New study debunks myth of Cahokia's demise

[Still Waters 51,241]

A University of California, Berkeley, archaeologist has dug up ancient human feces, among other demographic clues, to challenge the narrative around the legendary demise of Cahokia, North America's most iconic pre-Columbian metropolis.

In its heyday in the 1100s, Cahokia—located in what is now southern Illinois—was the center for Mississippian culture and home to tens of thousands of Native Americans who farmed, fished, traded and built giant ritual mounds.

By the 1400s, Cahokia had been abandoned due to floods, droughts, resource scarcity and other drivers of depopulation. But contrary to romanticized notions of Cahokia's lost civilization, the exodus was short-lived, according to a new UC Berkeley study.

https://phys.org/news/2020-01-debunks-myth-cahokia-native-american.html

[Piney 70,867]

The Illini were part of the Hopewell Horizon and related to the Fort Ancient Culture. They were probably the original residents.

What happened in Cahokia was Algonquians learned fast why not to build a city and went back to agro-foresty.

C.G. Mann already noted this and Archaeologists knew it wasn't a "lost tribe" for about 2 decades, at least. 

[Myles 14,622]

I've been to the Cahokia Mounds park a few times.  Pretty cool place to visit if you are in the St. Louis area.   

If I remember correctly, the population may have reached around 40,000 at one point.