Question 1

For centuries, historical narratives often depicted pre-Columbian North America as a land sparsely populated by small, nomadic bands that left the landscape largely unaltered. However, the archaeological site of Cahokia, located near modern-day St. Louis, offers a striking counter-narrative to this view of simplicity. At its zenith around AD 1100, Cahokia was a sprawling urban center with a population that likely exceeded that of London at the time. The city was anchored by Monks Mound, a massive earthen structure covering fourteen acres and rising one hundred feet into the air. Constructing such a monument required the movement of millions of cubic feet of soil, a feat accomplished without the wheel or beasts of burden. This level of construction implies a highly stratified society with a centralized political and religious authority capable of organizing and sustaining a massive labor force. The existence of Cahokia demonstrates that indigenous North American societies were not limited to small-scale hunter-gatherer groups but were capable of developing complex, high-density metropolitan areas comparable to those in other parts of the world. What is the main point the author makes by discussing Cahokia?