I was referring exclusively to the North American continent - everything north of the Rio Grande - not the whole hemisphere.
Cahokia was impressive. So were the pueblos in the Southwest.
Evidently you have no perspective as to how rough and tenuous day to day survival was pre-European.
It was even harder in other parts of the world, yet people survived. People whose lives focus on survival can get quite good at it and don't usually go extinct without outside interference.
Cahokia was impressive. So were the pueblos in the Southwest.
Yes, and yet they too sputtered out. See below
It was even harder in other parts of the world, yet people survived. People whose lives focus on survival can get quite good at it and don't usually go extinct without outside interference.
Among biggest factors for survival of ancient peoples anywhere of any race were climate, geography & terrain. If any of that went wonky in an area they were dedicated to inhabiting it was game over. There was no plan B. It was all about the calories - if not enough could be provided to replace what was expended, it was disaster. The anthropological record is rife with more disaster than success stories - there are many peoples whose culture or DNA came to an end and was never seen again anywhere else. There are many peoples and tribes that no one has ever heard of, and there's reason for it. Just east of where I'm sitting right now, some Spanish monks encountered a very poor tribe who were on their last legs - they were absolutely nearly done for. The Spanish established a sanctuary to help them to recover - if they hadn't intervened, that people would have ended right there, and soon, with no one to remember they even existed. I don't recall how it worked out in the end, whether the tribe eventually relocated to better prospects, joined the Comanche or got wiped out by them. It's been years since I've looked at those papers.