Big Data and Possibilities for New Urban Comparisons at and Around Cahokia Mounds, USA

Summary

This is an abstract from the "*SE Big Data and Bigger Questions: Papers in Honor of David G. Anderson" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Situated in present-day Collinsville, Illinois, Cahokia Mounds is considered globally as the premier example of precontact American Indian urbanism in North America. However, understandings of Cahokia’s early population density, spatial arrangement, and scale are primarily drawn from relatively small areas within and surrounding the site’s boundaries. As such, we know less about how Cahokia became an urban catalyst that influenced Mississippian lifeways throughout Eastern North America. Our project, The New Cahokia Atlas, is building upon the work of Melvin Fowler and scholars over the last 30 years by examining the process of Cahokia’s urban development from an unprecedented perspective. It includes a magnetometry survey that will record roughly 200 readings per square meter to visualize more than 5.5 km2 of Cahokia’s buried landscape, paired with geospatial analyses that allow us to work toward elucidating the urban growth of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. When complete, this will be the largest geophysical dataset in the Americas and among the largest in the world. In creating a dataset of this scale, we are attempting to non-invasively examine Cahokia in ways previously not accessible. Our project is also working with several Tribal Nations to ensure tribal access to, and input on, these data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• *SE Big Data and Bigger Questions: Papers in Honor of David G. Anderson   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38321.0