Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T16:51:20.033Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Solid Core Drilling of Monks Mound: Technique and Findings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nelson A. Reed ,
John W. Bennett  and
James Warren Porter
Nelson A. Reed
Affiliation:
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, University of Winnepeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba
John W. Bennett
Affiliation:
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, University of Winnepeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba
James Warren Porter
Affiliation:
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, University of Winnepeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Solid core drilling was used to provide guidelines for future excavation of Monks Mound at the Cahokia site. The objective was to study, within reasonable limits of time and finances, the internal structure of the largest earthen mound in North America. The process is described along with a discussion of its problems and limitations as applied to similar archaeological situations. Radiocarbon dates indicate construction over approximately 250 years, from A.D. 900 to 1150. Evidence of construction stages is described and used to arrive at an estimate of labor figures and the necessary sustaining population of the Cahokia settlement. It is suggested that most of the mounds at the site were built after the completion of Monks Mound.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 1968 , pp. 137 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cook, Sherburne F. and Borah, W. 1960 The Indian Population of Central Mexico, 1530–1610. Ibero Americana, No. 44. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Crook, A. R. 1922 The Origin of the Cahokia Mounds. Bulletin of the Illinois State Museum. Springfield.Google Scholar
Erasmus, Charles J. 1965 Monument Building: Some Field Experiments. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 21, pp. 277–301. Albuquerque.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1966 Cahokia Chronology. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, in St. Louis, Missouri, April 28–30, 1966.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1967 Radiocarbon Dates for Early “Non-Ramey” Mississippian Complex at Cahokia. A list prepared for distribution at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Ann Arbor, May 4, 5, and 6, 1967.Google Scholar
Heizer, Robert F. 1960 Agriculture and the Theocratic State in Lowland Southeastern Mexico. American Antiquity, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 215–22. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Leighton, Morris M. 1923 The Geological Aspects of Some of the Cahokia (Illinois) Mounds. In “The Cahokia Mounds, A Report of Progress,” by W. K. Moorehead. University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. 21, Pt. 2, No. 6. Urbana.Google Scholar
Millon, Rene, Drewitt, Bruce, and Bennyhoff, James A. 1965 The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan: 1959 Investigations. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s., Vol. 55, Pt. 6, pp. 1–93. Philadelphia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moorehead, Warren K. 1923 The Cahokia Mounds, A Report of Progress. University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 6. Urbana.Google Scholar
Moorehead, Warren K. 1929 The Cahokia Mounds. University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 24. Urbana.Google Scholar
Patrick, J. R. 1876 Survey of Cahokia Mound — executed on November 5th, 1876. MS, manuscript collection, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, Missouri.Google Scholar
Perino, Gregory n.d. The Cahokia Site. MS, on file at the Illinois State Museum, Springfield.Google Scholar
Price, John C., Hunter, Richard G., and Mcmichael, Edward V. 1964 Core Drilling in an Archaeological Site. American Antiquity, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 219–22. Salt Lake City.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanton, John R. 1946 The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 137. Washington.Google Scholar
Temple, Wayne C. 1958 Indian Villages of the Illinois Country — Historic Tribes. Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, pp. 20–1. Springfield.Google Scholar
Thomas, Cyrus 1907 Cahokia or Monks Mound. American Anthropologist, n.s., Vol. 9, pp. 362–5. Menesha.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Winslow M. 1936 The Troyville Mounds, Catahoula Parish, La. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 113. Washington.Google Scholar