Posted on 03/09/2014 4:33:46 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
One thousand years ago, on a floodplain of the Mississippi River near modern-day St. Louis, the massive Native American city known today as Cahokia sprang suddenly into existence. Three hundred years later it was virtually deserted...
While analyzing cores from Horseshoe Lake, an oxbow lake that separated from the Mississippi River some 1,700 years ago, Munoz's team discovered a layer of silty clay 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) thick deposited by a massive ancient flood.
It's unlikely that the ancient floodwaters were high enough to inundate the ten-story mound at Cahokia's center, a structure now called Monk's Mound... But a flood of such magnitude would have devastated croplands and residential areas, and may have made it impossible for a population numbering as many as 15,000 to continue inhabiting the area...
Analysis of pollen deposits in the sediment cores from Horseshoe Lake shows an intensification of farming, accompanied by rapid deforestation, starting around 450..., with corn cultivation peaking between 900 and 1200... Then the cores reveal the flood event, followed by a decline in corn cultivation. By 1350..., the pollen record shows, agriculture there had essentially ceased.
Munoz, a geographer who specializes in the study of pollen records, noticed that very little pollen research had been done in the American Southeast, where the Mississippian culture flourished. "And we didn't really have any studies outside big archaeological sites," he said. So when he saw Horseshoe Lake right next to Cahokia, he thought it was worth a shot...
But he had no idea they might find such a big piece of the puzzle. "When we realized we were looking at a flood, and that it fell right at this key time in Cahokia's history, it was very exciting."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
New Madrid fault?
Not Bush?
Knocked MY teepee down.
At its heyday, Cahokia was much closer to the meandering river. A bad flood could have been a problem but I think it would be like today...... a known problem
The old river courses are well mapped and certainly not where the river is today. A study of the maps would indicate if the old river bed was within the city.
A big flood would certainly cause the population to scatter. Plus there’s the possibility of causing famine due to the loss of crops and cropland.
The fact that there wasn’t any oral tradition about what happened there, despite it not being a terrifically long time before European settlement, mitigates in favor of the idea that humans make the same mistakes and fail to remember or learn from the mistakes of others. :’)
It’s an interesting civilization — and seems somewhat similar to the Maya.
The big question isn’t so much why it collapsed (all civilization do eventually) — but why it wasn’t eventually replaced with something at least as advanced.
We grow the bulk of our food in a desert today and the grains that we grow across the plains and midwest are most susceptible to destruction due to cold (Think little ice age).
We should be diversified in both region and the crops we grow.
Didn’t we see a post about there being a layer of ash at Cahokia
The last post at freerepublic suggested that fire brought down Cahokia
Epic Fire Marked ‘Beginning of the End’ for Ancient Culture of Cahokia, New Digs Suggest
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3128274/posts
The result of the pre-cursor to the Chicago political machine that spawned bh0
The world is one big-assed garden now; the main impediment to agriculture overall is the price of petroleum fuels.
The world is one big-assed garden now; the main impediment to agriculture overall is the price of petroleum fuels.
.................
the primary impediment to turning the deserts green is the price of electricity.
I think that collapsing both electricity and petroleum fuel costs is being targeted over the next 15 years.
In any case, that’s what has to happen in order for there to be a successful 21st century—something that everyone gets.
Bill Gates talked about the necessity of collapsing electricity costs to at least 1/4 current cheapest coal/gas electrical generation costs back at at Ted conference back in 2010—because the the consequence of not doing so would cause terrible problems. (He said it would be impossible to do long term thinking if energy costs were not reduced.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaF-fq2Zn7I
The primary impediment to turning the deserts green is political. Electricity has nothing to do with it. TEDS is just another leftist rant forum, so it figures that “Anopheles” Bill Gates would rant there.
Still, it’s interesting to note that Gates’ goal is the exact opposite of obama’s with regards to electricity costs...
Detroit is about 300 years old and it's lost over 60% of its peak 1950s population as sane people continue to flee from it. Destroying a city doesn't always require a natural disaster. Humans can do a great job of it on their own.
Well the flood would have been real useful..... : )
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