A Concealed Landscape: New Evidence from the North Plaza

Summary

Recent soil coring and reexamination of mound height changes through time have revealed an extremely high historic sedimentation rate of 5.2 cm per year in the North Plaza, resulting in deep burial (around four meters) of the Mississippian landscape. Modernly, the North Plaza is noticeably lower than other plazas surrounding Monks Mounds; however, the North Plaza would have been a dramatic topographic feature during Mississippian occupation. The discovery of landscape six meters lower than the rest of Cahokia questions previous assumptions regarding the North Plaza’s function as a mound and plaza group.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Insights into Mississippian Culture at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17026