Originally posted by JohnnyCanuck
Originally posted by Flavian
reply to post by Xcathdra
Thanks so much for all that info, i really appreciate it.
The 1300 CE date is very interesting - possibly victims of rampaging Toltecs and Aztecs? (A bit of a leap of faith i know but the time frame fits).
Early Spanish explorers encountered groups in Florida who still reflected the Mississippian culture, and apparently the leadership referred to their
subjects as 'stinkards'.
I've always kinda figured that the inhabitants took a look around at their roles in a highly stratified society...looked away to the lush landscapes
of the region...and simply walked off to explore better options.
Yep. You are more or less correct. Although there is a fair amount of speculation as to what how rigid the social hierarchy was, the archeological
record supports that there certainly was one.
The one thing the archeological record tells us FOR CERTAIN is that the city was so large at it's peak circa 1400 or so that it's ballpark 40,000
inhabitants probably had a pretty hard time procuring enough food from the environment relative to the state of their technology being employed.
They farmed...but did not have the plow. No surprise, since they also didn't have horses and the North American Buffalo tended to be somewhat
uncooperative when instructed to pull something behind it. Thus, all agriculture had to be done by hand and was inherently more labor intensive/less
productive. South American Indians built incredible civilizations around mostly hand-farming, but they still had the llama to move the harvest
around, as well as the benefit of year long, or nearly year-long growing seasons. In present-day St. Louis, the culture was still very, very, much
oriented towards hunting and fishing as well to get them through the winter months.
Thus, not only was growth inhibited by less productive farming methods...but these farming methods were also only available for the half the year with
the balance of the caloric intake coming from hunting in the surrounding lands...once again without the horse. All travel was on foot.
Skeletal data seems to indicate that around 1350-1400 AD or so, the overall nutritional intake for the average resident appeared to be on a relatively
downward trajectory. They just didn't have the animals they needed to pull more calories from the land and sooner or later just said the hell with
it and walked away...much like you stated.
Likewise...if I know human nature at all, I would surmise that the ruling elite tended to have a far superior diet than the commoner and thus would
not in the least bit be surprised if the hierarchy aspect ALSO played a significant role. However, the last time I did any serious research on
Cahokia was in the late '90's and at that time not much was known about the social structure of the society. However, new information and evidence
has most assuredly come to light since then.
I should really dig into that a little bit one of these days.