Cahokia Mounds

Record summary

Cahokia was the largest known pre-Columbian urban and ceremonial centre north of Mexico, with monumental platform mounds, plazas, neighborhoods, craft production, and evidence of long-distance exchange. Its scale has sometimes been misrepresented by pseudoarchaeological claims that Indigenous societies required outside builders. Archaeological research instead documents Mississippian social organization and regional interaction, while the city’s decline remains a subject of environmental, political, and demographic study. Cahokia is a key benchmark for evaluating claims about complexity and Indigenous agency.