In the Emergent Mississippian Period (900-1050 CE) the Upper Mississippi region was populated by a number of small communities. The population of the largest settlement was probably in the region of 500 people - but a population is not thought to have been resident at the site that later became Cahokia until towards the end of the period.
In this period the trends established in the Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd Period continued. Maize farming was intensified and consumption increased creating higher yields and needs for storage and larger populations.
[1]
[2]
Paregrine and Trubitt (2014) note that Cahokia was an excellent environment for growing maize and its geographic location meant it was easily accessible from many directions.
[3]
It is thought that many different groups created the initial settlement at Cahokia, bringing with them a social structure.
[4]
The levels of social complexity in Emergent Mississippian societies were increasing creating specialised social roles for "community defense, organization of labor, and communal storage of maize". Settlements now consisted of court-yard clusters and "toward [1000 CE], the southern pattern of civic-ceremonial centers with large earthen mounds was established in many places."
[1]
Warfare appears to have become established. The percentage of sites that were palisaded increased throughout this period from 0.5% 800-950 CE, to 1.5% of sites 1000 CE, to 3% of sites in 1050 CE.
[5]
The nucleated nature of the settlements themselves may also have been a "defensive response to bow warfare."
[1]
[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95) J H Blitz. E S Porth. 2013. Social complexity and the Bow in the Eastern Woodlands. Evolutionary Anthropology. 22:89-95. Wiley.
[2]: (Milner 2006, xx) G R Milner. 2006. The Cahokia Chiefdom: The Archaeology of a Mississippian Society. University Press of Florida. Gainesville.
[3]: (Peregrine/Trubitt 2014, 20) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
[4]: (Peregrine/Iseminger 2014, 27) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
[5]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013) G R Milner. G Chaplin. E Zavodny. 2013. Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America. Evolutionary Anthropology. 22:96-102. Wiley.
| 15 S |
| Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian II |
| Emergent Mississippian | |
| City Mounds | |
| Cahokia Mounds | |
| American Bottom | |
| Merrell Phase | |
| Edelhardt Phase |
| none |
| Emergent Mississippian |
| Cahokia - Lohmann-Stirling |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Cahokia - Lohman-Stirling (us_cahokia_1) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian I (us_emergent_mississippian_1) [continuity] |
| loose |
| 2 | 900 CE 1000 CE |
| 3 | 1000 CE 1049 CE |
| 2 | 900 CE 1000 CE |
| 3 | 1000 CE 1049 CE |
| - |
| 2 | 900 CE 1000 CE |
| 3 | 1000 CE 1049 CE |
| Year Range | Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian II (us_emergent_mississippian_2) was in: |
|---|---|
| (900 CE 1049 CE) | Cahokia |
Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd
Inhabitants.
Population of largest settlement probably in region of 500 people. This is an upper limit estimate. This population was not resident at the site that later became Cahokia. One of the areas with this number of people is called the Range site.
in squared kilometers
Quasi-polities of the American Bottom might cover 100-200 KM2.
People.
Population of largest settlement probably in region of 500 people and this would be the quasi-polity size. This is an upper limit estimate. This population was not resident at the site that later became Cahokia. One of the areas with this number of people is called the Range site.
levels.
Nucleated villages
"From the Late Woodland Patrick phase through Emergent Mississippian times, communities in the floodplain and immediately adjacent uplands tended to consist of groups of structures. Most people lived in these nucleated villages, each of which was occupied by at least a few tens of people, and sometimes several times that number. Only a small proportion of the valley’s inhabitants lived in houses that were widely separated from one another."
[1]
"It has been argued that villages with well over a hundred buildings had developed by the late Emergent Mississippian period." However "it is equally possible that the feature patterns represent nothing more than multiple super-imposed, short-term occupations that cannot be teased apart."
[2]
[3]
Houses organized around a courtyard
In the Emergent Mississippian "The community pattern usually included organized groupings of houses and other structures arranged around a courtyard, often with a central post that was sometimes surrounded by four pits, and larger structures probably communal or ceremonial, to one side or in the courtyard area."
[4]
"Site plans gained greater internal complexity as houses clustered into court-yard groups and, toward [1000 CE], the southern pattern of civic-ceremonial centers with large earthen mounds was established in many places.
Shift from nucleated to dispersed configuration
"Soon after A.D. 1000 people’s lives changed abruptly. Two of the most obviously signs of a profound alteration in the fabric of this society are a great increase in moundbuilding and a shift in small communities from nucleated to dispersed configurations."
[5]
"The beginning of the Mississippian period was marked by an abrupt shift in the character of peripheral communities ... The predominantly nucleated pattern of settlement was abandoned in favor of widely scattered single-family farmsteads."
[6]
[1]: (Milner 2006, 98)
[2]: (Milner 2006, 99 cite: Kelly 1990
[3]: Milner 2006, 99-100)
[4]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[5]: (Milner 2006, 168)
[6]: (Milner 2006, 100)
levels.
Nucleated villages
"From the Late Woodland Patrick phase through Emergent Mississippian times, communities in the floodplain and immediately adjacent uplands tended to consist of groups of structures. Most people lived in these nucleated villages, each of which was occupied by at least a few tens of people, and sometimes several times that number. Only a small proportion of the valley’s inhabitants lived in houses that were widely separated from one another."
[1]
"It has been argued that villages with well over a hundred buildings had developed by the late Emergent Mississippian period." However "it is equally possible that the feature patterns represent nothing more than multiple super-imposed, short-term occupations that cannot be teased apart."
[2]
[3]
Houses organized around a courtyard
In the Emergent Mississippian "The community pattern usually included organized groupings of houses and other structures arranged around a courtyard, often with a central post that was sometimes surrounded by four pits, and larger structures probably communal or ceremonial, to one side or in the courtyard area."
[4]
"Site plans gained greater internal complexity as houses clustered into court-yard groups and, toward [1000 CE], the southern pattern of civic-ceremonial centers with large earthen mounds was established in many places.
Shift from nucleated to dispersed configuration
"Soon after A.D. 1000 people’s lives changed abruptly. Two of the most obviously signs of a profound alteration in the fabric of this society are a great increase in moundbuilding and a shift in small communities from nucleated to dispersed configurations."
[5]
"The beginning of the Mississippian period was marked by an abrupt shift in the character of peripheral communities ... The predominantly nucleated pattern of settlement was abandoned in favor of widely scattered single-family farmsteads."
[6]
[1]: (Milner 2006, 98)
[2]: (Milner 2006, 99 cite: Kelly 1990
[3]: Milner 2006, 99-100)
[4]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[5]: (Milner 2006, 168)
[6]: (Milner 2006, 100)
levels.
"At Cahokia there may have been no difference between the religious and political hierarchy. They were interlocked, impossible to disentangle."
[1]
1. Chief / Priest
In the Emergent Mississippian period: "perhaps the appearance of chiefs"
[2]
"Cahokia may have been led by a priesthood or a group of ruler-priests, but a shift to “king” does not appear to have happened at Cahokia."
[3]
2. Sub-chief / Sub-priest?
"Members of the highest social strata probably included chiefs, sub-chiefs, elders, priests, and other religious functionaries."
[4]
3. Elder / Religious functionary
kin group leaders
[4]
[1]: (Peregrine/Kelly 2014, 23)
[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[3]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[4]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)
levels.
"At Cahokia there may have been no difference between the religious and political hierarchy. They were interlocked, impossible to disentangle."
[1]
1. Chief / Priest
In the Emergent Mississippian period: "perhaps the appearance of chiefs"
[2]
"Cahokia may have been led by a priesthood or a group of ruler-priests, but a shift to “king” does not appear to have happened at Cahokia."
[3]
2. Sub-chief / Sub-priest?
"Members of the highest social strata probably included chiefs, sub-chiefs, elders, priests, and other religious functionaries."
[4]
3. Elder / Religious functionary
kin group leaders
[4]
[1]: (Peregrine/Kelly 2014, 23)
[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[3]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[4]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)
levels.
1 or 2. More comfortable at 1 level at this point. Not until Mississippian evidence of warrior specialists.
levels.
1. Chief / Priest
In the Emergent Mississippian period: "perhaps the appearance of chiefs"
[1]
"Cahokia may have been led by a priesthood or a group of ruler-priests, but a shift to “king” does not appear to have happened at Cahokia."
[2]
2. Sub-chief / Sub-priest?
"Members of the highest social strata probably included chiefs, sub-chiefs, elders, priests, and other religious functionaries."
[3]
3. Elder / Religious functionary
kin group leaders
[3]
[1]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[2]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[3]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)
levels.
1. Chief / Priest
In the Emergent Mississippian period: "perhaps the appearance of chiefs"
[1]
"Cahokia may have been led by a priesthood or a group of ruler-priests, but a shift to “king” does not appear to have happened at Cahokia."
[2]
2. Sub-chief / Sub-priest?
"Members of the highest social strata probably included chiefs, sub-chiefs, elders, priests, and other religious functionaries."
[3]
3. Elder / Religious functionary
kin group leaders
[3]
[1]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)
[2]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[3]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)
"fields for the chiefs worked part-time by commoners, or through tribute." [Peregrine_Ortman_Rupley 2014, p. 19]
"Cahokia does not appear to have achieved the organizational complexity expected through the scaling processes described by Ortman ... There is little evidence for occupational specialization and virtually no evidence for diversification of occupations."
[1]
"One small group of late Emergent Mississippian buildings and associated pits has been called a "potter’s hamlet," with all that such a label implies about specialization in pottery production" however this can be viewed with skepticism.
[2]
Traders.
[3]
"The case for Mississippian period craft specialization rests on the existence of well-made objects, the great numbers of some particularly attractive items, and the contexts of the tools and debris related to making them."
[2]
arrowheads represents the "strongest case for specilization based on artifact appearance ... The people who made the Mound 72 points were pushing the limits of what can be accomplished by chipping stone. ... "the length-to-width ratios of the American Bottom points were more uniform than those of the points from distant places." However "High-quality local chert ... is much easier to knap than the coarse-grained Hixton silicified sandstone. In fact, the uniformity of points made with the latter stone indicates that these knappers were able to work a difficult material with great precision." On this and other evidence Milner concludes "there was little, if any, difference among the most skilled knappers in the midcontinent in terms of their ability to produce uniformly shaped arrowheads for special events."
[4]
figurines and figure-pipes
certain pottery vessels e.g. Ramey Incised jars
marine shell beads (which have identified tools: "small chert microdrills and sandstone saws"). It is argued that these beads "were among the artifacts that fueled Cahokia-dominated exchange systems that spanned the midcontinent.
[2]
However "The great majority of beads possessed by even the highest ranked people were of indifferent quality. These beads were identical to those held in far smaller numbers by common people. Only the individuals who held the most exalted positions ... had substantial numbers of especially attractive beads ... at least some of which were part of matched sets of uniformly shaped beads." Milner concludes "there is no compelling reason to believe that bead making was conducted in anything other than domestic settings."
[5]
Milner notes that "Similarly impressive objects were made in many small-scale societies throughout the world that lacked specialists in the sense of the term used by those who see a highly elaborated economy in the American Bottom."
[6]
[1]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[2]: (Milner 2006, 138)
[3]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)
[4]: (Milner 2006, 139-140)
[5]: (Milner 2006, 141)
[6]: (Milner 2006, 139)
"East St. Louis started out as a residential group, but evolved into an administrative/storage like complex." [1] However, the identification of any Mississippian-period structures in the Cahokia region as specialized government buildings is far from clear. The sites of activity within the "central administrative complex" [2] could have largely been of religious significance and perhaps communal or elite storage rather than used as sites for the administration or processing of taxes and management of records (for which we have no evidence). In general, the identification of any Mississippian-period structures in the Cahokia region as specialized government buildings is far from clear. The sites of activity within the"Central administrative complex". could have largely been of religious significance and perhaps communal or elite storage rather than used as sites for the administration or processing of taxes and management of records (for which we have no evidence). [2]
[1]: (Peregrine/Emerson 2014, 14)
[2]: (Peregrine/Emerson 2014, 14) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
"East St. Louis started out as a residential group, but evolved into an administrative/storage like complex." [1] However, the identification of any Mississippian-period structures in the Cahokia region as specialized government buildings is far from clear. The sites of activity within the "central administrative complex" [2] could have largely been of religious significance and perhaps communal or elite storage rather than used as sites for the administration or processing of taxes and management of records (for which we have no evidence). In general, the identification of any Mississippian-period structures in the Cahokia region as specialized government buildings is far from clear. The sites of activity within the"Central administrative complex". could have largely been of religious significance and perhaps communal or elite storage rather than used as sites for the administration or processing of taxes and management of records (for which we have no evidence). [2]
[1]: (Peregrine/Emerson 2014, 14)
[2]: (Peregrine/Emerson 2014, 14) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
Chiefs are thought to have possibly appeared after 700-800 CE [1] and from this time there were newly created "social roles linked to community defense, organization of labor, and communal storage of maize in secure central places". [2] However it would be a stretch too far to call the new social roles of the Emergent Mississppian "government." It may be telling that there is "no evidence for standards of weights or volumes" - which would be evidence for a formal administration - yet "there may have been a standard unit of length used to lay out ritual spaces)" [3] given that the religious and political hierarchy was thought to have been "interlocked, impossible to disentangle." [4]
[1]: (Iseminger 2010, 26) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.
[2]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95) Blitz J H, Porth E S. 2013. Social complexity and the Bow in the Eastern Woodlands. Evolutionary Anthropology. 22:89-95. Wiley.
[3]: (Peregrine 2014, 31) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
[4]: (Peregrine/Kelly 2014, 23) Peregrine P, Ortman S, Rupley, E. 2014. Social Complexity at Cahokia. SFI WORKING PAPER: 2014-03-004. Sante Fe Institute.
There is no evidence for markets, "nothing that would suggest an integrated economy of any kind." [1] "There were probably no markets at Cahokia. Distribution of food and manufactured goods (e.g. shell beads) were likely “event based”, taking place at feasts and rituals. Barter or reciprocal exchange was likely part of an informal economy that circulated goods on a limited basis. Some redistribution of surplus production may have taken place as well." [2]
[1]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)
[2]: (Trubitt 2014, 18)
"Most of the people at Cahokia were self-sufficient, but granaries are present in Stirling/Moorehead Cahokia." [1] "Fluctuation in agricultural production (especially due to flooding) would have affected specific areas of the American Bottom on an almost annual basis, and may have required provisioning some parts of the population on an irregular basis. Granaries and other storage facilities may have held the surplus required for this provisioning." [2]
[1]: (Peregrine/Trubitt 2014, 20)
[2]: (Trubitt 2014, 18)
[1] "Roadways link external centers to Cahokia providing a physical connection between them." [2] "LiDAR helped to identify a causeway 25m wide from Monks Mound to Rattlesnake Mound." [3] "trail networks also are important, and some of the historic east-west ones cross near Cahokia." [4]
[1]: (Peregrine/Pauketat 2014, 28)
[2]: (Pauketat 2014, 28)
[3]: (Peregrine/Kelly 2014, 23)
[4]: (Peregrine/Trubitt 2014, 21)
"There was geographically widespread trade between Cahokia and other communities (and between those other communities themselves) especially along the Mississippi. However, this trade appears to have been low volume, with only small amounts being exchanged at any given time. Canoes identified so far are small, unable to carry high volumes of commodities. There is no evidence for centralized control of this exchange, except perhaps for high-status goods and exceptional ritual objects." [1] [1]
[1]: (Trubitt 2014, 18)
"Large chert cores were roughed out at quarries, not at valley sites." [1] From earliest times people of American bottom were visiting a number of sources. This is not mentioned in current literature. Two examples: Wyandot, in the Ohio river valley and Mill Creek just south of the American bottom.
[1]: (Milner 2006, 82)
No direct evidence for messengers but may be inferred present due to the scale of the integration and hierarchy.
"Mississippian sites often featured curtain walls with frameworks of stout posts accompanied by large bastions, high embankments, and deep ditches." [1] According to the temporal distribution of "131 walled settlements corresponding to Mississippian societies and their immediate predecessors" the breakout point for increasing percent of sites having palisades is around 900-950 CE. 800-950 CE: 0.5% of sites. 1000 CE: 1.5% of sites. 1050 CE: 3% of sites. 1100 CE: 4% of sites. 1200: 7% of sites. [2]
[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 100)
[2]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013)
"Beginning A.D. 300-400, the bow replaced the atlatl in most regions" [1] However, not regularly used as a weapon: evidence of victims "struck by arrows and clubs" increased only during "last half of the first millennium" [2] First evidence of intergroup violence appears in the archaeological record after 600 CE. "For the first time, there is evidence, in the form of group and individual burials with embedded arrow points, of the bow as the primary weapon of intergroup violence." [1]
[1]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)
[2]: (Milner 2006, 174)