ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Moundville, Alabama, Chert, Spiro Mounds
4 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Largest middle mississippian site, near st. louis. Half of all fill used to construct a single huge platform mound near center of town. Cahokia was a regional center, controlling smaller settlements in the area. Estimates as large as 40,000, and as small as 6,000. Supplying food would have been difficult for a larger population. Mound 72 contains human burials with thousands of marine shell beads. Evidence for human sacrifice, with multiple burial pits. Also burials with heads and hands missing, suggestive of sacrifice. Artifacts associated with high ranking elites were widespread across the major centers of the southeast. Referred to as the southeastern ceremonial complex. Some literature refers to this as the southern cult or buzzard cult. Secc probably relied on down-the-line trade of luxury items between chiefs and clan leaders. Figurines and pipes made in cahokia have been found in elite burials in the caddoan area of the southeastern great plains. Warfare is a common theme in artwork.
