Cahokia, the City That Emptied
Near today's St Louis stood a city larger than London was at the time. Within a few centuries, its people had gone.
What was reported
Around 1050 AD, a city rose on the floodplain of the Mississippi River, near today's St Louis. Cahokia may have had 10,000 to 20,000 people, more than London at the time. Its people, ancestors of today's Native American nations, built more than 100 earthen mounds, including Monks Mound, the largest in North America.
Nearby they built 'Woodhenge', circles of tall wooden posts that seem to have marked the sunrise on the solstices and equinoxes. Then, by about 1350, the city was abandoned.
Explanations offered
Archaeologists have suggested many reasons for its decline: floods, droughts, political conflict, and changes in society, probably working together. Some recent research suggests the population drifted away gradually. Cahokia is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and many Native American communities consider it part of their heritage.
- When
- About 1050 to 1350
- Where
- Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville, Illinois, USA
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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