c. 1050–1150 CE (period of florescence) / Americas
Cahokia: Mounds and Settlement Networks
An agricultural society in the Mississippi valley built major earthworks and linked a central settlement with surrounding villages.
The story
Near modern St Louis, Cahokia was a major precolonial settlement north of Mexico. Communities of the Mississippian period built numerous mounds and connected a central settlement with outlying villages. The large earthworks reveal substantial collective organization. UNESCO identifies about 1050–1150 as a period of population florescence and gives an estimate of ten to twenty thousand people; this is a reconstruction rather than a census. Occupation extended beyond both ends of this focused window.
Elsewhere in the world
Cahokia and Great Zimbabwe show how complex settlements and public works emerged on different continents using different materials.
Dates and precision
c. 1050–1150 CE (period of florescence) Approximate period
The dates describe a process over time; the interactive timeline uses its starting point.
Representative map location
Mississippi Valley · Cahokia
The marker identifies the archaeological site in present-day Illinois, across the river from St Louis, Missouri.
Representative coordinates · 38.656°, -90.062°
Coordinates locate a representative point for the story. They do not mean the event happened only here and do not represent historical borders.
Bibliography
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre | Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Sources are listed as bibliography titles, without external links. A reference does not mean every sentence or interpretation has been independently verified.