Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian II

  General Description   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.