🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
Monks Mound covers more ground than the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Around 1100 CE, Cahokia near present-day St. Louis was larger than London at the time, with a population possibly exceeding 20,000. Its massive earthen pyramids, including Monks Mound, required enormous labor coordination. The city depended heavily on timber for construction, palisades, and fuel. Archaeological pollen evidence shows extensive deforestation in the surrounding Mississippi floodplain. As trees disappeared, soil erosion increased and local ecosystems destabilized. Flooding became more severe and unpredictable. Agricultural productivity likely suffered as nutrient cycles were disrupted. By the 14th century, the urban core was largely abandoned.
💥 Impact (click to read)
Cahokia demonstrates how even earthen architecture can leave a wooden footprint. The palisade walls alone required thousands of logs, rebuilt multiple times. Without tree cover, seasonal floods intensified, damaging crops and infrastructure. The city’s expansion may have outpaced ecological recovery. Social tensions likely rose as resources tightened. Trade networks weakened when surplus declined. What had been a thriving ceremonial and political center slowly unraveled.
The collapse challenges outdated assumptions that complex urbanism in North America began only with Europeans. Cahokia was a mega-city experiment with real environmental consequences. Its decline appears gradual, suggesting migration rather than annihilation. Smaller Mississippian communities persisted long after. The city’s monumental mounds remain as quiet evidence of ambition meeting ecological limits. It is a reminder that scale always has a cost.
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