Reimagining the Development of Downtown Cahokia Using Remote Sensing Visualizations from the Western Edge of the Grand Plaza

The distribution of mounds, plazas, and defensive palisades associated with Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (CMSHS) defines the core urban environment Eastern North America’s first American Indian city. large mounds surrounding Cahokia’s centrally located Grand Plaza, including that enclose them, are referred to as Downtown Cahokia. In this portion site, archaeologists have identified material culture (e.g., ceramics), earthen fills level plaza, several mound constructions. These findings suggest an occupational history for area occurred over 9th–14th centuries CE, emergence plaza delineation earthwork construction beginning in early 11th century CE. sum, its Plaza considered by be a vibrant space characterized ongoing transformations metropolitan landscape. We conducted magnetometer electromagnetic induction surveys at western edge Plaza. When compared LiDAR-derived visualizations we generated from our aerial terrestrial remote sensing data offered new information on nature sequence monument Cahokia, well architectural changes domestic special-use structures. multi-scalar complementary datasets allowed us, without excavating, trace important sequences change history.