The Cahokia Chiefdom

by Milner, George R.

• ISBN13: 9780813029818
• ISBN10: 0813029813
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-07
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Florida

Summary

First published in 1998 by Smithsonian Institution Press,The Cahokia Chiefdomsurveys one of North Americars"s great archaeological sites that includes more than one hundred earthen mounds constructed between the 11th and 14th centuries. Milner paints a vivid picture of the site and its environs while arguing that the regional system was not as powerful and all-encompassing as commonly thought, but was instead a collection of semi-autonomous districts with far fewer people than previously assumed. This detailed study of Cahokia research history documents environmental conditions that affected prehistoric peoples, such as river channels, flooding, and plant and animal life. In addition, he summarizes evidence of the regionrs"s food, the remains of houses and other buildings, stone tools, ceramics, crafts, population figures, the distribution of power, and labor and economics, including exchange with other societies. The author attributes the regionrs"s growth to a complex interplay of cultural, demographic, and environmental factors, including the advantages of its location and rich resources, and its decline to a reorganization of social relations across the region that involved the emergence of competing centers. This reprint edition features a new preface by the author updating archaeological evidence through 2005.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Abbreviations	ix
Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction to the 2006 Paperback Edition	xvii
`A Stupendous Pile of Earth'	1	(24)
`A Huge-Silver Serpent'	25	(28)
`Great Quantities of Earthen Ware & Flints'	53	(12)
`No Land Can Surpass Its Vegetable Luxuriance'	65	(16)
`Simtoms of Antient Ruins'	81	(34)
`Proofs of an Immense Population'?	115	(14)
`Extraordinary Monuments of Their Social State'	129	(26)
`Gray Chronicler of Hoary Centuries'	155	(22)
Appendix: Gazetteer of Mound Sites	177	(10)
References Cited	187	(26)
Index	213