Mound 72 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site held 260 burials, many interpreted as sacrifices. It began as one of the long, ridge-topped "earthen barns" named by French settlers — at least nine, possibly 16, stood at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, and this is the only one properly excavated. The lowest burials: a man and woman covered in about 20,000 shell beads, with two other men bearing hundreds of color-grouped arrowheads and chunky copper discs. A pit beside the mound held 24 strangled young women, with four headless, handless young men locked at the elbows on top. Another pit held 53 strangled women. An open pit contained 39 murdered people with smashed or severed heads, arrows in their bodies — some reaching upward through the sand. Twelve honored burials sat above on small platforms. Comparable large female-sacrifice assemblages are otherwise known mainly from coastal Peru (Moche and Chimu), roughly contemporary. All was sealed under a cap of dark earth by 1030 CE. 😶 Such a sobering site — and it's now a national park with a rebuilt museum and visitor center.
Mound 72 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site: 260 burials, including mass strangled sacrifices
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Key facts
- Mound 72, in the area that later became Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site's city center, held 260 burials, many of them interpreted as sacrifices.
- Mound 72 was originally one of the long, ridge-topped 'earthen barns' named by French settlers; at least nine and possibly as many as 16 such barns stood at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, and Mound 72 was the only one properly excavated.
- The lowest burials were four individuals: a man and a woman covered with about 20,000 shell beads, the woman slumped over the man, and two other men buried with hundreds of color-grouped arrowheads and chunky copper discs.
- A pit beside the mound held 24 strangled young women, with four headless, handless young men with locked elbows placed on top.
- A second adjacent pit held 53 strangled women, most in their teens but one in her late 30s, possibly a matron.
- An open pit contained 39 murdered people with smashed or severed heads and arrows in the bodies; body positions show they entered alive, some reaching upward through the sand.
- Twelve honored burials on small platforms were placed above the 39-body pit.
- The video notes that large female-sacrifice assemblages of this kind are otherwise known mainly from coastal Peru (Moche and Chimu), roughly contemporary with Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
- All the burials and sacrifices were sealed under a cap of dark earth by 1030 CE.
Sources
Mound 72en.wikipedia.org
The mound was the location of the "beaded burial", an elaborate burial of an elite personage thought to have been one of the rulers of Cahokia, accompanied by ...
Ancient bones, teeth, tell story of strife at Cahokiaarchaeology.wiki
Several mass burials and burials of high-status individuals were found in Mound 72,. New studies offer insight into the people who lived and ...
Mound 72cahokiamounds.org
Within these smaller mounds a series of features was excavated, mainly burial pits and burial deposits. More than 250 skeletons were recovered ...
Cahokia: The Bodies at Mound 72 - A Bigger Cameraabiggercamera.com
There are an estimated two-hundred and seventy skeletons buried in Mound 72, put there over a hundred year period. The last group buried in ...
Ancient Cahokia burial mound reveals role of women in " ...cbsnews.com
The site, now called Mound 72, contained five mass graves, each holding 20 to more than 50 bodies. There were dozens of other bodies buried by ...
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