Twice a year, a day comes along where the length of daylight equals the length of darkness. Today we call that day the “equinox”. We recognize the vernal equinox as the first day of spring and the autumnal equinox as the first day of fall. These two days have always been important indicators for man since even ancient times.
Before Europeans came to America, Native Americans did not have bankers, insurance agents, or real estate agents so where did they get their calendars? How did they know when spring or fall arrived? They had someone more important to them than our bankers or agents are to us, they had astronomers.
One of the things that strikes me as I travel around to different ancient Native American sites is how focused the information is at each location. I often get the feeling that this spot was completely isolated from the other sites in the Americas. But then, I will run across some artifact that was found at the site that I know came from far, far away. Or I notice some influence (like the bow and arrow or corn) that seems to have appeared on the scene and spread instantly across the continents.
Casa Bonito, Chaco Culture
This tells me that there was a lot more interaction among the different cultures than we give them credit for. For instance, at Casa Bonita in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, they found chocolate and a parrot feathers from Central America and copper ornaments possibly fashioned at Cahokia, near St. Louis, Missouri and shells from the coast. They had to have been trading with those cultures. And archaeological evidence shows us that trade and communication throughout the ancient Americas was extensive and prolific.
In this series of articles, I want turn the clocks back to the 9th Century and propose a hypothetical trade route starting in Cahokia (near St Louis) connecting to Chaco Canyon (New Mexico) and Tula (or Tollon) in Mexico ending at Tikal in the Lowlands of Yucatan. Not only were these great cities and cultural centers, there is good evidence that commerce had as much to do with their significance as anything else.
There is also good evidence that each of these cities were trading with other regional cities as well as internationally. In the case of Chaco Canyon, for instance, it may have started as a regional center for the Ancestral Puebloan cities scattered all around the southwest. It may have become the warehouse or storage cooperative for surrounding puebloans and then grown into a massive central storage facility, market and distribution center. This area was notorious for erratic weather. As populations grew, it became necessary to store surpluses in good years and then draw from them in draughts. Hopefully, the draughts were localized and not widespread so that areas with better weather could support the less fortunate.
Cahokia was an enormous city—the largest city in the United States until 1780 when Philadelphia grew larger. Cahokia was the home of the only known copper workshop in North America. It hosted great ceremonies and games with a huge central plaza that had been meticulously leveled and surrounded by important mounds supporting great palaces on top of them.
All of these great trade centers were flourishing in the 9th century and, based upon the archaeological evidence, most likely traded with each other.
Mississippian City similar to Cahokia
So, what would it have been like? Let’s start with Cahokia. Picture a huge caravan of men and women carrying trading goods in tump baskets and on wood carriers approaching Cahokia from the west. They send out a messenger to the leaders of Cahokia announcing their estimated arrival. Cahokian leaders then send out messengers to other cities across the Mississippi valley and east coast and soon traders from the region flow into Cahokia with their goods. Cahokia sponsors a great market with dances and feasts and special ceremonies. They have already built great storage houses for just such events and have also built great houses for the visitors to stay in and have large open areas for the market and celebrations. It is a grand affair with the market buzzing during the day and great feasts, dances and religious ceremonies during the evening and nights.
The caravan has brought Turquoise trinkets from Chaco, cotton and obsidian from Tollon (Tula), parrot feathers and cocoa from Tikal. They will
trade for corn, beans, squash, copper ornaments made in Cahokian shops, and shell beads and necklaces from the coast.
In the meantime, the caravan brings news from around the world and sometimes new inventions like the bow and arrow, or advanced pottery techniques, or fertile seeds for new or improved crops. The regional traders soak up the news and share news from the region that the caravan will carry back with them.
Over the years, different trading centers may fall and others pop up, but the trading caravan adjusts and continues across the centuries providing a vital link between the cultures.
Copper Ornaments made at Cahokia
found at Wulfing, Etowah, and Sprio sites
Last week, we were introduced to the forgotten city of Cahokia, near St. Louis, the largest Native American city in North America. It flourished around 1300 A. D. Since the buildings and structures were built of wood, only the enormous mounds that the structures were built on, and the round burial mounds remain.
Cahokia was clearly the center for trade east of the Mississippi river and was probably the center of power during its heyday. It was also the center for the manufacture of copper goods. Although Mound 34 had been discovered in 1950 by archaeologist Greg Perino, the work done from 2002 to 2010 has revealed that it was the site of a one-of-a-kind copper workshop.
Copper Ear Spools made at Cahokia
"It's the only one (copper workshop) that's been discovered," said James A. Brown, professor of archaeology at Northwestern University in Chicago. Brown said that the copper workshop was purely for religious purposes, to produce ornaments for those who participated in significant ceremonies that probably occurred atop the mounds. "They are all depictions of other worldly beings," he said of the symbols and figures found in copper as well as on pieces of pottery and decorated shells.
The remains of three large tree stumps suggest that three anvil stones were once used. Analysis of copper found at the site shows that the process of “annealing” was used. This is a sophisticated process whereby the metal is heated and cooled to make it more malleable, similar to how blacksmiths work iron. The artisans that worked in the workshops produced religious masks, earrings, and jewelry that were traded to other villages and cities throughout North America. For instance, some copper plates at the Wulfing cache from southeastern Missouri, Etowah plates from Georgia, and many of the Spiro plates from Oklahoma are thought to have been made in Cahokia.
Around 1050 A. D., there existed a grand city nestled in the Mississippi valley where St. Louis is today. We call this site “Cahokia” because the Cahokia tribe once lived nearby. But the Cahokia referred to the ancient city as belonging to a forgotten tribe that lived before them.
Monk's Mound
By any measure, this city was magnificent. It covered over 4,000 acres, and had a population estimated between 10-20,000 within the city proper and 70,000 if you count the suburbs. Grand temples and houses were built atop enormous platform mounds. There were approximately 120 of these platform mounds of
various sizes. In 1250 A. D., Cahokia was comparable in size to London or Paris during the same period. It was the largest city in the United States until 1780 when Philadelphia grew larger.
It appears that Cahokia was the hub for trade and probably political power east of the Mississippi for 300 years (1000 A.D. – 1300 A.D.). It hosted great ceremonies and games with a huge central plaza that had been meticulously leveled and surrounded by important mounds including the important Mound 38.
Mound 38, nick-named Monk’s Mound, has four terraces, and rises ten stories high (100 ft); is 951 ft. long and 836 ft. wide; covers 13.8 acres; and contains about 814,000 cubic yards of earth. Its footprint is larger than the Egyptian Pyramid and is the largest man-made earthen mound north of Mexico. It was named “Monk’s Mound” because a community of Trappist monks resided there for a while. Although their residence was built atop a nearby mound, they gardened atop Mound 38.
Excavations have revealed that a large building, maybe a temple or rulers home, had been built on the top platform of Monk’s Mound. It was 105 ft. long and 48 ft. wide and was probably around 50 ft. high. That would have made it 5,040 sq. ft. -- a mansion even by today’s standards.
The largest mound, which Glen Hodges (National Geographic, January 2011) observed was “named, with an appropriate lack of imagination, Big Mound”, was part of the “North” plaza of Cahokia. This area has mostly been destroyed or built over. The dirt from Big Mound, itself, was used up by 1869 for construction projects and a railroad in St. Louis. A small, circular, cobblestone monument was built to mark the spot where it had been and today sits unimpressively in a north St. Louis intersection.
Mound 72, south of Monk’s Mound was the site of a very controversial burial. Archaeologists found the remains of a 40-year-old man. He was probably a very important citizen or ruler of Cahokia. The body had been placed atop more than 20,000 shell-beads arranged in the shape of a falcon. A cache of very fine arrowheads from different geographical regions (Oklahoma, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin) were also in the tomb which underscored the extensive trade carried on at Cahokia.
In a Washington Post article by Nathan Seppa, March, 1997, “Also in the grave were a staff and 15 shaped stones of the kind used for games.
"Clearly, some really important leader is buried in there," Pauketat [Tim Pauketat, University of Illinois] says. Interred with him were four men with their heads and hands cut off and 53 young women apparently strangled. Their youth, 15 to 25 years, and the fact that they were all women, suggests human sacrifice. People that young did not die of natural causes in such numbers.
“Nearby, researchers found more burials and evidence of a charnel house. In all, 280 skeletons were found. About 50 lay haphazardly in a single deep pit, as if tossed in without honor. Some have arrowheads in the back or were beheaded, evidence of warfare or perhaps a crushed rebellion.
"I would guess there were people around who weren't too loyal," Pauketat says.”
As I mentioned in last week’s article, 5 massive circles resided not far from the palisaded plaza that enclosed Monk’s Mound. They were used as huge solar calendar calendars to predict and mark significant events throughout the year. They are called “Woodhenge” today.
To be continued … In the next article on Cahokia, We will look at a Copper Workshop unearthed at Mound 34, unique for the time.
Stonehenge, in England, has long been a source of fascination for most of us. It is credited as being an archaeoastronomical site – an ancient site for astronomical observations. I recently posted articles on “Medicine Wheels” that have a similar purpose. This week, I want to write about circles built by the Hopewell culture that also suggest astronomical purposes. Nicknamed “Woodhenge” because of their similarity to Stonehenge and Woodhenge in England, these sites are east of the Mississippi River and were built by the Hopewell Indians living from around 200 A.D. to around 1,500 A. D.
There are several sites hosting these peculiar circles, but I will focus on two – Moorehead Circle, near Cincinnati, Ohio and Cahokia, near St. Louis, Missouri.
At Moorehead Circle, for example, researchers have found that an opening in the rings; a nearby, human-made enclosure; stone mounds; and a gateway in a nearby earthen wall are all aligned and on the summer solstice (longest day of the year) the sun appears to rise in the gateway as seen from the center of the circle.
The Woodhenge(s) at Cahokia were recognized as solar calendars when Dr. Warren Wittry was studying excavation maps and theorized that posts set in these pits lined up with the rising sun at certain times of the year – prompting him to call them “Woodhenge”. Further excavations unveiled five circles that were built over the period 900 A.D. – 1100 A.D. Fragments of wood remaining in some of the post pits revealed that red cedar had been used for the posts – known to be a sacred wood.
Quoting from the Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site, “Viewing was from the center of the circle, and several circles had large "observation posts" at that location, where it is likely the sunpriest stood on a raised platform. Other posts between the solstice posts probably marked special festival dates related to the agricultural cycle. The remaining posts around the circle have no known function, other than symbolically forming a circle and forming an enclosure to hold the sacred Woodhenge ceremonies. There have been suggestions some posts had alignments with certain bright stars or the moon, or were used in predicting eclipses, and others have suggested Woodhenge was used as an engineering "aligner" to determine mound placements, but none of this has been proven convincingly.”
“The most spectacular sunrise occurs at the equinoxes, when the sun rises due east. The post marking these sunrises aligns with the front of Monks Mound, where the leader resided, and it looks as though Monks Mound gives birth to the sun. A possible offertory pit near the winter solstice post suggests a fire was burned to warm the sun and encourage it to return northward for another annual cycle and rebirth of the earth. This probably marked the start of the new year.
“The third circle (A.D. 1000) was reconstructed in 1985 at the original location. The circle is 410 feet in diameter, had 48 posts spaced 26.8 feet apart (9 are missing on the west side, removed by a highway borrow pit). The posts were 15-20 inches in diameter and stood about 20 feet high. Red ocher pigment found in some of the post pits suggests the posts may have been painted. The post pits averaged 7 feet long and just over two feet wide, sloping from the surface at one end to a depth of four feet at the other, forming a ramp to slide the posts down to facilitate their raising.”
Fascinating as the Woodhenge site is, it pales in comparison to the “city” it was built for. Next time, I will turn to the city of Cahokia to reveal the incredible “lost city” sitting right in the center of the U.S. but unnoticed or ignored for centuries.
