New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
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New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
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Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#2Tl;Dr: they built a flourishing city, and one hypothesis was drought but new research ruled that out, so we have no idea why they left.
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#3Tl;Dr: they built a flourishing city, and one hypothesis was drought but new research ruled that out, so we have no idea why they left.
A couple of really cold Winters or hotter than normal Summers, or competition from other animals, including insects, crop disease, etc., can drive any population out to seek new land to conquer and inhabit. Also just internal disagreement and the braintrust left, the ones who stayed were left to fend for themselves...
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#4This reminds me to read "Cahokia Jazz", the new novel by Francis Spufford.
He previously wrote "Red Plenty", a brilliant historical fiction about the Soviet economy and cybernetics in a brief moment of post-Stalin optimism.
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#5Tl;Dr: they built a flourishing city, and one hypothesis was drought but new research ruled that out, so we have no idea why they left.
It's more that it's more evidence towards it not being any one or few major disasters that caused a rapid abandonment as always suspected but just the slow, eventual decline of people moving elsewhere, not very exciting or newsworthy but sensible.
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#6Tl;Dr: they built a flourishing city, and one hypothesis was drought but new research ruled that out, so we have no idea why they left.
Sounds like maybe they're also suggesting, "Perhaps we don't need an environmental catastrophe, maybe it's more like what happened to Detroit."
Which seems pretty parsimonious to me? Without so much fixed infrastructure such as harbors and paved highways and the Ford Rouge factory, there's less to keep pulling people back to an urban lifestyle if that's not what they're after.
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#7I had the (dubious) honor of - willingly, on a dare - having plunged rolling down the sides of one of the mounds, during a field trip.-
What fun.-
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#8This reminds me to read "Cahokia Jazz", the new novel by Francis Spufford. He previously wrote "Red Plenty", a brilliant historical fiction about the Soviet economy and cybernetics in a brief moment of post-Stalin optimism.
I just finished Cahokia Jazz. Best novel I've read in the last few years. The prose, plot, and characters were all exceptionally excellent. And I was surprised to learn the author is British!
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#9I used to live near the Missouri River before it meets the Mississippi River south of STL, but haven't yet made it to the Cahokia Mounds which are northeast and across the river from what is now St. Louis, Missouri.
Was it disease?
["Fusang" to the Chinese, various names to Islanders FWIU]
[?? BC/AD: Egyptian treasure in Illinois, somehow without paddleboats to steam up the Mississippi]
~800 AD: Lead Cross of Knights Templar in Arizona, according to America Unearthed S01E10. https://www.google.com/search?q=%7E800+AD%3A+Templar+Cross%2... ; a more recent dating of Tucson artifacts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson_artifacts
~1000 AD: Leif Erickson, L'Anse aux Meadows; Discovering Vinland: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson#Discovering_Vin...
And then the Story of Erik the Red, and a Skraeling girl in Europe, and Columbus; and instead we'll celebrate Juneteenth day to celebrate when news reached Galveston.
Did they plant those mounds? Did they all bring good soil or dirt to add to the mound?
May Pole traditions may be similar to "all circle around the mountain" practices in at least ancient Egyptian culture FWIU.
If there was a lot of contact there, would that have spread diseases? (Various traditions have intentionally high contact with hol y water containers on the way in, too, for example.)
FWIU there's strong evidence for Mayans and Aztecs in North America; but who were they displacing?
Re: New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left
#10I used to live near the Missouri River before it meets the Mississippi River south of STL, but haven't yet made it to the Cahokia Mounds which are northeast and across the river from what is now St. Louis, Missouri. Was it disease? ["Fusang" to the Chinese, various names to Islanders FWIU] [?? BC/AD: Egyptian treasure in Illinois, somehow without paddleboats to steam up the Mississippi] ~800 AD: Lead Cross of Knights…
For one thing, the words you want are "Maya" and "Nahua". "Mayan" is the language family and "Aztec" refers to various things, none of which are what you want.
They're also definitely unrelated to the mound cultures except for the broadest possible relationships like existing on the same continent.