From page 3: Archeological findings about Cahokia “call into question some long held beliefs—for instance, that ecologically sensitive, peaceful, mystical, and egalitarian peoples freely roamed the North American continent, never overpopulating or overexploiting their environments; or that these peoples were not subject to such…human emotions as avarice, greed, and covetousness and thus could not have built cities or allowed power to be concentrated in the hands of elites.”
Discuss how the archaeological findings about Cahokia address and “call into question” the issues mentioned in Pauketat’s quote above. In your discussion, you must address—at minimum—the following four issues:
–“Ecological sensitivity”
–Peace and warfare
–The role and position of “elites” in Cahokian (and by extension “Mississippian” societies
influenced by Cahokia) society, how relatively “egalitarian” (or not!) these societies appear to
have been.
–Overpopulation and overexploitation of environment and resources.
Finally, in conclusion, you should answer the questions: What happened to Cahokia and to the Cahokians? Did the Cahokians “push the envelope” too far, and why or why not?