[Aztlan] (no subject)

[Robert Hall]

     The phase sequence of development for Cahokia is one based in great part on papers I published between 1964 and 1991. For Cahokia there is good evidence of evolution in situ from a regional Late Woodland background, accelerated between 900 and 1000 with a population increase accompanying the growing importance of maize in the local economy, followed by a sudden change in trajectory of these development around 1000 accompanied by radical changes in societal organization and residence patterns. 
     I follow Tim Pauketat in attributing much of this radical change to the possible appearance of a charismatic leader, or at least some "man of the hour," who was able to channel the social forces of that era into what became the pattern of Cahokia Mississippian. I would add to this the incorporation at that time of religious ideas with very clear Mesoamerican origins.  Never mind the temple and plaza community organization. Through the past century that has never influenced any great number of archaeologists to believe in the importance of Mesoamerican influence. More convincing should be the sudden appearance of ritual human sacrifice in a pattern and on a scale never seen in North America before the rise of Cahokia and not seen since the depopulation of Cahokia during the 1300s.
     One particular sacrifice found in Mound 72 at Cahokia and also in Illinois' well-known Dickson Mound consists of four men beheaded and lying side-by-side. In the Dickson Mound version clay pots were placed where the heads should be, each of a different type, reinforcing the idea that each man represented a different quarter of the world as known to that Mississippian community. These men were also placed on and covered with matting that was burned. This suggests the altar of four men placed side-by-side over which the Xilonen representative was sacrificed in Mexico, especially since those four men were previously burned close to the point of death in a large hearth.
     Through the years the area over the Dickson Mound foursome was repeatedly reopened and a body placed over the original four. In the case of Cahokia Mound 72 the same mound contained a grave of 53 young female sacrificial victims.
     There is more, of course. I would refer readers to my 2000 paper "Sacrificed foursomes and Green Corn ceremonialism," Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers, vol. XXVIII. 
     Bob Hall
     

--- On Thu, 8/27/09, donald raab <modeldon_9 at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: donald raab <modeldon_9 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Aztlan] (no subject)
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 11:21 AM


The last part of your comment is important.  The computer simulations of Cahokia are a one for one resemblance to Mesoamerican architecture.  The ONLY difference is the building media.  Stone vs. earth.  This is the best instance of diffusion and contact rather than independent development.

--- On Thu, 8/27/09, james adams <teshunka at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: james adams <teshunka at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Aztlan] re Hitchiti-Maya language connection
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 2:30 AM

About Nick Hopkins' question about traditions or physical evidence of mesoamerican -North American Indian contact
--  How about Choctaw tradition of migration from southwest following leaning pole, to escape unspecified oppression?
   --  also, how about architectural similarities at Cahokia with mesoamerican city layout?

Any other thoughts about this highly interesting subject?

Jim Adams





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