Secondary Source
“Almost a thousand years ago, American Indians built a city along the Mississippi River in the middle of North America. . . . At its peak around AD 1100, the city of Cahokia covered more than five square miles and was made up of 120 earthen pyramids (often called ‘mounds’ today). Built entirely of packed earth, the main pyramid—‘Monks Mound’—covered fifteen acres and rose in three major terraces to a height of one hundred feet, making it the third largest in the Americas. A fifty-acre rectangular plaza sat at the foot of this tremendous monument.
A day in the life of an average Cahokian family involved spending most of the day working in the fields, fishing, and hunting. The women and girls probably tended the crops. . . . The men and boys worked in the fields too. . . . Most evening meals would find all gathered together. . . . By 1200, the population of the city had probably fallen to less than 5,000 people; by 1250, that figure was probably no more than 2,000. In the countryside, many thousands of farmers had already left. No more than a few thousand remained by 1250.”
- Timothy R. Pauketat, Historian, “Cahokia: A Pre-Columbian American City,” 2011