Notes on Cahokia and Native American Societies

Cahokia Overview

Cahokia: The largest city in pre-Columbian North America, in its peak likely housed around 40,000 people.
Foundation: Built around January 1000 CE, it underwent significant rebuilding around November following a bright supernova event that marked a new era.

Central to new Cahokia, a large pyramidal structure where high priests lived.
Constructed using Waddle and Daub techniques.
- Waddle and Daub: A building method using sticks (waddle) and mud (daub).
Nearby river facilitated agriculture in flood plains.

Structures erected for astronomical observations comparable to Stonehenge used by Native Americans to track time and solstices.
Agriculture included cultivation in fertile flood plains, vital for sustaining the large population.

Sport: Chunky, a popular ball game, shared among tribes in the Midwest and South, likened to modern-day sports like football.
- Purpose: May have served to manage inter-group tensions through competitive play instead of warfare.
Ritual Practices: Evidence of human sacrifice, with victims often being captives or lower-class members.
- Sacrifices were possibly seen as a mark of honor for some individuals within elite circles.

Cahokia's abandonment occurred in the 1300s, with total desertion by the 1400s.
Factors contributing to decline:
- Famine due to depleted topsoil and a catastrophic flood affecting agriculture.
- Social hierarchies changed as the lower class left the area due to lack of resources, leading to the disbandment of the elite class.
Descendants include several modern tribes like the Cherokee, Muskogee, Choctaw, among others.

Chaco Canyon: Another significant cultural hub in the American Southwest, construction began before Cahokia's peak and intensified similarly due to the supernova.
Pueblo Bonito: Major structure in Chaco Canyon, part of Anasazi culture—now referred to as Ancestral Puebloans.
- Noted for their stratified society, evidenced by community structures, trade systems, and possible evidence of malnutrition among elites.

Contrasts between Cahokia and Chaco:
- Cahokia had vast urbanization based on agriculture in a rich farming area.
- Chaco population might have experienced resource strains leading to abandonment.
Ancestral Puebloans: Utilized advanced agricultural techniques, including extensive irrigation systems.

Post-1400 changes included movement and consolidation of people around Rio Grande amidst European colonization.
- The Athabaskan speaking people migrated into areas previously inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans, adapting to agriculture and learning from them.
Algonquian Peoples: Lived throughout the East Coast and interacted with European colonists.
- Demonstrated semi-nomadic behavior, utilizing coastal and inland resources effectively.

Native American societies had various resources not present in Europe, such as domesticated dogs and turkeys, but lacked larger livestock like horses, cattle, and iron production.
Some tribes maintained strong food systems, but many lacked immunity to European diseases, leading to significant population declines.