New research on why Cahokia Mounds civilization left

Cahokia Mounds are great, but I had to pass through the scariest, sketchiest, most bombed-out looking neighborhoods I have ever seen to get to them. This was 20 years ago, so maybe things are much better now, but I never thought I would see such urban blight and devastation in the USA. It makes me wonder about the civilization that used to live in St. Louis 50 years ago with their grand brick warehouses, industrial might and river boat commerce.<p>Maybe the population of St. Louis themselves also fits the narrative: “They put a lot of effort into building...but there were probably external pressures that caused them to leave,” Rankin said. “The picture is likely complicated.”

I used to live near the Missouri River before it meets the Mississippi River south of STL, but haven&#x27;t yet made it to the Cahokia Mounds which are northeast and across the river from what is now St. Louis, Missouri.<p>Was it disease?<p>[&quot;Fusang&quot; to the Chinese, various names to Islanders FWIU]<p>[?? BC&#x2F;AD: Egyptian treasure in Illinois, somehow without paddleboats to steam up the Mississippi]<p>~800 AD: <i>Lead</i> Cross of Knights Templar in Arizona, according to America Unearthed S01E10. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;search?q=%7E800+AD%3A+Templar+Cross%2C+according+to+America+Unearthed+S01E10" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;search?q=%7E800+AD%3A+Templar+Cross%2...</a> ; a more recent dating of Tucson artifacts: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Tucson_artifacts" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Tucson_artifacts</a><p>~1000 AD: Leif Erickson, L&#x27;Anse aux Meadows; Discovering <i>Vinland</i>: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Leif_Erikson#Discovering_Vinland" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Leif_Erikson#Discovering_Vin...</a><p>And then the Story of Erik the Red, and a Skraeling girl in Europe, and Columbus; and instead we&#x27;ll celebrate Juneteenth day to celebrate when news reached Galveston.<p>Did they plant those mounds? Did they all bring good soil or dirt to add to the mound?<p>May Pole traditions may be similar to &quot;all circle around the mountain&quot; practices in at least ancient Egyptian culture FWIU.<p>If there was a lot of contact there, would that have spread diseases? (Various traditions have intentionally high contact with hol y water containers on the way in, too, for example.)<p>FWIU there&#x27;s strong evidence for Mayans and Aztecs in North America; but who were they displacing?

I had the (dubious) honor of - willingly, on a dare - having plunged rolling down the sides of one of the mounds, during a field trip.-<p>What fun.-

This reminds me to read &quot;Cahokia Jazz&quot;, the new novel by Francis Spufford.<p>He previously wrote &quot;Red Plenty&quot;, a brilliant historical fiction about the Soviet economy and cybernetics in a brief moment of post-Stalin optimism.

Tl;Dr: they built a flourishing city, and one hypothesis was drought but new research ruled that out, so we have no idea why they left.