The Cahokia Mounds Sate Historic Site has many characteristics of Mississippian culture. There are nine distinct features that are almost universal across the culture. The construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds is the most prevalent. They had Maize-based agriculture, Shell tempered pottery, Widespread trade networks, social complexity, the development of institutionalized social inequality, combined political and religious power, settlement hierarchy, and Southern Cult.
First let’s see if it fits the biggest trait, Mounds. Well it clearly fits into that trait as it is in the name. The Cahokia mounds are the largest city and is believed to be a major religious center. The city was settled around 600 CE.…show more content… Cahokia Mounds is believed to have three-fold crops of maize, beans and gourds were developed and adapted or bred to the temperate climates of the north from their origins in Mesoamerica. The inhabitants left no written records beyond symbols on pottery, shell, copper, wood, and stone. All of these fit in with the nine traits.
Next, we’ll look at their trade network. Cahokia was 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 and the Gulf Coast, trading in such exotic items as copper, Mill Creek chert, and whelk shells. Mill Creek chert, most notably, was used in the production of hoes, a high demand tool for farmers around Cahokia and other Mississippian centers. Cahokia's control of the manufacture and distribution of these hand tools was important for the economy and allowed the city to prosper.
We will look at their social complexity and inequality next. As stated earlier Cahokia was a religious center. They had a complex chiefdom, a hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies, as well as controlling the economy for the surrounding people with the production of tools used for farming led to inequality for farmers and ultimately controlled the…show more content… Cahokia’s religious leader were its political leaders because of the cities deep ties to religion. There was a settlement hierarchy in Cahokia when you look at how in the center of the city was the massive Monks Mounds and saw a decline in construction as you traveled farther from the center. Southern Cult, Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, is the name given to the stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography, ceremonies, and mythology of the Mississippian culture. Cahokia fits into this quite well with its pottery and being home to one of the most prolific symbols of the S.E.C.C in “The Birdman,” a warrior that was laying on a bed of shells in the shape of a
