Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-5lx2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T23:06:44.943Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Investigations in the Cahokia Site Grand Plaza

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George R. Holley ,
Rinita A. Dalan  and
Philip A. Smith
George R. Holley
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, and Contract Archaeology Program, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026
Rinita A. Dalan
Affiliation:
Center for Ancient Studies and Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Philip A. Smith
Affiliation:
Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council, Springfield, IL 62704
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research designed to explore the Grand Plaza at the Cahokia Mounds site, the largest Mississippian-period mound center in the eastern United States, documents that plazas may yield significant information regarding Mississippian manipulation of the landscape and the initial growth of mound centers. Probing and excavation within the Grand Plaza revealed that buried ridge-swale topography, identified through an electromagnetic-conductivity survey, was stripped and then filled by the Cahokians. Excavation also corroborated the presence of deep-pit borrows identified by remote sensing. Based on the ceramics recovered from our excavations, we argue that these earth-moving events were initiated prior to the onset of the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1000). Reclamation of the borrowed areas resulted in the formation of the mound-plaza configuration early during the Mississippian period.

Resumen

Resumen

Las investigaciones diseñadas para explorar la Gran Plaza en el sitio de los montículos cahoquianos (el centro monticular más grande del período Misisipiano en los Estados Unidos orientales) prueban que las plazas pueden proveer información significativa respecto a la manipulación misisipiana del paisaje y el desarrollo inicial de los centros monticulares. El sondeo y la excavación dentro de la Gran Plaza revelaron que la topografía sepultada del lecho aluvial (identificada por una inspección de la conductividad electromagnética) fue desguarnecida y después fue rellenada por los cahoquianos. La excavación también corroboró la presencia de fosas hondas (identificadas por medio de percepción remota). Basados en la cerámica recuperada en nuestras excavaciones, mantenemos que estos eventos de movimientos de tierra fueron iniciados antes del principio del período misisipiano (fechada alrededor de D.C. 1000). La restauración del área de las fosas hondas resultó en el desarrollo de una plaza de configuración monticular temprana durante el perído misisipiano.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 306 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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

References Cited

Bareis, C. J. 1975 Reportofl971 University of IUinois-Urbana Excavations at the Cahokia Site. In Cahokia A rchaeology : Field Reports, edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 9–11. Research Series, Papers in Anthropology No. 3. Illinois State Museum, Springfield.Google Scholar
Benchley, E. D., and DePuydt, P. 1982 Final Report of the 1980 Test Excavations at the Interpretative Center Tract, Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. Report of Investigations No. 61. Archaeological Research Laboratory Report, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Black, G. A. 1967 Angel Site : An Archaeological, Historical and Ethnological Study. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis.Google Scholar
Bonnell, L. M., and White, W. P. 1981 Geological Investigations at the Carbon Monoxide Site (ll-Mo-593). Geomorphological Report No. 2. FAI-270 Archaeological Mitigation Project, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Brain, J. P. 1989 Winterville : Late Prehistoric Culture Contact in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Archaeological Report No. 23. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson.Google Scholar
Chmurny, W. W. 1973 The Ecology of the Middle Mississippian Occupation of the American Bottom. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Cole, F. -C, Bell, R., Bennett, J., Caldwell, J., Emerson, N., R. Mac Neish, Orr, K., and Willis, R. 1951 Kincaid : A Prehistoric Illinois Metropolis. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Collins, J. M. 1990 The Archaeology of the Cahokia Mounds ICT-II : Site Structure. Illinois Cultural Resources Study No. 10. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Dalan, R. A. 1989a Geophysical Investigations of the Prehistoric Cahokia Palisade Sequence. Illinois Cultural Resource Study No. 8. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Dalan, R. A. 1989b Electromagnetic Reconnaissance of the Central Palisade at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The Wisconsin Archeologist 70 : 309–332.Google Scholar
Dalan, R. A. 1991 Defining Archaeological Features with Electromagnetic Surveys at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Geophysics 56 : 1280–1287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emerson, T. E., and Jackson, D. K. 1984 The BBB Motor Site. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Fisk, H. N. 1944 Geological Investigations of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River. Publication No. 52. Mississippi River Commission, Vicksburg.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L. 1989 The Cahokia Atlas : A Historical Atlas of Cahokia Archaeology. Studies in Illinois Archaeology No. 6. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L., and Benchley, E. D. 1980 Final Report of 1979 Archaeological Investigations at the Interpretative Center Tract, Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. Report of Investigations No. 40. Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Fowler, M. L., and Hall, R. L. 1972 Archaeological Phases at Cahokia. Papers in Anthropology No. 1. Illinois State Museum, Springfield.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1977 The University of Michigan Excavations at the Pulcher Site in 1950. American Antiquity 42 : 462–488.Google Scholar
Griffin, J. B. 1984 A Historical Perspective. In American Bottom Archaeology, edited by Bareis, C. J. and Porter, J. W., pp. xv-xviii. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Holley, G. R. 1989 The Archaeology of the Cahokia Mounds, ICT-II : Ceramics. Illinois Cultural Resources Study No. 11. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Holley, G. R., Dalan, R. A., Lopinot, N. H., and Smith, P. A. 1990 Investigations in the Grand Plaza, Cahokia Mounds Historic Site, St. Clair County, Illinois. Submitted to the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield. Copies available from Contract Archaeology Program, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.Google Scholar
Holley, G. R., Lopinot, N. H., Dalan, R. A., and Woods, W. I. 1990 South Palisade Investigations. In The Archaeology of the Cahokia Palisade. Illinois Cultural Resources Study No. 14. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Holley, G. R., Lopinot, N. H., Woods, W. I., and Kelly, J. E. 1989 Dynamics of Community Organization at Prehistoric Cahokia. In Households and Communities, edited by Eachern, S. Mac, Archer, D. J. W., and Garvin, R. D., pp. 339–349. Proceedings of the 21st Annual Chacmool Conference. The Archaeological Association, University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Howard, J. H. 1968 The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex and Its Interpretation. Memoir No. 6. Missouri Archaeological Society, Columbia.Google Scholar
Hudson, C. 1976 The Southeastern Indians. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. Iseminger, W. R., Pauketat, T. R., Koldehoff, B., Kelly, L. S., and L. BlakeGoogle Scholar
Hudson, C. 1990 East Palisade Investigations. The Archaeology of the Cahokia Palisade. Cultural Resources Study No. 14. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. E. 1980 Formative Developments at Cahokia and the Adjacent American Bottom : A Merrell Tract Perspective. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. E. 1990 The Emergence of Mississippian Culture in the American Bottom Region. In The Mississippian Emergence, edited by Smith, B. D., pp. 113–152. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Kelly, J. E., Ozuk, S. J., Jackson, D. K., McElrath, D. L., Finney, F. A., and Esarey, D. 1984 Emergent Mississippian Period. In American Bottom Archaeology, edited by Bareis, C. J. and Porter, J. W., pp. 128–157. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Lewis, T. M. N., and Kneberg, M. 1946 Hiwassee Island : An Archaeological Account of Four Tennessee Indian Peoples. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.Google Scholar
McNeill, J. D. 1980a Electromagnetic Terrain Conductivity Measurement at Low Induction Numbers. Technical Note TN-6. Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
McNeill, J. D. 1980b Electrical Conductivity of Soils and Rocks. Technical Note TN-5. Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Milner, G. R. 1990 The Late Prehistoric Cahokia Cultural System of the Mississippi River Valley : Foundations, Florescence, and Fragmentation. Journal of World Prehistory 4 : 1–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, G. R., Emerson, T. E., Mehrer, M. W., Williams, J. A., and Esarey, D. 1984 Mississippian and Oneota Periods. In American Bottom Archaeology, edited by Bareis, C. J. and Porter, J. W., pp. 158–186. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
Moorehead, W. K. 1929 The Cahokia Mounds. Bulletin No. 26. University of Illinois, Urbana.Google Scholar
Nassaney, M. S., Lopinot, N. H., Butler, B. M., and Jefferies, R. W. 1983 The 1982 Excavations at the Cahokia Interpretive Center Tract, St. Clair County, Illinois. . Research Paper No. 37. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Payne, J. H. 1862 The Green-Corn Dance. The Continental Monthly l(l) : 17–29.Google Scholar
Porter, J. W. 1974 Cahokia Archaeology as Viewed from the Mitchell Site : A Satellite Community at A. D. 1150-1200. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Ray, P. L. 1976 Structure and Sedimentological History of the Overbank Deposits of a Mississippi River Point Bar. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 46 : 788–801.Google Scholar
Reed, N. A., Bennett, J. W., and Porter, J. W. 1968 Solid Core Drilling of Monks Mound : Technique and Findings. American Antiquity 33 : 137–148.Google Scholar
Smith, H. M. 1969 The Murdock Mound. In Investigations in Cahokia Archaeology, edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 49–88. Bulletin No. 7. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Swanton, J. R. 1946 The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bulletin No. 137. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Wallace, D. L. 1978 Soil Survey of St. Clair County, Illinois. Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station Soil Report No. 104. USDA Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Williams, S., and Brain, J. P. 1983 Excavations at Lake George, Yazoo County, Mississippi, 1958-1960. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 74. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Woods, W. I., and Holley, G. R. 1989 Appendix 5 : Current Research at the Cahokia Site (1984-1989). In The Cahokia Atlas : A Historical Atlas of Cahokia Archaeology, by Fowler, M. L., pp. 227–232. Studies in Illinois Archaeology No. 6. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar