Home Region:  Mississippi Basin (North America)

Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian I

D G SC WF HS EQ 2020  us_emergent_mississippian_1 / USMisSp



Preceding Entity: Add one more here.
600 CE 750 CE Cahokia - Late Woodland III (us_woodland_5)    [continuity]

Succeeding Entity: Add one more here.

The Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd Period at Cahokia (750-900 CE) is significant for being a foundational period for later social developments at Cahokia. At this time appears the first signs of warfare, an increase in social complexity and more widespread consumption of farmed crops like maize.
The increase in social complexity was reflected in settlements with houses clustered into court-yard groups. [1] While there is little evidence for warfare in the preceding Middle Woodland [1] from c800 CE there is evidence of inter-group violence as human bones have been recovered with arrow points embedded into them in individual and group burials. [1] Some settlements even gained palisades and ditches [1] , although at this time they were present at only a tiny fraction of all sites (0.5% between 800-950 CE [2] ). After 700-800 CE there was a dramatic intensification of food production, particularly of maize farming, which brought higher yields and enabled more food to be extracted from a smaller territory and would lead to population growth. [1] [3] [4]
The evidence suggests communities experienced increased differentiation of social roles, with individuals dedicated to "community defense, organization of labor, and communal storage of maize in secure central places". [1] The Upper Mississippi region was populated by a number of small communities. The population of largest settlement was probably in the region of 500 people - although this population was not resident at the site that later became Cahokia.

[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, 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.

[3]: (Iseminger 2010, 26) W R Iseminger. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.

[4]: (Milner 2006, xx) G R Milner. 2006. The Cahokia Chiefdom: The Archaeology of a Mississippian Society. University Press of Florida. Gainesville.

General Variables
Social Complexity Variables
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Religion Tolerance Coding in Progress.
Human Sacrifice Coding in Progress.
Crisis Consequences Coding in Progress.
Power Transitions Coding in Progress.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian I (us_emergent_mississippian_1) was in:
 (750 CE 899 CE)   Cahokia
Home NGA: Cahokia

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
15 S

Original Name:
Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian I

Alternative Name:
American Bottom
Alternative Name:
Emergent Mississippian
Alternative Name:
Sponemann Phase
Alternative Name:
Collinsville Phase
Alternative Name:
Loyd Phase

Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
900 CE
 

Duration:
[750 CE ➜ 900 CE]
 

Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
none

Supracultural Entity:
Cahokia - Emergent Mississippian II

Succeeding Entity:
Merrell-Edlehardt

Relationship to Preceding Entity:
continuity

Preceding Entity:
us_woodland_5   continuity   us_emergent_mississippian_1
 
Preceding Entity:
us_emergent_mississippian_1   continuity   us_emergent_mississippian_2
 

Sponemann-Collinsville-Loyd


Degree of Centralization:
none

Language
Linguistic Family:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI

Religion

Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[400 to 500] people

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.


Polity Territory:
[100 to 200] km2

in squared kilometers
Quasi-polities of the American Bottom might cover 100-200 KM2.


Polity Population:
[400 to 500] people

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.
After 700-800 CE maize cultivation lead to larger populations. [1]

[1]: (Iseminger 2010, 26) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
2

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. [5]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 98)

[2]: (Milner 2006, 99 cite: Kelly 1990

[3]: Milner 2006, 99-100)

[4]: (Iseminger 2010, 26) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.

[5]: (Blitz and Porth 2013, 89-95)


Religious Level:
2

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. Elder / Religious functionary
kin group leaders [4]

[1]: (Peregrine/Kelly 2014, 23)

[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)

[3]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)

[4]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)


Military Level:
-

levels.
1 or 2. More comfortable at 1 level at this point. Not until Mississippian evidence of warrior specialists.


Administrative Level:
2

levels.
1. Chief
In the Emergent Mississippian period: "perhaps the appearance of chiefs" [1]
2. Elder
kin group leaders [2]

[1]: (Iseminger 2010, 26)

[2]: (Iseminger 2014, 26)


Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent

Professional Priesthood:
absent

Professional Military Officer:
absent

Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent

Merit Promotion:
absent

Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent

Examination System:
absent

Law
Professional Lawyer:
absent

Judge:
absent

Formal Legal Code:
absent

Court:
absent

Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
absent

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)


Irrigation System:
absent

Food Storage Site:
absent

"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] After 700-800 CE maize cultivation lead to larger populations. [3]

[1]: (Peregrine/Trubitt 2014, 20)

[2]: (Trubitt 2014, 18)

[3]: (Iseminger 2010, 26) Iseminger, W R. 2010. Cahokia Mounds: America’s First City. The History Press. Charleston.


Drinking Water Supply System:
absent

Transport Infrastructure
Road:
absent

"trail networks also are important, and some of the historic east-west ones cross near Cahokia." [1] Presumably these are frequently used pathways rather than maintained roads.

[1]: (Peregrine/Trubitt 2014, 21)


Port:
absent

Canal:
absent

Bridge:
absent

There were no bridges in prehistoric North America.


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
present

"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)


Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent

There is no written record for Cahokia. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, 32)


Script:
absent

"There are no inscriptions, images, or even unambiguous houses or burials of political leaders." [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, 31)


Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent

Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent

Sacred Text:
absent

Religious Literature:
absent

Practical Literature:
absent

Philosophy:
absent

Lists Tables and Classification:
absent

History:
absent

Fiction:
absent



Calendar:
absent

Information / Money
Paper Currency:
absent

Indigenous Coin:
absent

Foreign Coin:
absent

Article:
present

Exchange-system economy. [1]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 138)


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
absent

General Postal Service:
absent

Courier:
absent

Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Wooden Palisade:
present

"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)


Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent

Stone Walls Mortared:
absent

Settlements in a Defensive Position:
absent

Settlements primarily located for access to water and arable land. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, personal communication)


Modern Fortification:
absent

Moat:
absent

Fortified Camp:
absent

Earth Rampart:
present

"Mississippian sites often featured curtain walls with frameworks of stout posts accompanied by large bastions, high embankments, and deep ditches." [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 100)


Ditch:
present

"Mississippian sites often featured curtain walls with frameworks of stout posts accompanied by large bastions, high embankments, and deep ditches." [1]

[1]: (Milner, Chaplin and Zavodny 2013, 100)


Complex Fortification:
absent

Long Wall:
absent

Military use of Metals
Steel:
absent

Iron:
absent

Bronze:
absent

Projectiles
Tension Siege Engine:
absent

Sling Siege Engine:
absent

Sling:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Self Bow:
present

"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)


Javelin:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Handheld Firearm:
absent

Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent

Crossbow:
absent

Composite Bow:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Atlatl:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Handheld weapons
War Club:
present

Evidence of victims "struck by arrows and clubs" as inter-group conflicts increased during "last half of the first millennium" [1] Clubs [2]

[1]: (Milner 2006, 174)

[2]: (Iseminger 2010, 78)


Sword:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Spear:
absent

Handheld thrusting spears absent.


Polearm:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Dagger:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Battle Axe:
present

Use of "heavy stone axe or mace". "However, whilst often referred to as a "stone axe" this weapon also could be called a mace or a club. It was a bludgeoning weapon. [1]

[1]: (Iseminger 2010: 78) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/G56KRN8Q.


Animals used in warfare
Horse:
absent

Elephant:
absent

Donkey:
absent

Camel:
absent

Armor
Wood Bark Etc:
absent

No evidence for wooden shields. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, personal communication)


Shield:
absent

Scaled Armor:
absent

Plate Armor:
absent

Limb Protection:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Leather Cloth:
absent

No evidence for the use of leather as armor. [1]

[1]: (Peregrine 2014, personal communication)


Laminar Armor:
absent

Helmet:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Chainmail:
absent

Breastplate:
absent

Checked by Peter Peregrine.


Naval technology
Specialized Military Vessel:
absent

Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
present

"Canoes identified so far are small, unable to carry high volumes of commodities." [1]

[1]: (Trubitt 2014, 18)


Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
absent


Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
Coding in Progress.
Coding in Progress.
Power Transitions
Coding in Progress.