lpetrich
Contributor
Almost exactly 700 years before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, another Midwestern North American city had a big fire: Cahokia, at what's now St. Louis, MO.
Though settlement at Cahokia goes back to about 600 CE, it does not get big until around 1000. After 1300, it went into decline, and by 1400, it was almost entirely abandoned.
In the middle of that time, the center of Cahokia suffered a big fire. After that was new architecture and new defensive walls, and also lots of clay plates with Sun symbolism. The fire had consumed about 100 thatched houses built close together, thatched houses with lots of new and fresh stuff in them and without nearby garbage dumps.
The Cahokians had burned several buildings with fresh stuff in them on top of the mounds that they had built, so this big fire was likely a similar offering, though a much bigger one.
Before the fire, there were some fancy houses in L and T shapes, but after the fire, they were gone, with all the houses being square or rectangular. Was there a revolt against some elite?
Cahokia
A mysterious fire transformed North America's greatest city in 1170
ingentaconnect A Mississippian conflagration at East St. Louis and its political-historical implications
Though settlement at Cahokia goes back to about 600 CE, it does not get big until around 1000. After 1300, it went into decline, and by 1400, it was almost entirely abandoned.
In the middle of that time, the center of Cahokia suffered a big fire. After that was new architecture and new defensive walls, and also lots of clay plates with Sun symbolism. The fire had consumed about 100 thatched houses built close together, thatched houses with lots of new and fresh stuff in them and without nearby garbage dumps.
The Cahokians had burned several buildings with fresh stuff in them on top of the mounds that they had built, so this big fire was likely a similar offering, though a much bigger one.
Before the fire, there were some fancy houses in L and T shapes, but after the fire, they were gone, with all the houses being square or rectangular. Was there a revolt against some elite?
CahokiaA mysterious fire transformed North America's greatest city in 1170
ingentaconnect A Mississippian conflagration at East St. Louis and its political-historical implications
