The Monitor Daily

Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018
  • California Woman Performs Home Abortion By Asking Boyfriend to Kick Her in The Belly Jun 28, 2018
  • Nashville Man Arrested After Throwing Cocaine in Police Officer’s Face Jun 28, 2018
  • Brittany Pilkington Wants Psych Eval Before Sentencing Jun 27, 2018
  • Fayetteville Mom Behind Bars For Feeding Children Lighter Fluid Jun 27, 2018
  • Missouri Police Arrested Angry Customer Who Vandalized Nail Salon Jun 26, 2018
  • Queensland Mother Mutilated After Non-Invasive Eye Procedure Goes Sideways Jun 25, 2018

Ancient Native American Town Cahokia Was Destroyed by Massive Flood, Study Finds

May 5, 2015 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

cahokia
Cahokia was a very important settlement in the 1100s. The ancient city was founded by a sophisticated cultural group that managed to build sweeping plazas and tall mounds.

The Native American ancient town was located near where St Louis, Missouri is now.
The town was inhabited by tens of thousands of people and started to decline around the year 1200.
According to the experts, by year 1350, Cahokia had become a deserted place.

No one really knows for sure what caused the ancient city’s decline. However, a recent research study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points out to the fact that Cahokia was destroyed by a massive flood caused by the Mississippi River around 1200.

Samuel Munoz, a geography expert from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his team of researchers conducted the new study.

They analyzed samples of sediments taken from Horseshoe Lake, which is located at about 5 km from Cahokia.
The scientists managed to extract sediment cores up to 5 m in length from the lake bed. According to them, this represents approximately 2,000 years of deposition.

Munoz said that while digging for the sediments, a series of light stripes of fine sediment started to surface as they started their work.

One of the researchers named these fine sediments “lake butter”, due to their extremely fine and silky textures.
The team of experts believes that this type of sediment may have entered the lake during a massive flood along the Mississippi River.

Munoz said that the river is called “Big Muddy” for a good reason. According to him, this sediment is what makes the river water brown and muddy.

The researchers were able to date the “buttery” sediments using radiocarbon methods; this technique helped them confirm and refine some of the dates by analyzing the cores from another lake located at about 200 km down the river.

The team concluded that massive floods took place around AD 280, 490, 580, 1200, 1400, 1510, 1590 and 1800.
Munoz said that flooding might have been responsible for the ancient city’s total decline. However, the researchers cannot really say for sure if the massive flood that occurred in 1200 caused the settlement’s decline. They can only confirm that there the floods correspond with the Cahokia’s abandonment.

Larry Benson, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Natural History Museum, said that the ancient city might have been destroyed by drought, but doesn’t exclude the possibility that flooding could also contributed to the city’s disappearance.
Image Source: legendsofamerica

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

Jun 6, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

May 8, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

May 7, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

Apr 20, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

Apr 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

Feb 26, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

Feb 14, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

Feb 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

Feb 4, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Feb 1, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

Jan 26, 2018 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

Jan 24, 2018 By Joe Hennessey Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

Jan 23, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

Jan 20, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

    Jun 6, 2018
  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

    May 8, 2018
  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

    May 7, 2018
  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

    Apr 20, 2018
  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

    Apr 5, 2018
  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

    Feb 26, 2018
  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

    Feb 14, 2018
  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

    Feb 5, 2018
  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

    Feb 4, 2018
  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

    Feb 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.