1776

Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi, by Timothy R. Pauketat

Cahokia was the largest Native American city in the United States. Near present-day St Louis, it was a great civilization on the Mississippi. Today the Cahokia Mounds are a U.S. World Heritage Site.

Sadly, before I read this slim book, I had never heard of Cahokia. That isn’t that surprising though - it seems Cahokia has a history of being neglected and overlooked.

For many years, people found it hard to believe that the Native Americans we know could have created these impressive structures - giving rise to theories about older, and superior, cultures that could have created them. It doesn’t help that the mound city was abandoned long before Europeans found it.

“When I reached the foot of the principal mound, I was struck with a degree of astonishment, not unlike that which is experienced in contemplating the Egyptian pyramids. What a stupendous pile of earth!” - Henry Brackenridge, 1811

Pauketat’s book tells us about Cahokia’s archaelogical discoveries. In the process, he presents clues to the city’s far-reaching influence. The author believes that Cahokia was connected to other pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico, and that it had a huge influence throughout its own region.

Of course, readers will really be interested in the evidence for large-scale human sacrifice - a trait rarely associated with cultures this far north.

The author does a great job of relating what he believes the city and the people were like. It is a good, quick read.

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