Cahokia was America's First 'Melting Pot'

This small clay vessel was made in eastern Oklahoma but found at Cahokia.
 Photo Courtesy of L. Brian Stauffer.

March 3, 2014.

Diana Yates, of the Illinois News Bureau, has written an informative and exciting article about recent studies of Cahokia, a AD 1200 Native American metropolis, which suggests that it "hosted a sizable population of immigrants".

"Researchers have traditionally thought of Cahokia as a relatively homogeneous and stable population drawn from the immediate area, [Thomas Emerson] said.

“But increasingly archaeologists are realizing that Cahokia at AD 1100 was very likely an urban center with as many as 20,000 inhabitants,” he said. “Such early centers around the world grow by immigration, not by birthrate.” "

-Diana Yates, Illinois News Bureau

For the full article, click here.