Mound Builders: Fastest Builders in the Americas?

New research suggests the Mississippian culture, aka the Mound Builders, built at least one of their giant earthen mounds in just 90 days and maybe even as quickly as 30 days. An astonishing feat from a collective point of view. But can you imagine being one of the poor workers who had to carry the dirt? Like many other civilizations, the Mound Builders probably collapsed due to excessive centralization. Here’s more from Phys.org:

Nominated early this year for recognition on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes such famous cultural sites as the Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu and Stonehenge, the earthen works at Poverty Point, La., have been described as one of the world’s greatest feats of construction by an archaic civilization of hunters and gatherers.

Now, new research in the current issue of the journal Geoarchaeology, offers compelling evidence that one of the massive earthen mounds at Poverty Point was constructed in less than 90 days, and perhaps as quickly as 30 days—an incredible accomplishment for what was thought to be a loosely organized society consisting of small, widely scattered bands of foragers.

“What’s extraordinary about these findings is that it provides some of the first evidence that early American hunter-gatherers were not as simplistic as we’ve tended to imagine,” says study co-author T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor and chair of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.  “Our findings go against what has long been considered the academic consensus on hunter-gather societies—that they lack the political organization necessary to bring together so many people to complete a labor-intensive project in such a short period.”

(See the rest at Phys.org)

The Lost City of Cahokia?

When European settlers first ventured through Illinois, they encountered an astonishing sight – 120 colossal mounds of earth that marked the high points of an ancient city. What was the lost city of Cahokia?

The Lost City of Cahokia?

This lost city was constructed by the Mississippian culture around AD 600 – 1400. It is not particularly well-known today. However, recent salvage work might change that fact. It now appears that Cahokia was far more significant than early settlers could’ve ever imagined. Here’s more on the lost city from the Daily Mail:

A sprawling Native American metropolis which lay hidden beneath a modern city for a millennium has been uncovered.

Archaeologists digging in preparation for the Mississippi River spanning bridge – which will connect Missouri and Illinois – discovered the lost city of Cahokia beneath modern St Louis.

Their findings pointed to a ‘sophisticated, sprawling metropolis stretching across both sides of the Mississippi’, Andrew Lawler told the journal Science.

Cahokia, which is near Collinsville in Illinois, was initially believed to be just a ‘seasonal encampment’. But experts now think it was a location of much more significance…

(For the rest, see The lost city of Cahokia: Archaeologists uncover Native Americans’ sprawling metropolis under St Louis at the Daily Mail)