Question 9

For centuries, a prevalent narrative suggested that the North American continent prior to European contact was a vast, untamed wilderness inhabited exclusively by small, nomadic groups living in harmony with an unaltered environment. This perspective, however, is increasingly contradicted by archaeological investigations into the Mississippian culture, which flourished in the American Midwest and Southeast. The most prominent example is Cahokia, a complex urban center located near present-day St. Louis. At its zenith in the twelfth century, Cahokia was a bustling metropolis with a population rivaling that of major European cities of the era. The society relied on intensive maize agriculture, which required substantial deforestation and water management systems. Furthermore, the construction of monumental earthworks, such as the massive Monks Mound, involved the organized labor of thousands to move millions of cubic feet of earth. These engineering feats indicate that indigenous populations did not merely adapt to their surroundings but actively terraformed them to sustain large, sedentary communities, debunking the myth of a passive relationship with a pristine nature. Which of the following best summarizes the author's central argument?