The Cahokia Mounds

Introduction

tend my gratitude for his critical reading of the various drafts. Steve has provided numerous comments, suggestions, and extremely useful criticisms ofthis introduction. Nearly a decade ago Steve provided some of the initial direction that has lead me into some of the archives and literature that I have pursued in my attempt to understand the overall context ofMoorehead's involvement at Cahokia. Lastly, I would like to thank especiallyJudith Knight of The University of Alabama Press for the opportunity to reprint Moorehead's volumes on Cahokia as part of the Classics in Southeastern Archaeology series and ProfessorsJanet Keller, Chair, and Timothy Pauketat of the Department ofAnthropology at the University ofIllinois for their support in pursuing this project. xvi Acknowledgments Note on This Edition T his edition reproduces the 1922, 1923, and 1929 University of Illinois Bulletins on the Cahokia Mounds by Warren K. Moorehead, without the bibliographies from the 1922 and 1923 volumes . The plates in the original 1922, 1923, and 1929 bulletins were placed at the end of each volume. The 1929 volume included the plates from the previous two volumes, plus some new plates. To avoid duplication, this edition reproduces the plates from the 1929 volume, along with a few plates that were included in the 1922 and 1923 volumes but omitted in the 1929 volume. The captions in the 1922 and 1923 volumes differ slightly from the captions reproduced herein from the 1929 volume. Also, the plate and figure numbers differ in the three volumes; for example, a photograph of Fox Mound is Plate V in the 1929 volume, Plate XIX in the 1923 volume, and Plate VI (Figure 8) in the 1922 volume. Because this edition uses the 1929 numbering, a "Key to Plate and Figure Numbers" is included at the front of the plates section and can be used to find the plates referred to in the text for the 1922 and 1923 volumes. In the 1922 volume, the text refers only to figure numbers. The line drawings within text (intratext, numbered figures in the 1923 and 1929 volumes) are reproduced as they were in the original volumes. The 1929'volume originally contained six foldout figures (figs. 1, 8, 9, 19, 20, 21) which have been included herein, but not all of them as foldouts. Monks Mound as it was in 1876. Painted by Miss A. R. Brooks, Monticello Seminary, 1924, after careful study ofprevious views 1870-1900. (Frontispiecejrom Moorehead 1929) The Cahokia Mounds Introduction John E. Kelly Nearly one hundred mounds distributed over a five-square-mile area of the Mississippi floodplain constitute the large Mississippian site complex of Cahokia. Although located within eight miles of metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, the Cahokia site has managed to survive much of the ravages of modern development. Within the last two hundred years Cahokia has attracted much attention from travelers, archaeologists, and other scientists. One of the many individuals attracted to the Cahokia Mounds in the early part of the twentieth century was Warren King Moorehead. The results of his investigations at Cahokia and a number of nearby sites were published in a series of three reports through the University of Illinois. In later correspondence with Frank C. Baker, Moorehead (1936) indicated that the notes were left at the University of Illinois. The first two Moorehead volumes published in 1922 and 1923 succinctly summarized his fieldwork and his efforts to demonstrate the human construction ofthe mounds that form part ofthe large Cahokia site. The results ofa third season at a number of sites outside Cahokia were not published until after the fourth and final season was completed in 1927. The last of three volumes, published in 1929 (in the September 25, 1928, bulletin), included the work of the first two seasons along with a description of the 1923 and 1927 field seasons. The reports contain a description of each mound, site, or location examined . Occasional maps show some of the more relevant profiles, and each report contains a map of Cahokia with the various mounds numbered following John J. R. Patrick's initial numbering sequence. At the end of each report is a set of plates that show the various excavations and some of the artifacts recovered. Occasionally Moorehead relied on specialists such as zoologists, chemists, and geologists for the analysis of certain materials. Of particular importance was the work of Morris Leighton, a geologist with the Illinois Geological Survey at the University ofIllinois. His...