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161-542: Due to some similarities between S.E.C.C. and contemporary Mesoamerican cultures (i.e., artwork with similar aesthetics or motifs; maize-based agriculture; and the development of sophisticated cities with large pyramidal structures), scholars from the late 1800s to mid-1900s suspected there was a connection between the two locations. One hypothesis was that Meso-Americans enslaved by conquistador Tristán de Luna y Arellano (1510-1573) may have spread artistic and religious elements to North America. However, later research indicates

322-480: A 2007 study in Quaternary Science Reviews , "Between AD 1050 and 1100, Cahokia's population increased from between 1,400 and 2,800 people to between 10,200 and 15,300 people", an estimate that applies only to a 1.8-square-kilometre (0.69 sq mi) high-density central occupation area. As a result of archeological excavations in the early 21st century, new residential areas were found to

483-686: A cave in Oaxaca. Earlier maize samples have been documented at the Los Ladrones cave site in Panama , c. 5500 BCE. Slightly thereafter, semi- agrarian communities began to cultivate other crops throughout Mesoamerica. Maize was the most common domesticate, but the common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean, jicama , tomato and squash all became common cultivates by 3500 BCE. At the same time, these communities exploited cotton , yucca , and agave for fibers and textile materials. By 2000 BCE, corn

644-419: A coherent whole. Some of these categories of artifacts were used as markers of chiefly office, which varied from one location to another. The term Southeast Ceremonial Complex refers to a complex, highly variable set of religious mechanisms that supported the authority of local chiefs . With the redefinition of the complex, some scholars have suggested choosing a new name to exemplify the new understanding of

805-467: A complex and sophisticated society. In the centuries preceding 1000 CE American Bottom populations were living in small settlements of 50-100 people that were used for short durations of 5-10 years. At least two of these larger clusters were present at Cahokia. One dating to the mid-7th and 9th centuries. Later in time many began to be constructed along cosmologically organizing principles emphasizing cardinal directions and distinct sectors of society. By

966-402: A complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. These different niches are classified into two broad categories: the lowlands (those areas between sea level and 1000 meters) and the altiplanos , or highlands (situated between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level). In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as

1127-576: A convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid. The Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups: the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands. The southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala , southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize . The northern lowlands cover

1288-601: A cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era , many indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii)

1449-651: A designated site for state protection. It is also one of the 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites within the United States . The largest pre-Columbian earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico, the site is open to the public and administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Division and supported by the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois state bicentennial,

1610-445: A diamond-shaped pattern about 1 mi (1.6 km) from end to end, while the entire city is 5 mi (8.0 km) across from east to west. Cahokian residential zones were arranged into carefully planned clusters around plazas and mounds. Specific delineations and functions have been hard to determine, but many of these clusters may have been designed to accommodate religious or ethnic segregations. Cahokia's neighborhoods possessed

1771-439: A discrete tradition defined by the origin of specific motifs and ritual objects, and the specific developments in long-distance exchange and political structures. Due to the seemingly rapid spread of S.E.C.C. traits, early scholarship described the S.E.C.C. as "a kind of religious revival in the lower Mississippi Valley" and nearby regions. As of 2004, theories suggest that the complex developed from pre-existing beliefs spread over

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1932-494: A larger area in the Americas, but it has also previously been used more narrowly to refer to Mesoamerica. An example is the title of the 16 volumes of The Handbook of Middle American Indians . "Mesoamerica" is broadly defined as the area that is home to the Mesoamerican civilization, which comprises a group of peoples with close cultural and historical ties. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as

2093-598: A lengthy life, healthy family, and a long line of descendants. Its supernatural origin is placed in the Upper World with a pantheon including the Sun, Moon, and Four Stars. He is most often represented on precious materials, sometimes shell, most often on beaten copper. He dances, costumed with great ground-sweeping wings and a raptor-beaked mask. In his raised right hand he holds a club, prepared to strike. In his left he holds rattles fashioned from human skulls. At Cahokia ,

2254-834: A million visitors a year, was designed by AAIC Inc. The building, which opened in 1989, received the Thomas H. Madigan Award, the St. Louis Construction News & Reviews Readers Choice Award, the Merit Award from the Metal Construction Association , and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Brick Manufacturer Association. Cahokia has long been a point of interest in the academic community. As early as

2415-545: A network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods, such as obsidian , jade , cacao , cinnabar , Spondylus shells, hematite , and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization knew of the wheel and basic metallurgy , neither of these became technologically relevant. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf Coast of Mexico and extended inland and southwards across

2576-717: A period commonly known as the Tikal Hiatus . The Late Classic period (beginning c. 600 CE until 909 CE) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal's socio-political and economic power at the beginning of the period. It was therefore during this time that other sites rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán , Palenque , and Calakmul (which

2737-876: A portion of the Sierra Madre chain is known as the Eje Volcánico Transversal , or the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. There are 83 inactive and active volcanoes within the Sierra Madre range, including 11 in Mexico, 37 in Guatemala, 23 in El Salvador, 25 in Nicaragua, and 3 in northwestern Costa Rica. According to the Michigan Technological University, 16 of these are still active. The tallest active volcano

2898-429: A possible indicator of weak integration along ethnic lines. It is likely that social and environmental factors combined to produce the conditions that led people to leave Cahokia. Cahokia's connections to the surrounding regions seems to have shifted from one of direct contact and outpost construction to one of dispersal. The immigrant populations inhabiting upland villages in the so-called Richland Complex were some of

3059-580: A race. After winning the race, Redhorn creates heads on his earlobes and makes his hair into a long red braid. Thus he becomes known as "Redhorn" and as "He who has Human Heads as Earlobes" . In another episode, Redhorn and his friends are challenged by the Giants to play ball (or possibly chunkey) with their lives staked on the outcome. The best Giant player was a woman with long red hair identical to Redhorn's. The little heads on Redhorn's ears caused her to laugh so much that it interfered with her game and

3220-712: A regionally important center during the Postclassic. The latter portion of the Postclassic is generally associated with the rise of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire . One of the more commonly known cultural groups in Mesoamerica, the Aztec politically dominated nearly all of central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Mexico's southern Pacific Coast (Chiapas and into Guatemala), Oaxaca, and Guerrero . The Tarascans (also known as

3381-578: A standardized suite of building types, including steam baths, council houses, and temples. Cahokian domestic structures were generally of pole-and-thatch construction and followed rectangular footprints. Wall trenches were often used instead of posts for building construction. Alleen Betzenhauser and Timothy Pauketat argue that upwards of 20 percent of Cahokia's neighborhood structures did not serve domestic functions, but were rather intended to facilitate engagement with non-human spiritual beings as part of an animistic religion. These beings may have resided in

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3542-442: A symbolic "Path of Souls". The high-status central district of Cahokia was surrounded by a 2-mi-long palisade that was equipped with protective bastions. A later addition to the site, when the palisade was constructed, it cut through and separated some pre-existing neighborhoods. Archaeologists found evidence of the stockade during excavation of the area and indications that it was rebuilt several times. Its bastions showed that it

3703-484: A technological departure from previous construction techniques. Major Puuc sites include Uxmal , Sayil , Labna , Kabah , and Oxkintok . While generally concentrated within the area in and around the Puuc hills , the style has been documented as far away as at Chichen Itza to the east and Edzna to the south. Chichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over

3864-611: Is Popocatépetl at 5,452 m (17,887 ft). This volcano, which retains its Nahuatl name, is located 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City. Other volcanoes of note include Tacana on the Mexico–Guatemala border, Tajumulco and Santamaría in Guatemala, Izalco in El Salvador, Arenal in Costa Rica, and Concepción and Maderas on Ometepe , which is an island formed by both volcanoes rising out of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua. One important topographic feature

4025-416: Is 100 ft (30 m) high, 951 ft (290 m) long, 836 ft (255 m) wide and covers 13.8 acres (5.6 ha). It contains about 814,000 cu yd (622,000 m ) of earth. The mound was built higher and wider over the course of several centuries, through as many as 10 separate construction episodes, as the mound was built taller and the terraces and apron were added. Monks Mounds

4186-475: Is a list of some of the specialized resources traded from the various Mesoamerican sub-regions and environmental contexts: Mesoamerican architecture is the collective name given to urban, ceremonial and public structures built by pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Although very different in styles, all kinds of Mesoamerican architecture show some kind of interrelation, due to very significant cultural exchanges that occurred during thousands of years. Among

4347-445: Is also an increase in cemeteries of grouped minor-elites outside of Cahokia. Though mound construction still occurred, it did so at a lesser rate. Many earlier mounds were ritually capped and ceased to be modified afterwards. Altogether this has been taken as a time when centralized political structures were weakening and essential religious practices were rethought. Political, economic, or cultural problems may also have contributed to

4508-420: Is also one of only five regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed (the others being ancient Egypt , India , Sumer , and China ). Beginning as early as 7000 BCE, the domestication of cacao , maize , beans , tomato , avocado , vanilla , squash and chili , as well as the turkey and dog , resulted in a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal groupings to

4669-631: Is another Classic-period polity that expanded and flourished during this period, but the Zapotec capital exerted less interregional influence than the other two sites. During the Early Classic, Teotihuacan participated in and perhaps dominated a far-reaching macro-regional interaction network. Architectural and artifact styles (talud-tablero, tripod slab-footed ceramic vessels) epitomized at Teotihuacan were mimicked and adopted at many distant settlements. Pachuca obsidian, whose trade and distribution

4830-453: Is argued to have been economically controlled by Teotihuacan, is found throughout Mesoamerica. Tikal came to dominate much of the southern Maya lowlands politically, economically, and militarily during the Early Classic. An exchange network centered at Tikal distributed a variety of goods and commodities throughout southeast Mesoamerica, such as obsidian imported from central Mexico (e.g., Pachuca) and highland Guatemala (e.g., El Chayal , which

4991-630: Is based on modern understandings of crop yields that assume the use of plows. Cahokians' exclusive use of hand tools was less damaging to the soil and thus may have maintained soil quality far longer than is typical today, making a rapid collapse of agricultural productivity in Cahokia less likely. Historian Daniel Richter notes that the apex of the city occurred during the Medieval Warming Period . This period appears to have fostered an agricultural revolution in upper North America, as

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5152-540: Is described as a one-eyed buffalo with one green and one red horn. The Piasa figure of the Miami was painted on a bluff near present-day Alton, Illinois . It was described as having the body of a panther, four legs, a human head, an impossibly long tail and horns. Mishibizhiw , the Ojibwa underwater panther , was a combination of rattlesnake , cougar , deer , and hawk . Other native peoples also gave descriptions of

5313-614: Is from the Ho Chunk , or Winnebago people. The mythic cycle of Red Horn and his sons has certain analogies with the Hero Twins mythic cycle of Mesoamerica . Redhorn was known by many names, including " Morning Star ", a reference to his celestial origin, and "He who is Struck with Deer Lungs," a possible reference to the Bi-Lobed Arrow Motif. In the episode associated with this name, Red Horn turns into an arrow to win

5474-485: Is invasion by outside peoples. Many theories since the late 20th century propose conquest-induced political collapse as the primary reason for Cahokia's abandonment. Evidence of warfare found is defensive wooden stockade and watchtowers that enclosed Cahokia's main ceremonial precinct. Multiple associated 13th century burned villages in the Illinois River Valley to the north speak to the rising tensions at

5635-453: Is marked by the rise and dominance of several polities. The traditional distinction between the Early and Late Classic is marked by their changing fortune and their ability to maintain regional primacy. Of paramount importance are Teotihuacán in central Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala; the Early Classic's temporal limits generally correlate to the main periods of these sites. Monte Albán in Oaxaca

5796-464: Is now defined was settled around 600 CE during the Late Woodland period . Mound building at this location began with the emergent Mississippian cultural period, around the 9th century CE. The inhabitants left no written records beyond symbols on pottery, marine shell, copper, wood, and stone , but the evidence of elaborately planned community, woodhenge, mounds, and burials later in time reveal

5957-654: Is now the Central and the Southeastern United States , beginning more than 1,000 years before European contact . Today, the Cahokia Mounds are considered to be the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico. The city's original name is unknown. The mounds were later named after the Cahokia tribe , a historic Illiniwek people living in

6118-705: Is one notable difference between Mesoamerica and the cultures of the South American Andes. Other animals, including the duck , dogs , and turkey , were domesticated . Turkey was the first to be domesticated locally, around 3500 BCE. Dogs were the primary source of animal protein in ancient Mesoamerica, and dog bones are common in midden deposits throughout the region. Societies of this region did hunt certain wild species for food. These animals included deer, rabbit , birds, and various types of insects. They also hunted for luxury items, such as feline fur and bird plumage. Mesoamerican cultures that lived in

6279-456: Is roughly 200 km (120 mi). The northern side of the Isthmus is swampy and covered in dense jungle—but the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as the lowest and most level point within the Sierra Madre mountain chain, was nonetheless a main transportation, communication, and economic route within Mesoamerica. Outside of the northern Maya lowlands, rivers are common throughout Mesoamerica. Some of

6440-470: Is that higher levels of maize consumption may be correlated with a lower social status among Cahokian residents. The impact that Cahokian agriculture had on the environment, and its relationship to the city's ultimate collapse, is hotly debated. The depletion of farming soil surrounding Cahokia may have led to a decline in food resources that doomed the city. Jane Mt. Pleasant, however, argues that these models of Cahokia's soil longevity are flawed, because it

6601-639: Is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , a low plateau that breaks up the Sierra Madre chain between the Sierra Madre del Sur to the north and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south. At its highest point, the Isthmus is 224 m (735 ft) above mean sea level. This area also represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. The distance between the two coasts

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6762-651: Is the largest lake in Mesoamerica. Lake Chapala is Mexico's largest freshwater lake, but Lake Texcoco is perhaps most well known as the location upon which Tenochtitlan , capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded. Lake Petén Itzá , in northern Guatemala, is notable as where the last independent Maya city, Tayasal (or Noh Petén), held out against the Spanish until 1697. Other large lakes include Lake Atitlán , Lake Izabal , Lake Güija , Lemoa and Lake Xolotlan . Almost all ecosystems are present in Mesoamerica;

6923-472: Is thought to have had symbolic associations to the builders in connection with their lunar maize goddess of the underworld. This is further strengthened by its close proximity to the ridgetop mortuary Mound 72 , the underworld connotations of the low water-filled area the causeway traversed, and its terminus at the mortuary complex at the Rattlesnake Mound. The causeway itself may have been seen as

7084-584: Is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea . The highlands show much more climatic diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates ; the dominant climate is temperate with warm temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatán to the humid southern Pacific and Caribbean lowlands. Several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by

7245-564: The Black Hawk's War ) their claim to the land and its usage was usurped. In downtown Cahokia a group of early 19th century (circa 1809) Trappist Monks lived on the grounds. Later the land was farmed by the Ramey family through the latter-half of the 19th century. This is when serious archaeological interest began as Euro-American settlers began trying to make sense of the site. The Cahokia Museum and Interpretive Center, which receives up to

7406-529: The Bootheel ; and the Upper Tombigbee drainage in northeastern Mississippi. The region may have been used by occasional hunting parties but there was no settlement of any substantial kind at Cahokia nor in the wider region from 1400 to 1600 CE. However archeologists discovered evidence in 2020 that there was a population rebound in the greater area following Cahokia's population minimum in 1400, with

7567-466: The Braden Style and from each other. During the ensuing centuries, the local traditions diverged into the religious beliefs and cosmologies of the different historic tribes known to exist at the time of European contact. Most S.E.C.C. imagery focuses on cosmology and the supernatural beings who inhabit the cosmos. The cosmological map encompassed real, knowable locations, whether in this world or

7728-630: The Cora and Huichol , the Chontales, the Huaves, and the Pipil, Xincan and Lencan peoples of Central America. Central American Area: Los Naranjos By roughly 6000 BCE, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices with early cultivation of squash and chili. The earliest example of maize dates to c. 4000 BCE and comes from Guilá Naquitz ,

7889-831: The Grijalva River , the Motagua River , the Ulúa River , and the Hondo River . The northern Maya lowlands, especially the northern portion of the Yucatán peninsula, are notable for their nearly complete lack of rivers (largely due to the absolute lack of topographic variation). Additionally, no lakes exist in the northern peninsula. The main source of water in this area is aquifers that are accessed through natural surface openings called cenotes . With an area of 8,264 km (3,191 sq mi), Lake Nicaragua

8050-471: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec . Frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas , Oaxaca , and Guatemala laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica , especially along the Pacific coast. In the subsequent Preclassic period , complex urban polities began to develop among

8211-675: The Itza at Tayasal and the Kowoj at Zacpeten , remained independent until 1697. Some Mesoamerican cultures never achieved dominant status or left impressive archaeological remains but are nevertheless noteworthy. These include the Otomi , Mixe–Zoque groups (which may or may not have been related to the Olmecs), the northern Uto-Aztecan groups, often referred to as the Chichimeca , that include

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8372-915: The Kaqchikel at Iximche in the Guatemalan highlands. The Pipil resided in El Salvador , the Nicarao were in western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica , and the Ch'orti' were in eastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras . In central Mexico, the early portion of the Postclassic correlates with the rise of the Toltec and an empire based at their capital, Tula (also known as Tollan ). Cholula , initially an important Early Classic center contemporaneous with Teotihuacan, maintained its political structure (it did not collapse) and continued to function as

8533-628: The Maya , with the rise of centers such as Aguada Fénix and Calakmul in Mexico; El Mirador , and Tikal in Guatemala, and the Zapotec at Monte Albán . During this period, the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures. The Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya logosyllabic script . In Central Mexico,

8694-895: The Monte Alto Culture may have preceded the Olmec. Radiocarbon samples associated with various sculptures found at the Late Preclassic site of Izapa suggest a date of between 1800 and 1500 BCE. During the Middle and Late Preclassic period, the Maya civilization developed in the southern Maya highlands and lowlands, and at a few sites in the northern Maya lowlands. The earliest Maya sites coalesced after 1000 BCE, and include Nakbe , El Mirador , and Cerros . Middle to Late Preclassic Maya sites include Kaminaljuyú , Cival , Edzná , Cobá , Lamanai , Komchen , Dzibilchaltun , and San Bartolo , among others. The Preclassic in

8855-400: The Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages . During the early post-Classic period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, and Oaxaca by the Mixtec . The lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán . Towards

9016-424: The Postclassic are differentiated by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian period precedes the advent of agriculture and is characterized by a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence strategy. Big-game hunting, similar to that seen in contemporaneous North America, was a large component of the subsistence strategy of

9177-412: The Purépecha ) were located in Michoacán and Guerrero. With their capital at Tzintzuntzan , the Tarascan state was one of the few to actively and continuously resist Aztec domination during the Late Postclassic. Other important Postclassic cultures in Mesoamerica include the Totonac along the eastern coast (in the modern-day states of Veracruz , Puebla , and Hidalgo ). The Huastec resided north of

9338-502: The Red Horn mythological cycle and native religion of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebagos), Osage , Ioway , and other plains Siouan peoples. In the Braden Style, the Birdman is divided into four categories. Various motifs are associated with the Birdman, including the forked eye motif, columnella pendants, mace or club weapons, severed heads, chunkey play (including chunkey stones, striped and broken chunkey sticks), bellows-shaped aprons, and bi-lobed arrow motifs. The Red Horn Mythic Cycle

9499-417: The three-fold crops of maize , beans ( legumes ), and gourds ( squash ) were developed and adapted or bred to the temperate climates of the north from their origins in Mesoamerica . Richter also notes that Cahokia's advanced development coincided with the development in the Southwest of the Chaco Canyon society, which also produced large-scale works in an apparent socially stratified society. The decline of

9660-469: The 12th century. Others paddled upriver to the site in southern Wisconsin of Trempleau Bluffs to create a mounded religious center at the end of the 11th century. It was during the Stirling phase (1100-1200 CE) that Cahokia was at its height of political centralization. Current academic discourse has emphasized religion as a major component in consolidating and maintaining political power essential to Cahokia's urbanity. The Emerald Acropolis mound site in

9821-451: The 1960s, universities across the Midwest have gone to the site to conduct research in fields ranging from geology to archaeology. One of the most prominent archaeological researchers of Cahokia is Timothy Pauketat . He has been writing about and researching Cahokia for the majority of his professional career. Other prominent Cahokia academics include Warren Wittry, who was instrumental in the recovery of Cahokia Woodhenge . Cahokia Mounds

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9982-441: The American Bottom region. Moundbuilding activity may have occurred at Cahokia proper, but certainly did at one site to the north near Horseshoe Lake. These Late Woodland people were farmers, but maize's importance at this time was marginal. Its successful introduction occurred around 900 CE. Most of the crops grown at the time were from the Eastern Agricultural Complex suite, an older and endemic farming tradition. Cahokia became

10143-399: The Cahokia Mounds were selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois). It was recognized by USA Today Travel magazine, as one of the selections for 'Illinois 25 Must See Places'. Although some evidence exists of occupation during the Late Archaic period (around 1200 BCE) in and around the site, Cahokia as it

10304-404: The Chiapas highlands, and Kaminaljuyú in the central Guatemala highlands, were important southern highland Maya centers. The latter site, Kaminaljuyú, is one of the longest occupied sites in Mesoamerica and was continuously inhabited from c. 800 BCE to around 1200 CE. Other important highland Maya groups include the Kʼicheʼ of Utatlán , the Mam in Zaculeu , the Poqomam in Mixco Viejo , and

10465-483: The Earth probably reflect aspects of Mississippian myth and cosmology concerning the (perhaps sacred) precincts beneath the earth. Mesoamerican Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize , Guatemala , El Salvador , and parts of Honduras , Nicaragua and Costa Rica . As

10626-447: The Giants lost. The Giants lost all the other contests as well. Then they challenged Redhorn and his friends to a wrestling match in which they threw all but Red Horn's friend Turtle. Since Redhorn and his fellow spirits lost two out of the three matches, they were all slain. The two wives of Redhorn were pregnant at the time of his death. The sons born to each have red hair, with the older one having heads where his earlobes should be, and

10787-401: The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian. These sites had obsidian blades and Clovis -style fluted projectile points . The Archaic period (8000–2000 BCE) is characterized by the rise of incipient agriculture in Mesoamerica. The initial phases of the Archaic involved the cultivation of wild plants, transitioning into informal domestication and culminating with sedentism and agricultural production by

10948-405: The Olmec include San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , La Venta , and Tres Zapotes . Specific dates vary, but these sites were occupied from roughly 1200 to 400 BCE. Remains of other early cultures interacting with the Olmec have been found at Takalik Abaj , Izapa , and Teopantecuanitlan , and as far south as in Honduras . Research in the Pacific Lowlands of Chiapas and Guatemala suggest that Izapa and

11109-410: The S.E.C.C. Its roots go back to Hopewell times, if not earlier. It usually is described as horned and winged, although the wings are more an indicator of its celestial origin than an essential form of the creature. In some versions of Shawnee myths, the serpent is described as a multi-headed monster with one green and one red horn, horns being a manifestation or marker of its power. In other myths, it

11270-427: The Southern Cult Period horizon defined by Muller. Other regional styles developed as a result of the fusion of ideas borrowed from the Braden Style and pre-existing local expressions of post-Hopewellian traditions. Projected development of Mississippian Art and Ceremonial Complex (M.A.C.C.) styles As the major centers, such as Cahokia, collapsed and the trade networks broke down, the regional styles diverged more from

11431-421: The Totonac, mainly in the modern-day states of Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz. The Mixtec and Zapotec cultures, centered at Mitla and Zaachila respectively, inhabited Oaxaca. The Postclassic ends with the arrival of the Spanish and their subsequent conquest of the Aztecs between 1519 and 1521. Many other cultural groups did not acquiesce until later. For example, Maya groups in the Petén area, including

11592-551: The United States in 2009. State Senator Evelyn M. Bowles wrote about the Cahokia Mounds site: Through the years my friends and I made occasional Sunday afternoon trips to the Mounds. When I became the State Senator, it afforded me the opportunity to secure funds for the acquisition of additional acreage in which there are smaller Mounds. Many of these have contained additional artifacts. The designation has helped protect

11753-515: The Upper and Under realms were in constant opposition to each other. Ritual and ceremony were the means by which these powerful forces could be accessed and harnessed. Many common motifs in S.E.C.C. artwork are locative symbols that help determine where the action takes place and where the beings originated: The falcon is one of the most conspicuous symbols of the S.E.C.C. It was simultaneously an avatar of warriors and an object of supplication for

11914-468: The ancient city was much larger. At its apex around 1100 CE, the city covered about 6 square miles (16 km ), included about 120 earthworks in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and functions, and had a population of between 15,000 and 20,000 people. Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture , which developed advanced societies across much of what

12075-415: The area when the first French explorers arrived in the 17th century. As this was centuries after Cahokia was abandoned by its original inhabitants, the Cahokia tribe was not necessarily descended from the earlier Mississippian-era people. Most likely, multiple indigenous ethnic groups settled in the Cahokia Mounds area during the time of the city's apex. Cahokia Mounds is a National Historic Landmark and

12236-462: The beginning of Cahokia's rearticulation and decline. Circa 1160-1170 CE a large walled, residential compound in the East St. Louis precinct was burned down. Multiple ritual structures that were filled with an unusual density of stone tools, exotic materials, and pots filled with shelled maize were included in this burning, possibly representing unrest in response to 12th century inequalities. The area

12397-625: The being, sometimes now referred to as the Spirit Otter , with the majority seeming to belong to one of two extremes, and a multitude in between. The Great Serpents, the great denizens of the Underworld, were described as powerful beings who were in constant antagonism with the forces of the Upper World, usually represented by the Thunderers (Birdmen or Falcon beings). Although men were to be careful of these beings, they could also be

12558-536: The building itself or inhabited large marker posts, similar to the posts used to build the Cahokia Woodhenge. Betzenhauser and Pauketat compare their theorized Cahokian buildings to similar historical examples such as shaking tents or medicine lodges. Monks Mound is the largest structure and central focus of the city: a massive platform mound with four terraces, 10 stories tall, it is the largest man-made earthen mound north of Mexico. Facing south, it

12719-492: The central Mexican highlands is represented by such sites as Tlapacoya , Tlatilco , and Cuicuilco . These sites were eventually superseded by Teotihuacán , an important Classic-era site that eventually dominated economic and interaction spheres throughout Mesoamerica. The settlement of Teotihuacan is dated to the later portion of the Late Preclassic, or roughly 50 CE. In the Valley of Oaxaca , San José Mogote represents one of

12880-550: The chances that a single cataclysmic flood would wipe out the city's food supply. Cahokia's abandonment came in tandem with the abandonment of the wider surrounding region, referred to by scholars as "the Vacant Quarter." Populations left what is now southern Illinois; the Lower Ohio Drainage in southern Indiana; nearly the entirety of western Kentucky and Tennessee; most of southeastern Missouri excepting

13041-639: The city coincides with the Little Ice Age , although by then, the three-fold agriculture remained well-established throughout temperate North America. The original site contained 120 earthen mounds over an area of 6 square miles (16 km ), of which 80 remain today. To achieve that, thousands of workers over decades moved more than an estimated 55 million cubic feet (1,600,000 m ) of earth in woven baskets to create this network of mounds and community plazas. Monks Mound , for example, covers 14 acres (5.7 ha), rises 100 ft (30 m), and

13202-516: The city of Teotihuacan ascended at the height of the Classic period; it formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 CE, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula , ensued. At this time during the Epi-Classic period,

13363-480: The city's abandonment as such Algonquian groups from the east moved into the Vacant Quarter in the mid-17th century, specifically the Illinois Confederation . The Cahokia tribe was one such group from where the site gets its name. While Cahokia proper had ceased to exist the mounds continued to be present on the landscape. Various French settler-colonial families are documented to have claimed

13524-678: The city's early period of existence. A diversity of crops such as goosefoot and sumpweed from the Eastern Agricultural Complex were grown and eaten at Cahokia. Thomas Emerson and Kristin Hedman attribute the discovery of Cahokian individuals with low-maize diets to the existence of hunter-gatherer immigrant communities who had not yet adopted maize as a staple food source. Residents of outlying areas relied heavily on maize for subsistence, while residents of Cahokia's city center enjoyed more diverse diets. One interpretation

13685-401: The city's initial rapid growth. At the onset of the "Big Bang" non-local ceramics begins to appear in higher frequencies across site types indicating interaction or immigration from populations around the lower Ohio Drainage ( Yankeetown ), Lower Mississippi Valley ( Coles Creek ), Upper Midwest (below), and south-central plains ( Caddo ). Many of these immigrants moved into outlying villages in

13846-465: The civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico. The term was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff , who noted that similarities existed among the various pre-Columbian cultures within the region that included southern Mexico, Guatemala , Belize , El Salvador , western Honduras , and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica . In

14007-539: The close of the period. Transformations of natural environments have been a common feature at least since the mid Holocene. Archaic sites include Sipacate in Escuintla , Guatemala, where maize pollen samples date to c. 3500 BCE. The first complex civilization to develop in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmec , who inhabited the Gulf Coast region of Veracruz throughout the Preclassic period. The main sites of

14168-482: The common mound-and-plaza pairing was adopted from longstanding Coles Creek organizational principles. Contacts across the mid-continent and possibly beyond are attested to have reached a peak between 1050 and 1150 CE. Mill Creek chert from southwestern Illinois , most notably, was used in the production of hoes, a high demand tool for farmers around Cahokia and other Mississippian centers. Cahokia's loose control over distribution, though not production, of these tools

14329-506: The community's decline. Thomas Emerson and Kristin Hedman argue that Cahokia's large immigrant population was a factor in the city's ultimate fragmentation, as differing languages, customs, and religions obstructed the creation of a cohesive Cahokian cultural identity. Analyses of Cahokian burial sites and the associated remains have also shown that many Cahokians were not native to the city or its immediate surrounding region. These immigrants were sometimes buried separately from native residents,

14490-592: The control of a Toltec empire. Chronological data refutes this early interpretation, and it is now known that Chichén Itzá predated the Toltec; Mexican architectural styles are now used as an indicator of strong economic and ideological ties between the two regions. The Postclassic (beginning 900–1000 CE, depending on area) is, like the Late Classic, characterized by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of various polities. The main Maya centers were located in

14651-405: The dense population, and Cahokia is believed to have become unhealthy from polluted waterways. Because it was such an unhealthy place to live, Snow believes that the town had to rely on social and political attractions to bring in a steady supply of new immigrants; otherwise, the town's death rate would have caused it to be abandoned earlier. By the end of the 12th century two distinct events mark

14812-558: The east, west, north, and south of Monks Mound. To the south of Monks Mound is the Grand Plaza, a large area that covered roughly 50 acres (20 ha) and measured over 1,600 ft (490 m) in length by over 900 ft (270 m) in width. Researchers originally thought the flat, open terrain in this area reflected Cahokia's location on the Mississippi's alluvial flood plain , but instead soil studies have shown that

14973-466: The eastern uplands referred to at the Richland Complex. Intensive farming and textile production occurred in these villages which has been interpreted as supplicant behavior directed towards the central urban core of the city. The novel practices these immigrant communities brought with them have been argued as essential to the creation of the character of Cahokia as a city. One such example,

15134-404: The end of the 10th century many of these settlements aggregated into larger groups. These larger villages included the earlier cosmogram layouts complete with large central posts, pits, and/or structures. An extensive nucleated community sprawled across 35-70 hectares in Cahokia proper, with its beginnings at the end in the late 900s CE. By this time it seems a few thousand people were living in

15295-531: The end of the post-Classic period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles , which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Over

15456-567: The falcon imagery was elaborated in figural expression. It is associated with warfare, high-stakes gaming, and possibly family dynastic ambitions, symbolized by arrow flights and the rising of the pre-dawn morning star as metaphors for the succession of descendants into the future. Raptor imagery gained prominence during the Hopewell period , but attained its peak in the Braden Style of the early Mississippian period. It survived afterward in

15617-581: The first to leave the city. Many people leaving Cahokia went south into the Cairo Lowlands of southern Illinois and further south in the Central Mississippi Valley some later leaving for The Cumberland Basin in central Tennessee. Finely crafted artifacts from Cahokia such as copper repoussé plates and engraved shell appear at powerful centers such as Moundville and Etowah only after 1250 CE. Another possible cause

15778-536: The formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerica is one of the six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civilization ), and the second in the Americas, alongside the Caral–Supe in present-day Peru . Mesoamerica

15939-779: The intervening centuries. It may be judged by looking at the remaining artifacts that S.E.C.C. practitioners worked with feathers and designs woven into cloth, practiced body painting, and possibly tattooing , as well as having pierced ears. One surviving painting found on a baked clay floor at the Wickliffe Mounds site suggests they also painted designs in and on their dwellings. Paintings displaying S.E.C.C. imagery also have been found in caves, most notably Mud Glyph Cave in Tennessee. Animal images, serpents, and warrior figures occur, as well as winged warriors, horned snakes, stylized birds, maces, and arrows. Their location underneath

16100-1013: The items were used as gifts or exchange across a wide region. Numerous other pairs of extremely similar gorgets serve to link sites across the entire Southeast. The social organization of the Mississippian culture was based on warfare , which was represented by an array of motifs and symbols in articles made from costly raw materials, such as conches from Florida , copper from the Great Lakes area and Appalachian Mountains, lead from northern Illinois and Iowa , pottery from Tennessee , and stone tools sourced from Kansas , Texas , and southern Illinois . Such objects occur in elite burials , together with war axes , maces , and other weapons. These warrior symbols occur alongside other artifacts, which bear cosmic imagery depicting animals , humans , and legendary creatures . This symbolic imagery bound together warfare, cosmology , and nobility into

16261-471: The land of the city during the 18th century. St. Louis was defined by the mounds that Cahokian's had constructed across the river, referred to at one point as "Mound City." Nearly all these mounds in Downtown St. Louis were destroyed and used for fill in the growing city's construction in the mid-19th century. As Native Americans were forcibly removed from the land through treaties and war (particularly

16422-399: The landscape was originally undulating ridge and swale topography. In one of the earliest large-scale construction projects, the site had been expertly and deliberately leveled and filled by the city's inhabitants. It is part of the sophisticated engineering displayed throughout the site. It was used for large ceremonies and gatherings, as well as for ritual games, such as chunkey . The game

16583-419: The large body of art symbols classified as the S.E.C.C. Participants of a decade-long series of conferences held at Texas State University have proposed the terms "Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere" or "M.I.I.S." and "Mississippian Art and Ceremonial Complex" or "M.A.C.C." The major expression of the complex developed at the Cahokia site and is known as the Braden Style; it corresponds with

16744-432: The low flatlands of the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba , a dormant volcano located on the border of Puebla and Veracruz . Its peak elevation is 5,636 m (18,490 ft). The Sierra Madre mountains, which consist of several smaller ranges, run from northern Mesoamerica south through Costa Rica . The chain is historically volcanic . In central and southern Mexico,

16905-421: The lowlands and coastal plains settled down in agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures because there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas, which made a hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. Fishing also was a major provider of food to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down in permanent communities. Ceremonial centers were

17066-632: The midwest and southeast by the Hopewell Interaction Sphere from 100 BCE to 500 CE. Other research shows the complex operated as an exchange network. This kind of network may be illustrated by a pair of shell gorgets whose representation is so similar as to suggest that they were made by the same artist. One was found in southeast Missouri and the other found hundreds of miles away in Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma , suggesting

17227-590: The more important ones served as loci of human occupation in the area. The longest river in Mesoamerica is the Usumacinta , which forms in Guatemala at the convergence of the Salinas or Chixoy and La Pasión River and runs north for 970 km (600 mi)—480 km (300 mi) of which are navigable—eventually draining into the Gulf of Mexico . Other rivers of note include the Río Grande de Santiago ,

17388-633: The more well known are the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System , the second largest in the world, and La Mosquitia (consisting of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve , Tawahka Asangni, Patuca National Park , and Bosawás Biosphere Reserve ) a rainforest second in size in the Americas only to the Amazonas . The highlands present mixed and coniferous forest. The biodiversity is among the richest in

17549-524: The most important center for the Mississippian culture . This culture was expressed in settlements that ranged along major waterways across what is now the Midwest , Eastern , and Southeastern United States. Cahokia was located in a strategic position near the confluence of the Mississippi , Missouri , and Illinois rivers. It maintained trade links with communities as far away as the Great Lakes to

17710-661: The most well-known structures in Mesoamerica, the flat-top pyramids are a landmark feature of the most developed urban centers. Cahokia Cahokia Mounds / k ə ˈ h oʊ k i ə / ( 11 MS 2 ) is the site of a Native American city (which existed c. 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis . The state archaeology park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville . The park covers 2,200 acres (890 ha), or about 3.5 square miles (9 km ), and contains about 80 manmade mounds, but

17871-399: The myth seem to be tied integrally to the pipe ceremony, and its association with kinship and adoption. In fact, the Bi-Lobed Arrow Motif may be a graphic depiction of the calumet. Other images found in S.E.C.C. art show figures with long-nosed god maskettes on their ears and in place of their nipples. The Great Serpent (or Horned Serpent) is the most well-known mythological figure from

18032-590: The new social order. All villages either experienced renewal and construction efforts turning them into mound centers or were depopulated to become just a few households or a single farmstead. New settlement types including nucleated settlements, mound centers, small dispersed clusters of houses, and single-family farmsteads appear throughout region. The city's complex construction of earthen mounds required digging, excavation and transportation by hand using woven baskets. Construction made use of 55 million cubic feet (1.6 million cubic meters) of earth, and much of

18193-493: The next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. Aspects of the Mesoamerican cultural heritage still survive among the indigenous peoples who inhabit Mesoamerica. Many continue to speak their ancestral languages and maintain many practices hearkening back to their Mesoamerican roots. The term Mesoamerica literally means "middle America" in Greek. Middle America often refers to

18354-507: The north and the Gulf Coast to the south, trading in such exotic items as copper, Mill Creek chert , shark teeth, and lightning whelk shells. In the years around 1050 CE Cahokia experienced a “Big Bang.” The city proper's three urban precincts: St. Louis, East St. Louis, and Cahokia were constructed at all this time. At the same time an ordered city grid—oriented to the north along the Grand Plaza, Rattlesnake Causeway, and dozens of mounds—was imposed on earlier Woodland settlements. This

18515-504: The northern lowlands. Generally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between c. 800/850 and c. 1000 CE. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands , so named after the hills where they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the "Puuc architectural style") that represents

18676-574: The northern lowlands. Following Chichén Itzá, whose political structure collapsed during the Early Postclassic, Mayapán rose to prominence during the Middle Postclassic and dominated the north for c. 200 years. After Mayapán's fragmentation, the political structure in the northern lowlands revolved around large towns or city-states, such as Oxkutzcab and Ti’ho ( Mérida, Yucatán ), that competed with one another. Toniná , in

18837-415: The nuclei of Mesoamerican settlements. The temples provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat similar to the European city-state , and each person could identify with the city where they lived. Ceremonial centers were always built to be visible. Pyramids were meant to stand out from

18998-449: The oldest permanent agricultural villages in the area, and one of the first to use pottery. During the Early and Middle Preclassic, the site developed some of the earliest examples of defensive palisades , ceremonial structures, the use of adobe , and hieroglyphic writing . Also of importance, the site was one of the first to demonstrate inherited status , signifying a radical shift in socio-cultural and political structure. San José Mogote

19159-473: The organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent Formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition , a vigesimal numeric system, a complex calendric system , a tradition of ball playing , and a distinct architectural style , were diffused through the area. Villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms , and large ceremonial centers were built, interconnected by

19320-687: The past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands. Its participation in the circum-peninsular exchange route, possible through its port site of Isla Cerritos , allowed Chichén Itzá to remain highly connected to areas such as central Mexico and Central America. The apparent "Mexicanization" of architecture at Chichén Itzá led past researchers to believe that Chichén Itzá existed under

19481-506: The period of settlement at Cahokia, in roughly 1100–1260 and 1340–1460. While flooding may have occurred early in the rise of the city, it seems not to have deterred the city builders; to the contrary, it appears they took steps such as creating channels, dikes, and levees that protected at least the central city throughout its inhabited history. In another indication of flood mitigation efforts, Cahokians dispersed their agricultural lands among both lowland and upland fields, thereby reducing

19642-431: The population reaching a population maximum in 1650 and then declining again in 1700. Dhegiha Siouan migration was in part responsible for the depopulation of Cahokia. The city is where many contemporary Native American communities have their heritage, the former group in particular. Ponca oral tradition specifically to their ancestral time in Cahokia, calling the city or its location "P'ahe zide" [red hill]. Following

19803-671: The present understanding of the national and international significance of the site. The site was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 19, 1964, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. In 1982, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) designated the site a World Heritage Site . This is the only such self-contained site in Illinois and among 24 World Heritage Sites in

19964-449: The property and attract funds to conduct research on this significant civilization. Cahokia was surrounded by rich agricultural lands. The city has been traditionally thought to have been a maize-centric civilization, the crop having been introduced to the region around AD 900. While maize is often credited with enabling Cahokia's early population growth, more recent research has suggested that Cahokian diets were quite varied, especially in

20125-632: The remainder of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula . Other areas include Central Mexico, West Mexico, the Gulf Coast Lowlands, Oaxaca , the Southern Pacific Lowlands, and Southeast Mesoamerica (including northern Honduras ). There is extensive topographic variation in Mesoamerica, ranging from the high peaks circumscribing the Valley of Mexico and within the central Sierra Madre mountains to

20286-416: The rest of the city, to represent the gods and their powers. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All the ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as represented by

20447-418: The sacrifice of dozens of women at mound 72 and interment of powerful leaders in ridge top mortuary mounds integrated populations in shared experiences and narratives of their world during the 11th and 12th centuries. One of the major problems that large centers like Cahokia faced was keeping a steady supply of food, perhaps exacerbated by droughts from CE 1100–1250. A related problem was waste disposal for

20608-600: The sons of Redhorn decide to go on the warpath. The older brother asks "Storms as He Walks" for the Thunderbird war bundle . After some effort, it is produced, but the Thunderbirds demand that it have a case. A friend of the sons of Redhorn offers his own body as its case. The boys take the Thunderbird war bundle and with their followers go on a raid to the other side of the sky. Many S.E.C.C. images seem to be of Red Horn, his companions, and his sons. The characters in

20769-494: The source of great power. A Shawnee myth tells of the capture and dismemberment of Msi Kinepikwa . The pieces were distributed to the five septs of the tribe, who kept them in their sacred "medicine bundles". S.E.C.C. motifs have been found on a variety of non-perishable materials, including marine shell , ceramics , chert ( Duck River cache ), carved stone , and copper ( Wulfing cache and Etowah plates ). Undoubtedly many other materials also were used, but haven't survived

20930-414: The southern United States. Since then scholars have expanded the original definition, while using its trait lists as a foundation for critical analysis of the entire concept. In 1989 scholars proposed a more archaeologically-based definition for the Mississippian artistic tradition. Jon Muller of Southern Illinois University proposes the classification of the complex into five horizons , with each as

21091-550: The standard terminology of precolumbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica , which refer to northern Mexico and the western United States, respectively, have not entered into widespread usage. Some of the significant cultural traits defining the Mesoamerican cultural tradition are: Located on the Middle American isthmus joining North and South America between ca. 10° and 22° northern latitude , Mesoamerica possesses

21252-526: The supernatural reality of the Otherworld. S.E.C.C. iconography portrayed the cosmos in three levels. The Above World or Overworld, was the home of the Thunderers , the Sun, Moon, and Morning Star or Red Horn / "He Who Wears Human Heads For Earrings" and represented Order and Stability. The Middle World was the Earth that humans live in. The Beneath World or Under World was a cold, dark place of Chaos that

21413-633: The time following the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century is classified as the Colonial period. The differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late Preclassic ) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity , the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies , and changes in economic organization (including increased interregional interaction). The Classic period through

21574-474: The time. Palisades become popular across parts of the Midwest and mid-South during the 13th century as communities begin living together in much more nucleated settlement types. However, Cahokia's palisade may have been more for ritual or formal separation than for military purposes, but bastioned palisades almost always indicate warfare. As Cahokia's population shrank over the 13th century, Cahokia's palisade

21735-407: The tradition of cultural history , the prevalent archaeological theory of the early to middle 20th century, Kirchhoff defined this zone as a cultural area based on a suite of interrelated cultural similarities brought about by millennia of inter- and intra-regional interaction (i.e., diffusion ). Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area. This term is now fully integrated into

21896-484: The turn of the 13th (the Moorehead phase 1200-1300 CE) was one of change. People stop constructed and using the earlier T and L shaped ritual buildings as well as large circular rotundas. Family homes began to be built larger and storage pits previously located outside of them were moved inside. Ceramic styles and production techniques shifted, with an increase in plates, cord-marking, and solar-themed iconography. There

22057-484: The two cultures have no direct links and that their civilizations developed independently. The S.E.C.C. was first defined in 1945 by the archaeologists Antonio Waring and Preston Holder as a series of four lists of traits, which they categorized as the Southeastern (centered) Ceremonial Complex . Their concept was of a complex of a specific cult manifestation that originated with Muskogean-speaking peoples in

22218-656: The uplands was a site where the moon, water, femininity, and fertility were venerated; the mounds being aligned to lunar events in its 18.6 year cycle. Immigrant ceramics early in the archaeological record argue that it was central in attracting immigrants as pilgrims. Political control was exercised in the Cahokian hinterlands at distinctive temple complexes consisted of T or L shaped structures and sweatlodges . Distinctive rituals are archaeologically documented involving tobacco, red cedar, agricultural produce, and female Cahokian flint clay figurines . Intense public rituals like

22379-411: The veneration of their gods and masters. Stelae were common public monuments throughout Mesoamerica and served to commemorate notable successes, events, and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various sites. Given that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches, none of the societies that inhabited the area were self-sufficient, although very long-distance trade

22540-526: The west of Cahokia; this discovery increased estimates of historic area population. Archaeologists estimate the city's population at between 6,000 and 40,000 at its peak. If the highest population estimates are correct, Cahokia was larger than any subsequent city in the United States until the 1780s, when Philadelphia's population grew beyond 40,000. Its population may have been larger than contemporaneous London and Paris . Studies of Cahokia's rise see large-scale immigration as an essential contributor to

22701-576: The work was accomplished over decades. Its highly planned large, smoothed-flat, ceremonial plazas, sited around the mounds, with homes for thousands connected by laid out pathways and courtyards, suggest the location served as a central religious pilgrimage city. At the high point of its development, Cahokia was the largest urban center north of the great Mesoamerican cities in Mexico and Central America . Home to about 1,000 people before circa 1050, its population grew rapidly after that date. According to

22862-818: The world, though the number of species in the red list of the IUCN grows every year. The history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided into stages or periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic , and the Postclassic . The last three periods, representing the core of Mesoamerican cultural fluorescence, are further divided into two or three sub-phases. Most of

23023-428: The younger one having heads in place of his nipples. The older brother discovers where the Giants keep the heads of Redhorn and his friends. The two boys use their powers to steal the heads from the Giants, whom they wipe out almost completely. The boys bring back to life Redhorn, Storms as He Walks, and Turtle. In honor of this feat, Turtle and "Storms as He Walks" promise the boys special weapons. In another episode,

23184-408: Was abandoned. Scholars have proposed environmental factors, such as environmental degradation through overhunting, deforestation and pollution, and climatic changes, such as increased flooding and droughts, as explanations for abandonment of the site. However, more recent research suggests that there is no evidence of human-caused erosion or flooding at Cahokia. The late 12th century into

23345-409: Was accompanied by a homogenization of material culture (e.g. pottery and architectural styles) that divided the smaller settlements beforehand. Mound construction increased across the region in the 11th century in the floodplain and, for the first time, in uplands to the east. Some mounds were built on earlier settlement locations arguably by descendants emphasizing their particular ancestral positions in

23506-514: Was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeat its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called " Maya collapse ", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in

23667-399: Was an elevated embankment about 18 metres (59 ft) wide, roughly 800 metres (2,600 ft) in length and varies in height from 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) to almost 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) as it traverses a low swampy area to the south of the Grand Plaza. It is aligned 5° east of north, a direction thought to mimic the maximum southern moon rise of 5° west of north, albeit in reverse. This

23828-400: Was common only for very rare goods, or luxury materials. For this reason, from the last centuries of the Archaic period (8000 BCE– 1000 BCE) onward, regions compensated for the environmental inadequacies by specializing in the extraction of certain abundant natural resources and then trading them for necessary unavailable resources through established commercial trade networks. The following

23989-477: Was eventually overtaken by Monte Albán , the subsequent capital of the Zapotec empire , during the Late Preclassic. The Preclassic in western Mexico, in the states of Nayarit , Jalisco , Colima , and Michoacán also known as the Occidente, is poorly understood. This period is best represented by the thousands of figurines recovered by looters and ascribed to the " shaft tomb tradition ". The Classic period

24150-488: Was first protected by the state of Illinois in 1923 when its legislature authorized purchase of a state park. Later designation as a state historic site offered additional protection, but the site came under significant threat from the federal highway building program in the 1950s. The highway program reduced the site's integrity; however, it increased funding for emergency archeological investigations. These investigations became intensive, and today continue. They have resulted in

24311-599: Was home to the Underwater Panther and Corn Mother or "Old Woman Who Never Dies". These three worlds were connected by an axis mundi , usually portrayed as a cedar tree or a striped pole reaching from the Under World to the Over World. Each of the three levels also was believed to have its own sub-levels. Deeply ingrained in the world view was the concept of duality and opposition. The beings of

24472-588: Was important in emphasizing a new agricultural regime. Mississippian culture pottery and stone tools in the Cahokian style were found at the Silvernale site near Red Wing, Minnesota , and materials and trade goods from Pennsylvania, the Gulf Coast, and Lake Superior have been excavated at Cahokia. Cahokians traveled down to the Carson site in Coahoma County, Mississippi and built a settlement during

24633-401: Was later rebuilt, but not for residential purposes. In the same general timeframe around 1175 CE, people constructed the first iteration of the large central palisade around Cahokia's core. People began leaving the city in larger numbers beginning in the late 12th century. In the middle of the succeeding 13th century Cahokia's population had decreased by half if not more, and by 1350 CE the city

24794-673: Was made though nixtamalization that made the maize more nutritious. Recent research indicates that early Cahokians nixtamalized maize but then stopped nixtamalizing maize around CE 1200. Intense reliance on maize that is not nixtamalized may result in pellagra and death. Isotope analysis of burial remains at Cahokia has revealed iron-deficiency anemia and tooth enamel defects potentially stemming from Cahokia's reliance on maize. Together with these factors, researchers found evidence in 2015 of major floods at Cahokia, so severe as to flood dwelling places. Analysis of sediment from beneath Horseshoe Lake has revealed that two major floods occurred in

24955-424: Was mainly built for defensive purposes. Beyond Monks Mound, as many as 120 more mounds stood at varying distances from the city center. To date, 109 mounds have been located, 68 of which are in the park area. The mounds are divided into three different types: platform , conical , and ridge -top. Each appeared to have had its own meaning and function. In general terms, the city center seems to have been laid out in

25116-459: Was named for the community of Trappist monks who resided there for a short time, after Euroamericans settled in the area. Excavation on the top of Monks Mound has revealed evidence of a large building, likely a temple or the residence of the paramount chief , which would have been seen throughout the city. This building was about 105 ft (32 m) long and 48 feet (15 m) wide, and could have been as much as 50 ft (15 m) high. It

25277-502: Was played by rolling a disc-shaped chunky stone across the field. The players would throw spears where they thought the chunky stone would land. The game required a great deal of judgment and aim. The major ceremonial north–south 'axis' connects the main precinct with the large ridgetop mortuary mound to its south now known as the Rattlesnake Mound (Mound 66 ). The feature, named the Rattlesnake Causeway by archaeologists,

25438-589: Was predominantly used by the Maya during the Early Classic), and jade from the Motagua valley in Guatemala. Tikal was often in conflict with other polities in the Petén Basin , as well as with others outside of it, including Uaxactun , Caracol , Dos Pilas , Naranjo , and Calakmul . Towards the end of the Early Classic, this conflict lead to Tikal's military defeat at the hands of Caracol in 562, and

25599-456: Was rebuilt several times to encompass increasingly-smaller portions of the city. Diseases transmitted among the large, dense urban population are another possible cause of decline. Similarly, health issues like pellagra are known to arise through maize-intense diets like Cahokia's. However, evidence tying nutritional deficiencies to a broader societal collapse has not been conclusively identified. At Cahokia's beginning around CE 1050, hominy

25760-506: Was the staple crop in the region, and remained so through modern times. The Ramón or Breadnut tree ( Brosimum alicastrum ) was an occasional substitute for maize in producing flour. Fruit was also important in the daily diet of Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the main ones consumed include avocado , papaya , guava , mamey , zapote , and annona . Mesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated large ungulates . The lack of draft animals for transportation

25921-512: Was topped by a massive 5,000 sq ft (460 m ) building another 50 ft (15 m) high. Early in its history, Cahokia underwent a massive construction boom. Along with the early phase of Monks Mound, an overarching urban layout was established at the site. It was built with a symbolic quadripartite worldview and oriented toward the four cardinal directions with the main east–west and north–south axes defined with Monks Mound near its center point. Four large plazas were established to

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