Geochemical and Physical Characteristics of Anthropogenic Sediments from Cahokia

Summary

The 110 mounds that characterize Cahokia’s landscape represent the most visible aspect of anthropogenic transformation of landscape. Recent ongoing efforts on the northern edge of the east plaza at Cahokia are uncovering a hidden landscape of earthmoving, illustrating the social complexity of this urban center. Traditionally, mound building has been perceived as a simple process of moving and reshaping earthen material. Because of this simplified model of mound construction, studies of mound building have primarily focused on identifying and dating construction stages, as well as studying the structures supported by these various construction stages. Recent interpretations suggest mound construction required a planned effort to organize labor, prepare the original ground surface for construction, and select specific building materials. We apply geochemical and physical soil analyses to anthropogenic sediments from the northern edge of the east plaza at Cahokia that are associated with a planned effort to transform the landscape. We treat the sediments as artifacts that can contribute to our knowledge of social complexity, as well as show how pre-Columbian North Americans were actively engaged in transforming their environment.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage