With National Science Foundation support Dr. Timothy Pauketat and his collaborators will conduct three seasons of archaeological excavation at the site of Cahokia and the surrounding region. This large site located on the outskirts of St. Louis Missouri consists of a series of large mounds and represents one of the most massive prehistoric constructions in North America. Prior work indicates that the Cahokia polity developed in the first millennium AD and reached its height around 1000 AD. The site subsequently underwent decline well before Europeans reached the New World. Building on prior work in the region, Dr. Pauketat wishes to understand the processes which led to the rise of Cahokia. With support for three field seasons, he will collect a range of data. Because his focus is on the rise of centralized power he will excavate and collect cultural material from a portion of the site occupied by elites. Secondly he will conduct a regional survey to locate all smaller archaeological occurrences which date to the same period and this will allow him to set Cahokia into a broader regional context. Finally he will excavate at four known subsidiary sites to determine their relationship to the central one. While archaeologists have traced the rise complex centralized societies in many parts of the world they still do not understand the underlying processes involved. At an early stage social inequality becomes evident and the egalitarianism which characterizes simpler antecedent groups gives way to social stratification. Several theories exist which may potentially explain the rise of "chiefs" or "big men." One emphasizes the possible role of dominance while another views chiefs as "managers" who serve essentially to coordinate activities and redistribute wealth. Because he adopts a regional approach in which elite and non-elite portions of Cahokia can be directly compared and Cahokia itself can be set into a broader regional context, Dr. Pauketat hopes to address this issue. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed new light on a pinnacle of prehistoric Native American development. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and increase our understanding of the emergence of social complexity.
