Mississippian culture · c. 1050-1350

Cahokia: the great city on the Mississippi

Around 1100, the largest town north of Mexico stood near the banks of the Mississippi River. Students explore Cahokia's giant mounds, its plaza and its sun calendar, and the Mississippian towns that shared its way of life.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1100 to AD 1500
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Around 1100, the largest town north of Mexico stood near the banks of the Mississippi River. Students explore Cahokia's giant mounds, its plaza and its sun calendar, and the Mississippian towns that shared its way of life.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Cahokia near the place where the Missouri and Illinois rivers join the Mississippi.
  • Describe Monks Mound, the Grand Plaza and Woodhenge.
  • Explain how maize farming and river travel supported Mississippian towns.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1100

Where rivers meet

Open the map in 1100 near today's St. Louis. Zoom in until you see where the Missouri and Illinois rivers flow into the Mississippi. Why was this a good place for a big town?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1100

A river world

Zoom out and follow the Mississippi south to the Gulf of Mexico, then trace the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. Mississippian towns stood along these rivers. How would canoes connect them?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1500

After Cahokia

Drag the slider to 1500 and look at the lower Mississippi. Cahokia was empty by about 1350, but Mississippian chiefdoms lived on. Find the Natchez label: their ruler, the Great Sun, lived on top of a mound.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Monks Mound is about 30 m tall and was built from earth carried in baskets. What does that tell you about Cahokia's leaders?
  2. Estimates of Cahokia's population around 1100 range from about 10,000 to 20,000 or more. Why are such estimates so uncertain?
  3. Woodhenge was a circle of wooden posts that marked sunrise at the solstices and equinoxes. Why would farmers need a calendar?
  4. Cahokia was empty by about 1350. Which possible causes can you think of?
  5. St. Louis was once called "Mound City", but most of its mounds were destroyed in the 1800s. What should happen to ancient sites in growing cities?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Saladin, who ruled Egypt and Syria while Cahokia was at its height. Afterwards, discuss: we know Saladin's name and deeds from writing, while Cahokia's leaders left no names. How do archaeologists learn about leaders without written records?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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