It is worth noting, however, that whereas Colonel Clark had offered a red (war) or white (peace) belt to Indians in Cahokia, Captain Helm presented the Wabash Indians with a red or green belt.
Archaeologists and other scholars have since demonstrated such sophisticated, complex planning and construction at other prehistoric earthwork sites, such as Cahokia in the United States.
Archeological artifacts found in the settlements show widespread trading from settlements in the Great Lakes to present-day Illinois and the center of Cahokia, to other settlements in the present-day southeastern United States.
Some evidence suggests that the layout of the Pinson Mounds might be due to astronomical alignment, and expresses the people's cosmology, as is the case at some later mound complexes, such as Cahokia.
Archaeologists think the presence of prestige goods from the Cahokia site in Illinois means the people of Shiloh Mounds were more closely tied politically to that area than to chiefdoms in the Middle Tennessee area.
The largest earthen work step pyramid of this type in North America is Monk's Mound, located in present-day Cahokia, Illinois.
Cahokia |
To end the destruction, councils were called by the Americans to take place at Cahokia and Vincennes.
Pauketat, Timothy R. The Ascent of Chiefs: Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in Native North America, Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama, 1994.