Ghosts Of Archaeologists

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Ghosts of Archaeologists

Introduction

Cahokia is a historical site directly across the Mississipi river near updated St. Louis, Missouri. It is located between East St. Louis and Collinsville that is in Southern Illinois. It is also known as the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Cahokia is a site of native American city before Columbus came to America and discovered it.

Cahokia is a rich site from a historical perspective, and a number of historical evidence has been found from here. It was home to a great civilization, whose remains are still present there. The site is open for the public for viewing and looked after by Illinois Historic Preservation Division. As already established before, this area was rich in culture and civilization, and even now, the people who have visited this place, adore the skill and sophistication of Cahokian people.

Discussion

A number of researchers came to this site and tried their luck to find some something meaningful beneath the mounds. Most of them went unsuccessful back to their home town, considering the tough life and unfavorable weather conditions of the area. The weather conditions here are at an extreme level, very cold. The snow falls remain at a peak from November till March, and for the rest of the months, the weather is extremely cold, which makes the wore ground surface is high in this area unexpectedly tough. Moreover, the land or the ground texture is also very unfavorable for diggong, and it becomes very challenging for the archaeologists to dig out places and find historical remains,

But still, there are some archeologists who never gave up and kept working hard for making archeological discoveries from Cahokia. Some of the notable names who worked tirelessly for the profession are Darren King Moorehead, Preston Holder & Joyce Wike, Melvin Fowler, James Porter, Charles Bareis, and Warren Wittry. Preston Holder and Joyce Wike were a couple who were madly in love with archeology. They came to St. Lois to earn their doctorate and loved the place. They made multiple discoveries in Cahokia, but the research work had to be stopped due to the World War or Holder’s Termination. Melvin Fowler was a student of Holder and was much inspired by his work. She took the action of Holder a little further. Harriet Smith, another in the list of hard-working archeologists, carried the job a little further and discovered a mound which was later destroyed in 1940.

Different excavation strategies had to be adopted by the archeologists in order to find the maximum number of discoveries from the site of Cahokia, but it was not a piece of cake. There were multiple hurdles in the way, and the scientists had to fight with numerous factors in order to get through; in fact, many experts could not make it and returned home. The site was divided into certain sectors named as Tracts of 15A and 15B, Mound 51, Mound 72, U1 an U2 and many others, for the purpose of excavation.

Some of the most significant and notable discoveries made by the archeologists was the discovery of Mound 51 that was made by Holder. Most of the remarkable work has been contributed by Holder and his wife as they were the pioneers in the research of Cahokia. Moreover, Charles Bareis made many discoveries in addition to the precious discoveries made by Warren Wittry, who excavated two large portions of land in Cahokia.

Conclusion

In short, it can be seen that Cahokia has been a land of great interest or archeologists. Although it was a very hard nut to crack, scientist and experts have always tried to explore it with all their means.

Works Cited

Chapter 5, Ghosts of Archeologists, Cahokia