|
 |
Less than one percent of the mounds have been excavated. |
CAHOKIA MOUNDS
KEEPS ITS SECRETS
|
JUST WEST
OF COLLINSVILLE, ILL. LIES THE LARGEST PREHISTORIC SITE NORTH OF
MEXICO.
By Bob Schaper
“We just don’t know that yet,” says Bill Iseminger.
Even after 32 years as an archaeologist at the Cahokia Mounds State
Historic Site he finds himself using that phrase more than he’d
like. But considering the subject matter—a population of American
Indians who disappeared mysteriously more than 600 years ago—Iseminger
and his colleagues are remarkable for what they do know: more than
enough to fill a rather large and modern museum.
“This is the largest prehistoric site north of Mexico,” Iseminger
says of Cahokia Mounds, located just a few miles west of Collinsville,
Ill., along Interstate 55-70.
"MAINLY WE JUST WANT
TO SURVIVE IN ORDER TO REACH MORE PEOPLE AND TO MAKE
MORE PEOPLE AWARE OF INDIAN CULTURE—AND WHAT
A TREASURE THEY HAVE IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD."
Bill Iseminger
archaeologist,
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
|
|
At its height—between 1050 and 1200 A.D.—the sprawling city (technically,
a “complex chieftainship”) claimed 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants.
But because the Cahokians had no written language, details of their
existence remain hidden—including their name.
“They probably had a separate name,” Iseminger says. “But we’ll
never know it.”
Archaeologists use the term “Mississippian” to describe the Cahokian’s
culture, one that flourished in the Midwest and Southeast between
800 and 1400 A.D. The name Cahokia comes from a later group of Indians—a
sub-tribe of the Illinois—who moved into the area in the 1600s.
“The mounds got named after them even though they weren’t the ones
who built the mounds,” Iseminger says.
Today, the official site covers close to six square miles, but Iseminger
says less than one percent has been excavated. “We don’t expect
to dig the whole thing,” he says. “By digging certain areas, it
answers certain questions for us. That’s called problem-oriented
archaeology.”
The majority of the 120 original mounds were platform or temple
mounds. “They were a way of elevating the important people and activities
from everyone else,” Iseminger says. “Occasionally, some mounds
do have burial functions.”
|
Between 300,000 and 400,000 people visit Cahokia Mounds
every year. |
|
A key feature of Mississippian culture is the wide use of agriculture.
The primary crops at Cahokia were corn, squash, pumpkin and sunflower.
“They stored surpluses in the wintertime, which allowed the city
to grow so large,” Iseminger says. “They also were doing a lot of
hunting and fishing.”
Regarding religion, he says the sun was highly honored. “Most of
their deities would be related to the forces of nature,” he says.
“We do see some indications of human sacrifice.”
One of the greatest mysteries surrounding the Cahokians is their
eventual decline around 1200. “We think several factors were involved,”
Iseminger says. “One is a depletion of resources. They cut down
all the trees, over-hunted the land and the soils were becoming
exhausted. Also, political and economic changes were going on in
the way people were organizing themselves.”
As evidence that times turned tumultuous, Iseminger points out that
starting around 1200, a two-mile long defensive stockade around
the city was rebuilt four times in 100 years—no easy task, given
that each construction took nearly 20,000 logs.
“Something is changing about that time,” Iseminger says. “There
may be warfare going on, but we don’t know who their enemies were.”
By the time the French arrived in 1693, the site was abandoned.
“We don’t have a good link to any later group to know exactly who
their descendants are,” Iseminger says. “That’s another mystery
at this point.”
About 80 mounds have survived man and nature, and the wealth of
history they contain has been preserved in the fascinating Interpretive
Center, which opened in 1989. Iseminger says between 300,000 and
400,000 people visit the center every year.
On a recent Tuesday morning, however, Tom Lawson and his family
were disappointed to find the center closed. “It’s unfortunate,”
says Lawson, who was on his way to Genoa, Neb. from Maryland. “My
kids are really into Indians.”
Matt Migalia, assistant site manager for buildings and grounds,
says that although admission is still free, the center is now closed
Mondays and Tuesdays because of state budget cuts.
“It’s hard because the site has been open seven days a week since
the 1920s,” Migalia says. “That hurts us, so you have to rearrange
your priorities. Some subjects you just put on the back burner,
like permanent improvements.”
|
The Interpretive Center contains a wealth of history. |
|
The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, which operates the site,
has had its budget slashed by 15 percent this year—with another
cut in the works.
“There was another period in the early 1990s when we closed one
day a week,” Iseminger remembers. “It seems every 10 years there’s
some kind of fiscal crisis. This one seems to be worse than the
last one.”
Iseminger wishes more people, not less, would come to Cahokia Mounds.
“Most people say they had no idea there was a place this big and
complex and important,” he says. “Everyone is so conditioned to
the Indian culture they see on TV or in the movies. It’s a revelation
for them to realize there was such a complex society right here
in America.”
With ongoing research and new technology, Iseminger hopes to improve
his understanding of the Cahokians. But like the Indians themselves,
his main goal is to simply make it into the future.
“Mainly we just want to survive in order to reach more people,”
Iseminger says. “And to make more people aware of Indian culture—and
what a treasure they have in their own backyard.”
For more information about Cahokia Mounds, including hours of operation,
visit www.cahokiamounds.com,
or call (618) 346-5160.
Bob Schaper is a free-lance writer based in St. Louis.
|
|
|
|
|
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- -
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- -
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- -
-
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- -
|
