A.

B.
Cahokia, is the largest Mississippian center, was founded on the east
side of the Mississippi River in Illinois; across from St. Louis. Cahokia is
located in an area of land known as the American Bottom an area
whose soils are fertile and whose environmental zones are diverse
such as swamps, ponds, forests, wet grasslands. Rivers were a
primary source of communication, and it was the medium by which
trade was conducted which inadvertently aided in Cahokias success.
Cahokias agricultural-based inhabitants first settled Cahokia between
600 AD and 800 AD; maize was not a major crop until 800 AD. By 900
A.D. the population in this region expanded and a hierarchy of
settlements had emerged. The frequent arrangement of sites at
Cahokia is that of, flat-topped platform mounds. Platform mounds
were often arranged around rectangular open plazas. Cahokias but
one example of how sedentary lifestyle was being adopted, and how a
complex hierarchical system emerged from it.
Cahokias peak was between 1050 AD and 1250 AD. Containing
some 100 or more earthen mounds, Cahokia was the largest
prehistoric center north of
Mexico; encompassed an area 13 sq km. Cahokias centrally-located
plaza is large; it contains the infamous mound known as Monks
Mound, as well as 16 other earthen mounds. Plaza centers were later
fortified, thus creating a hierarchical system wherein some live within
the fortification and those who do not. Monks Mound, however, is the
largest prehistoric structure in the US. M.M. consisted of 4 platforms
with supplementary structures at its base. Another interesting mound
known as mound 72, contains 6 burial episodes which are thought to
have occurred during AD 1050 and early 1100s.
Cahokias monumental scale, coupled with its variety of earthen
mounds, suggests that it was a planned community. However,
somewhere around 1250 A.D. its decline set in wherein mounds fell to
disuse, no longer serving their original purpose. Abandonment of

Cahokia was most probably influenced by the growing importance of

other large Mississippian centers like MOUNDVILLE in Alabama which
redirected exchanged goods, alliances, and communication. Evidence
of other Mississippian centers suggests that the Mississippian centers
that postdate Cahokia are not as impressive in terms of scale.
Nonetheless, the emergence of Miss. Centers across the southeastern
US followed Cahokias decline.
Theres often an inherent disbelief amongst early euro-settlers
when they came upon these mounds. Scoffing at the possibility that
primitive people could accomplish such monumental feats,
Europeans largely dismissed the mounds. Speculation in regards to
who the mound builders actually were unfairly suggested that the lost
tribes of Israel were the creators of such phenomenon.
Pseudoscience would suggest that early native North American
settlers, those of whom pre-date euro-contact, were incapable of such
tasks. Monks Mound contains 20 million cubic feet of earth the work
required to move such a quantity of dirt is pseudoscientifcally expected
to be yielded by the lost tribes.
C.
The Maritime Hypothesis, put forth by Michael Moseley (1975), is a
hypothesis that attempts to refute the widely held notion that, only
agricultural communities can support the foundations of civilization.
For example, in the pre-ceramic era on the Pacific Coast of South
America, there is evidence of complex societies by example of
monumental architecture. Finding a treasure of shellfish middens and
fishing nets at many coast sites, Moseley maintains the notion that
Peruvian subsistence was primarily that of marine sustenance. While
many do not disagree that seafood was a staple in an ancient Peruvian
diet, the hypothesis does not, however, address the episodic
occurrence of El Nino. Wherein the oceans bounty is affected/altered
dramatically. For instance, the success of schools of fish and migratory
birds are directly influenced/hindered by the occurrence of el nino
events. Thus, such periodic events would constrict the number of
available resources that would have been normally available to the
Peruvian peoples. Therefore, such disruption of the marine
environment, the basis of Peruvian sustenance, would have had to of
been supplemented by plant foods. However, faunal remains have a
hard time being preserved, not to mention early excavations were
improperly conducted thus contaminating the contextual evidence.
D.

People are inherently terrified by things that they dont understand.

One way to cope with a lack of understanding, and or ignorance,
regarding any particular subject is to, look for explanations that might
explain ones gap in understanding. Case end point is the native
inhabitants of the Americas and the pseudoscience that surrounds
many sites in these regions. Lore and tall tales surround many sites in
the Americas, some of which are more fantastical than others. For
example, the Peruvian ancient Andeans of South America are
mysterious in many ways. One of those ways is the nazca geoglyphs.
These geoglyphs, once not well understood, are emerging to light
slowly but surely. However, extraordinary explanations suggested by
author von Daniken have surfaced into the public view by way of pop
culture. While its understandable that von Daniken is just another
author trying to sell paper backs, what is not understandable is a lack
of the scientific process through which von daniken makes claims and
assertions. Danikens explanation for nazca geoglyphs suggests that
these expansive lines are an example of ET aircraft runways. Again,
theres no evidence to suggest that that was what these geoglyphs
were used for, therefore we should reject these extraordinary claims.
Another example of how pseudoscience has affected the Americas is in
North America. The natives of North America are reluctantly credited
to having been ancient mound builders. However, pseudosciences
inherent ethnocentristic point of view suggests that, mound builders of
North America were ancestrally related to Lost Tribes of Israel.
Again, theres no evidence to suggests this so. However, people
(WASPs in particular) have a difficult time accepting the fact that
mound building was done primitive people.
E.