Ancient Faith and the Fall of Cahokia

Most ancient peoples, from Asia to the Americas, would not have known how to answer the question, “What do you believe in?” Religion was about life itself, positioning oneself in a dynamic world of spiritual powers. Through years of fieldwork at the ancient pre-Columbian city of Cahokia (in present-day Illinois), anthropologist Tim Pauketat has developed a perspective that blends social theory with vivid description of everyday agrarian life in this early civilization, including how the institutionalization of religion was a marker of its decline.

This program is presented in partnership with the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and the Poetry Foundation.

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[vaekkriinhart]

Nice, informative presentation.
Speaking of frogs 6:27, I had to stay in a hotel for a while in Alton, my home(12 miles northwest of Cahokia), and some canadians at hotel asked what that loud sound was all around. "It's tree frogs", I said. They didn't believe me. "We've heard frogs, and that aint frogs!", they said. Lol. "YES, IT IS!", I said, "I've lived here my whole life. I know what I'm talking about." They still didn't believe. They were drunk, I think :)

[charlesbrown]

I’d like to clarify: adding lye to corn is not about being palatable. It is called nixtimization. It’s purpose is to avoid death from Niacin deficiency in people who rely on corn for sustenance, ie Conrad Elvehjem.

[shockandaweawakentheworld]

Wow this doesn't get the recognition it should. Very well done! I'm up to my neck in things to research now

[vaekkriinhart]

WHERE did all the dirt come from to build the mounds- specifically, Monks Mound? That's a HUGE amount of dirt! Did they help expand Horseshoe Lake by extracting dirt from there? It's a big lake, and the avg depth is only about 4' (1/4- 1/2 mile apprx, west of Monks Mound)

[aaronwilkins]

How long was Cahokia abandoned and when did the area become re-inhabited? Historically the Famed leader Pontiac was murdered there ?
*("...Pontiac was assassinated on April 20, 1769 near the French town of Cahokia
Most accounts place his murder in Cahokia, but historian Gregory Dowd
wrote that the killing probably happened in a nearby Indian village.The killer was a Peoria
warrior whose name has not been preserved. He was apparently avenging
his uncle, a Peoria chief named Makachinga (Black Dog), whom Pontiac had
stabbed and badly wounded in 1766. A Peoria band council had
authorized Pontiac's execution. The Peoria warrior came behind Pontiac,
stunned him by clubbing him, and stabbed him to death.." wikipedia article)

[elo]

You are so brilliant from a professional and outside perspective; however, this was not a religion- life was in nature and in such we felt naturally connected to these most basic symbols.... I can breakdown the relevance of spiritual ostracization, or rather it's role in the Exodus from chagogia. Stories and knowledge of an "ancient water city in the west" remain within every southeastern tribe. The snake that you saw within the ground is our great serpent uktena- both destruction and salvation of life in some So there most definitely lives an influence in our present culture that can relate to Cahokia.

[ssm]

Loss of faith=loss of trust of the aristocracy promoting the faith. The blame for breaching the supernatural contract leads to social fractionation and collapse. The story is similar at Chaco

[elo]

Wonderful presentation, I especially enjoyed the slight connections to lunar symmetry within building position; there is more to elaborate on the spiritual effort and symbolism as it relates to the whole of "religion" for these people at this time in antiquity.

[FacesintheStone]

Trying to save a mound found in the city of Graham North Carolina. Dedicated my YouTube channel to trying to show you guys the evidence. I’ve got a wooden bow, bird effigies, a stone with a river map on it, and an artifact with a photorealistic face on it with an arrow pointing at it. (My avatar pic) Send help

[aaronwilkins]

I'm guessing that this is Dr. Timothy Pauketat, but I'm not really seeing where it says that?

[aaronwilkins]

So the grassroots overthrew the Urban Overlords and in quick order, what's taking so long to overthrow the failed system this time around...?

[aaronwilkins]

The name of the speaker could be a little bit more prominently presented here...Who is it?

[kreal]

We are still here we are Louisiana Creole aka Mississippians we are blacc

[ysahehre]

Why did they lose faith in civilization??

[cholos]

The Spanish encountered them when Hernando de Soto cut through the southeast in 1541. The Spanish wrote info down about them but also got them sick.

[vaekkriinhart]

46:37 your "marxist background"???!
wtf
really?

[samuelm.hodnettii.]

Can other people ramsack Egypt as well as Snowden in Welsh land as well as Russian Tundra near Kremlin underneath those Mounds get a viewpoint from other cultural people not from your Land .

[ChillWill]

So... my question, not to mention that every continent has aborigines except for America apparently. If first man was dark or dark brown how can the first Americans be Mongolian or Chinese?

[MaryPinkHair]

I was liking this data until the part about human sacrifices and then I stopped because it really wasn't very long ago was it? And I hope we will never be so uncivilized as they were!

[coyotehump]

what if there was a terrible flood? ive heard stories of people long ago who were burned up were they stood and after was a flood that quenched the fire.