The Role of Plants and Animals in the Termination of Three Buildings at the Spring Lake Tract Neighborhood, Cahokia

Abstract

Plants and animals play a vital role in the human experience, from providing basic sustenance to creating unique social practices that may govern familial, political, or religious experiences; reconstitute identities; or forge social relationships. In this article, we present analyses on the ethnobotanical and zoological remains recently recovered from the Spring Lake Tract, Cahokia, a neighborhood populated from approximately AD 900 to 1275. The assemblage represents a variety of plants and animals that demonstrate the diverse utility of the biota from the region. We conclude that this assemblage indicates that this neighborhood community participated in an array of practices not easily dichotomized into “ritual” or “domestic.” From the perspectives of “Place-Thought” and locality, we emphasize the agency of these entities (plant/animal/human) in the process of creating and sustaining this Cahokian neighborhood.