The Implications of the Religious Foundations at Cahokia

Abstract

In this chapter I suggest reasons why nonlocal people may have come to Cahokia on pilgrimage and why some Cahokians may have sought contact with distant peoples. My arguments are based on evidence from excavations in the greater Cahokia region, especially those at the Emerald shrine center east of Cahokia (Alt and Pauketat 2016; Pauketat and Alt 2016). As I will describe, new evidence from the Emerald shrine center leads me to suggest that religion was fundamental, if not causal, for Cahokia’s urbanism, as well as its rise as North America’s only Pre-Columbian city.