The latest entry in the Penguin Library of American Indian History
traces the history and evolving theories about the large city of
Cahokia, which sprang up near the current St. Louis, Mo., around
1050 CE.Largely avoiding academic jargon, Pauketat
(Anthropology/Univ. of Illinois; Chiefdoms and Other Archaeological
Delusions, 2007, etc.) sketches the absorbing story of these people
whose enormous earthen structures were for decades assailed by
farmers' plows, urban sprawl, the highway system and ignorant
neglect. The "3200 acres of great pyramids, spacious plazas,
thatched-roof temples, houses, astronomical observatories, and
planned neighborhoods" now compose Cahokia Mounds State Park.
Scholars estimate that more than 10,000 people once lived in
Cahokia (many thousands more were in outlying settlements), a city
that emerged so suddenly that Pauketat uses the term "big bang" to
describe its advent. He explores various theories for its creation
- the timely appearance of a supernova in 1054 might have been a
significant factor - and describes how the influential Cahokian
culture spread throughout North America. The author is careful to
credit his scholarly ancestors in Cahokian studies, including
Preston Holder, Melvin Fowler and Warren Wittry. Pauketat describes
the enormous cultural significance of the game of chunkey (spears
thrown at rolling stone balls), then zeroes in on some key earthen
mounds and the bounties they've yielded - especially Mound 72,
where multiple human burials were unearthed, including some
personages so prominent that they became invaluable in
understanding Cahokian politics and theology. Archaeologists also
discovered a pit containing evidence of vast feasts, evidence
buried so deeply that the remains still reeked. Among the most
engaging late-emerging theories: the significance of women along
the full range of the cultural spectrum - from human sacrificial
offering to day-laborer to goddess.A happy marriage of professional
scholarship and childlike enthusiasm. (Kirkus Reviews)
About one thousand years ago, Native Americans built hundreds of
earthen platform mounds, plazas, residential areas, and other types
of monuments in the vicinity of present-day St. Louis. This
sprawling complex, known to archaeologists as Cahokia, was the
dominant cultural, ceremonial, and trade center north of Mexico for
centuries. This stimulating collection of essays casts new light on
the remarkable accomplishments of Cahokia.
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