

I think they were built to keep people busy. They did not have wars and they played a game a lot with a rolling rock. So many people lived there and disease spread due to lack of waste disposal. They abandoned the mounds. Eventually people did not want to build anymore. It is similar to Egyptians and Aztecs and Mayans. Mayans also abandoned urban centers and dispersed in order to survive.

[@EdinburghFive]

@@demogog3449 The Aztecs did not decline they were conquered by the Spanish. I agree though, that if the Spanish had not shown up on the scene, the Aztecs would have eventually collapsed. With the Mayans it appears it was environmental which then lead to social and economic disruptions.

[@JeramyKelton-lv3pf]

This guy definitely has an agenda.

[@polymorphiccrystalloid6289]

@@JeramyKelton-lv3pf THANK YOU

[@f1j1poii86]

Very similar to Fijian traditional bure's ...very very similar

[@anthonygaydotcom]

Cahokia reminds me of cherokee

[@blackcitroenlove]

Yep we practiced the Mississippian culture for quite a while.

[@ashleypluard7440]

you should think about the other megalithic structures. The flood covered the original pyramid with mud if we all looked under the mud I put might best buck on there is a pyramid under all that.

[@NBejiaFlor]

What do you mean?

[@bboicrazy8]

There are many mounds built by the Mississippian people all along the river and none of them are covering stone pyramids. In fact, across the river from Cahokia in St. Louis there were many mounds (like in Forest Park) that were demolished for modern buildings. Only one still exists in the city and a modern house is on top of it and I believe the house is or will be demolished by the Osage who now own it.

[@samraynor1472]

Don’t feel sorry for us we can handle our problems. We don’t need you studying us like we are animals and that’s what you do. STOP. Chokma’shki

[@heysmitty1231]

A lot of the suspect relation I don't like where it's going I'm out thank you