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The Emerald Acropolis: elevating the moon and water in the rise of Cahokia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy R. Pauketat ,
Susan M. Alt  and
Jeffery D. Kruchten
Timothy R. Pauketat*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, 109 Davenport Hall, MC148, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Susan M. Alt
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Student Building 130, 701 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405-7100, USA
Jeffery D. Kruchten
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, 109 Davenport Hall, MC148, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

In the mid eleventh century AD, Cahokia emerged as a substantial Mississippian urban centre. To the east, a shrine-complex known as the Emerald Acropolis, marking the beginning of a processional route to the city, also flourished. Excavations and geophysical survey of the monumental landscape around this site suggest that lunar cycles were important in the orientation of structures and settlement layout. They further indicate that water played a significant role in the ritual activities associated with the closure and abandonment of individual structures. The contemporary development of these sites suggests an intrinsic connection between them, and provides early evidence of the importance that the moon and water came to assume in Mississippian culture.

Keywords

CahokiaMississippianeleventh century ADlunar cyclewater ritual
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 91 , Issue 355 , February 2017 , pp. 207 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2017 

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