The Mystery of America’s Lost City

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question: What can we learn from past societies?

2. List Vocabulary
Share some of the challenging vocabulary words in the article. Encourage students to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• founded (p. 18)
• Indigenous (p. 18)
• earthen (p. 20)
• artifacts (p. 20)
• effigy (p. 21)
• descendants (p. 21)

3. Engage
Ask: Why might a city have been abandoned a thousand years ago? Do you think the same thing could happen today? Why or why not?

4. Read and Discuss
Ask students to read the Upfront article about the city of Cahokia. Review why the article is a secondary source. (It was written by someone who didn’t personally experience or witness the events.) Then pose these critical-thinking questions and ask students to cite text evidence when answering them:

• How do historians describe Cahokia? Who do they think lived there? (Historians describe it as a “bustling American city” that existed a thousand years ago in an area near the junction of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers in what is today Illinois. They believe that different groups of Indigenous people lived there and that its population eventually grew to more than 20,000 people, many of whom came from other places, making it a “melting pot” of peoples and languages.)

• What theories do experts have about why people left Cahokia? What effect might the exodus have had on surrounding areas? (Historians think people may have left because of drought, crop death, disease, or an unpopular leader. Historians also believe that the exodus helped spread Cahokia’s influence and its “Mississippian culture” of growing corn and building platform mounds. Some modern Indigenous groups in other areas, such as the Osage and the Omaha, trace their roots to Cahokia.)

• Why do you think the article includes descriptions of other Indigenous sites that were abandoned and rediscovered? What does their inclusion add to the article? (Students’ answers may vary, but some may say that the descriptions expand the article’s focus, and the reader’s understanding, from an examination of one Indigenous site to a broader consideration of Indigenous peoples in America.)

• At the end of the article, Andrea Hunter says, “Today’s generations are much more aware of this place as a sacred space.” Why do you think she holds this belief? Does evidence from the article support her statement? (Responses will vary, but students should support their ideas with evidence from the article, such as details about current efforts to turn the area into a national park.)

5. Use the Primary Source
Project, distribute, or assign in Google Classroom the PDF ‘A Stupendous Pile of Earth,’ which features an excerpt from Henry Brackenridge’s travel book that describes his impressions and thoughts upon finding the mounds of Cahokia. Discuss what makes the excerpt a primary source. (It provides firsthand evidence concerning the topic.) Have students read the excerpts and answer the questions below (which appear on the PDF without answers).

• How would you describe the tone and purpose of this excerpt from rackenridge’s book? (The tone is formal but also expresses wonder. The purpose is to describe Cahokia and to theorize about its origins.)

• What reaction does Brackenridge have upon seeing Cahokia? Why does he believe Cahokia is human-made? (Brackenridge is astonished by Cahokia and says that its location, its design, and the left-over pieces of “flint and earthen vessels”­ imply that Cahokia was human-made.)

• Who does Brackenridge believe built Cahokia’s mounds? On what assumptions does he base his conclusion? (Brackenridge believes the mounds were built by a large population of coerced laborers. He bases his reasoning on his assumptions­ that Cahokia’s agriculture was simply for sustenance (and not trade), which would indicate a large population to feed, and that Cahokia had no laws, which he believes led to despotism. He claims that these two conditions are necessary prerequisites for the building of mounds or pyramids—an idea that was spread by accounts from “the first conquerors” of cities in Mexico and South America.)  

• Recent historians have uncovered evidence that pyramids around the world were built by hired laborers and willing workers. How does this undermine Brackenridge’s argument? Explain. (This recent evidence undermines Brackenridge’s conclusion that pyramids can be built only by societies that place “little value” on their citizens. This new evidence indicates that his argument may be based on false perceptions and a misunderstanding of other cultures.)

• Based on this excerpt and the Upfront article, how do Brackenridge’s ideas correspond with or contradict recent ideas about Cahokia? (Brackenridge’s ideas about the size of Cahokia’s population correspond with recent ideas, but modern historians note that its population size may have been due in part to immigration and that Cahokia probably traded with other communities, which would contradict Brackenridge’s notions.)

6. Writing Prompt
Write a brief essay describing the illustration of the Grand Plaza on page 20 of the article. What conclusions could you draw about life in Cahokia from what you see in this illustration?

7. Quiz
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.

8. Classroom Debate
Should the government do more to protect sacred Indigenous sites in the U.S.?

9. Dive Deeper
Have students select one of the sacred places mentioned in the article, or one of their own choosing, and prepare a presentation on its history. Encourage them to include visuals of the site, as well as of artifacts found there. Have them present their findings to the class.