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Investigations in the Cahokia Site Grand Plaza

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George R. Holley ,
Rinita A. Dalan  and
Philip A. Smith
George R. Holley
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, and Contract Archaeology Program, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026
Rinita A. Dalan
Affiliation:
Center for Ancient Studies and Institute for Rock Magnetism, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Philip A. Smith
Affiliation:
Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council, Springfield, IL 62704
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Abstract

Research designed to explore the Grand Plaza at the Cahokia Mounds site, the largest Mississippian-period mound center in the eastern United States, documents that plazas may yield significant information regarding Mississippian manipulation of the landscape and the initial growth of mound centers. Probing and excavation within the Grand Plaza revealed that buried ridge-swale topography, identified through an electromagnetic-conductivity survey, was stripped and then filled by the Cahokians. Excavation also corroborated the presence of deep-pit borrows identified by remote sensing. Based on the ceramics recovered from our excavations, we argue that these earth-moving events were initiated prior to the onset of the Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1000). Reclamation of the borrowed areas resulted in the formation of the mound-plaza configuration early during the Mississippian period.

Resumen

Resumen

Las investigaciones diseñadas para explorar la Gran Plaza en el sitio de los montículos cahoquianos (el centro monticular más grande del período Misisipiano en los Estados Unidos orientales) prueban que las plazas pueden proveer información significativa respecto a la manipulación misisipiana del paisaje y el desarrollo inicial de los centros monticulares. El sondeo y la excavación dentro de la Gran Plaza revelaron que la topografía sepultada del lecho aluvial (identificada por una inspección de la conductividad electromagnética) fue desguarnecida y después fue rellenada por los cahoquianos. La excavación también corroboró la presencia de fosas hondas (identificadas por medio de percepción remota). Basados en la cerámica recuperada en nuestras excavaciones, mantenemos que estos eventos de movimientos de tierra fueron iniciados antes del principio del período misisipiano (fechada alrededor de D.C. 1000). La restauración del área de las fosas hondas resultó en el desarrollo de una plaza de configuración monticular temprana durante el perído misisipiano.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 306 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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