Cahokia Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi...

Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi, by Timothy R. Pauketat, is on the history, society, and religious customs of the Cahokian people. Consisting of twelve chapters, each chapter deals with a different aspect of Cahokian society. Chapter one opens up by telling the reader how the stars in the sky played an important role in the Native American belief system. The Planet Venus was the key figure in all of this, in fact the ancient Maya believed Venus to be a god. According to the Cahokians , Venus had a dual nature, in the daytime Venus was viewed a masculine, and in the evening it was seen as feminine. In the same chapter, Pauketat lets us know about the discovery of, two hundred packed-earth mounds constructed in a†¦show more content†¦This so-called big bang pertains to the political and social issues of the day; furthermore, these two ideas played an important role in the society. In the course of the year, the numerous religious rituals woul d honor the gods, by honoring the gods, one would expect a good growing season. Some believe that Old Cahokia was the center of a community government many archeologists debated this idea. Archeologists debated this idea, as it would mean that the Cahokia government remained local and ceremonial, in a sense it was a small confederacy of farming villages. Pauketat goes on to explain, â€Å"Then again, by this time, people had already begun relocating to Old Cahokia from smaller, less successful villages in the surrounding region. They probably spoke the same language and had the same basic customs as the Old Cahokians.† Many of the local villages shared in the same customs as the Cahokians, because of the same beliefs one could easily see a centralized city forming. The construction of modern developments, makes it difficult to know what Cahokia was like at its height. Because a modern highway system is now in the same spot of Cahokia, archeologists often have trouble doing work. Though learning about the scope of Cahokia may be difficult, archaeology research can still show us many things, one of which was the idea of outdoor games. Games played a very important role in the social