Exploring Social Stratification through Burials: A Study of Cahokian Mounds

Abstract

A mixture of large booming cities and small rural villages, the chiefdom of Cahokia was spread across the 160 kilometers long area known as the American Bottom. The American Bottom follows the Mississippian River with the city of Cahokia located within Illinois near the northern end of the Bottom. This city for which the chiefdom is named occupied approximately 14 square kilometers and contains over one hundred mounds of varying shapes and sizes. The mounds were either ridged, platform, or conical in shape with each type being used for a slightly different purpose (See Figure 1.1). The population size of this city is much debated. Some claim that only 1,000s lived in the city itself with 10,000s more occupying the rest of the chiefdom.1 Others claim the number to be higher, and others still claim it to be lower. Regardless of the true number of people dwelling within the city proper, the people were dependent on maize as their main caloric source though they did eat other starchy plants and animals.2