Faeces show the Cahokia tribe disappeared a thousand years ago because of climate change

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How the ancient FAECES could finally solve an American mystery: the Cahokia tribe, DISAPPEED a thousand years ago, was driven from its lands by climate change

  • The ancient faecal extracts of Cahokia river sediments show summer droughts
  • The amount of fecal molecules tells us how many people lived
  • This gives scientists an estimate of the size of the colony population
  • The correlation with the sediment layer allowed scientists to track changes over time

By

Yuan Ren For Mailonline


published:
07:41 EST, February 26, 2019

|
Update:
12:32 pm EST, February 26, 2019

Droughts have contributed to the disappearance of an American prehistoric colony a thousand years ago, suggest ancient feces.

The Cahokia were a flourishing tribe near Illinois around 1200 AD, with a population of 20,000 at its peak. But their ancient city was mysteriously abandoned in 1400 AD.

Scientists now believe that human fecal molecules entrained in a nearby lake show severe drought.

The information from the waste has been dated according to its depth in the sedimentation of the lakes.

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Cahokia, located in Illinois in the United States, was a major political and cultural center with a population of tens of thousands over 1050 - but then disappeared. A mound (photo) shows his site today. The ancient shells of a nearby lake have allowed researchers to conclude that the drought had probably contributed to the demise of the American prehistoric colony a thousand years ago.

Cahokia, located in Illinois in the United States, was a major political and cultural center with a population of tens of thousands over 1050 - but then disappeared. A mound (photo) shows his site today. The ancient shells of a nearby lake have allowed researchers to conclude that the drought had probably contributed to the demise of the American prehistoric colony a thousand years ago.

Cahokia, located in Illinois in the United States, was a major political and cultural center with a population of tens of thousands over 1050 – but then disappeared. A mound (photo) shows his site today. The ancient shells of a nearby lake have allowed researchers to conclude that the drought had probably contributed to the demise of the American prehistoric colony a thousand years ago.

The ancient city was near St. Louis, Missouri, and was the largest prehistoric settlement in the Americas north of Mexico.

Researchers at California State University have studied sediments from a nearby lake in Cahokia. They concluded a decrease in summer precipitation of about 1150 DA.

Among other things, they looked at fecal stanols, molecules found in cereals, peanuts and vegetable oils, which are eliminated in feces.

The greater the number of people who have lived and defecated there, the more stanols are evident in lake sediments, so that stanols can be used as population size and movement.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in Mississippian culture, which developed advanced societies in much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1,000 years ago. before contact with Europe. Its population was at its peak in the 1200s, about 20,000 people would not be surpassed by any city in the United States before the end of the 18th century.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in Mississippian culture, which developed advanced societies in much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1,000 years ago. before contact with Europe. Its population was at its peak in the 1200s, about 20,000 people would not be surpassed by any city in the United States before the end of the 18th century.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in Mississippian culture, which developed advanced societies in much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1,000 years ago. before contact with Europe. Its population was at its peak in the 1200s, about 20,000 people would not be surpassed by any city in the United States before the end of the 18th century.

AJ White, lead author of the Wisconsin-Madison study, said, "The way to rebuild a population generally involves archaeological data, which are distinct from the data being studied by climatologists."

"Because the sediments of a lake accumulate in layers, they allow scientists to capture snapshots of time throughout the history of an area through sediment cores." .

"The deeper layers form earlier than the layers found above and all the material of a layer is about the same age."

Archaeologists know that around the year 900, the inhabitants of the region began to grow corn and their population exploded, as evidenced by the number and size of buildings and structures that have emerged in the region. .

Archaeologists know that around the year 900, the inhabitants of the region began to grow corn and their population exploded, as evidenced by the number and size of buildings and structures that have emerged in the region. .

Archaeologists know that around the year 900, the inhabitants of the region began to grow corn and their population exploded, as evidenced by the number and size of buildings and structures that have emerged in the region. .

Data from the study showed that summer precipitation probably decreased towards the beginning of the Cahokia decline.

This could have affected people's ability to grow their maize, a staple crop.

The latest changes are thought to have coincided with a major flooding of the Mississippi River around the same time.

Consecutive years of summer droughts followed by a major flood would have put great pressure on the colony's farming system and could explain why the city was suddenly abandoned.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT CAHOKIE

Archaeologists know that around the year 900, the inhabitants of the region began to grow corn and their population exploded, as evidenced by the number and size of buildings and structures that have emerged in the region. .

Archeologists often think that Cahokia is a chieftaincy, with a hierarchy of smaller settlements that extend out of the city, much like the small county seats surrounding the major government centers we know today, Schroeder explains.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in Mississippian culture, which developed advanced societies in much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1,000 years ago. before contact with Europe.

Its population was at its peak in the 1200s, about 20,000, would not be surpassed by any city in the United States before the end of the 18th century.

Cahokia Mounds is today considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of Mexico's pre-Columbian cities.

But around 1200, following a fingerprint of flooding in the sediments of Munoz, the population began to decline, along with other changes in the archaeological archives.

Cahokia seems to be fractured and its inhabitants began to migrate to other parts of North America. In 1400, after the arid conditions that suppressed the great floods and favored the rise of Cahokia disappeared, it was deserted.

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