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The Cahokia polity was a political entity that existed with Cahokia as its center and exercising control over outlying areas. Unlike other Mississippian chiefdoms, the Cahokia polity had an unusual early emergence, high population, and noted greater regional influence. The majority opinion that a Cahokia chiefdom or a proto-state existed is because certain indicators of a state are not apparent in Cahokia's ruins. Despite Cahokia's large size, certain determining technological and political advances indicating a typical state have not been found in studies of Cahokia.

The term Ramey state was coined by scholars Conrad and Harn in 1972 to refer to a theorized state controlled by the capital city of Cahokia, believed to hold influence in all places where ancient Ramey pottery has been found. Scholars who hold that the Ramey state existed purport it held territorial control of the American Bottom, and had its capital at the ancient city of Cahokia. According to the theory, the state's economy was derived from mostly agricultural labor, with unskilled workers building large ceremonial structures for a small elite. A class of traders existed as well as a tribute system.

Structure

Archeologists who point to an existence of a state at Cahokia use the evidence of urban planning and vast Cahokian trade influence as evidence that Cahokia must have been the center of a state.

Various models of how the theorized Ramey state functioned exist. Most of the models differ due to different interpretations of existing archaeological finds. One model believes Cahokia was the center of a trade and tribute system with a territory of farmers that consistently fed the city. This territory spanned much of the American Midwest. Evidence of an elite with political power and a legitimate use of force comes from evidence of massive human sacrifices at Cahokia.

Another model is that Cahokia was the center of a theater state where important religious rituals performed at Cahokia wielded influence over the state's common people.

In popular culture

Cahokia features prominently in author Alan Smale's Clash of Eagles series of alternate history novels; in which the Roman Empire attempts to conquer the city, as Smale imagines it, in the early 13th century CE.

See also

• Mississippian culture
• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex

References

1. "The Cahokia question: Small state or jumbo chiefdom?". Santa Fe Institute. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
2. Emerson, Thomas (2000). Cahokia Domination and Ideology in the Mississippian World. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 249–250. ISBN 9780803287655.
3. ^ Holt, Julie Zimmermann (2009). "Rethinking the Ramey State: Was Cahokia the Center of a Theater State?". American Antiquity. 74 (2). Cambridge University Press: 231–254. doi:10.1017/S0002731600048587. JSTOR 20622425. S2CID 141519298.
4. O'Brien, Patricia J. (2017). "Early State Economics: Cahokia, Capital of the Ramey State". Early State Economics. Taylor and Francis Group: 143–175. doi:10.4324/9781351316606-7. ISBN 9781351316606.
5. Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians. Cambridge University Press. 2004. pp. 167–170. ISBN 9780521520669.
6. O'Brien, Patricia J. (1990). "Cahokia: The Political Capital of the "Ramey" State?". North American Archaeologist. 10 (4). SAGE Journals: 275–292. doi:10.2190/RDK3-QFFN-MPJ9-WTEK. S2CID 145501325.

v t e Mississippian and related cultures
List of Mississippian sites Timeline of Mississippi valley
Middle Mississippian	American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Ramey state Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Acropolis Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Starr Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams site Dogtooth Bend Mounds Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Ware Mounds Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Hiwassee Island Link Farm Mound Bottom Riverview Sellars Obion Old Town Swallow Bluff Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Boone's Boyd Campbell Carson Chucalissa Denmark Eaker Janet's Menard-Hodges Murphy Nodena Nodena phase Owl Creek Parkin Quigualtam Tipton phase Tunica Koroa Yazoo Walls phase
South Appalachian Mississippian	Adamson Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Biltmore Blair Bussell Island Chauga Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa Dallas phase Dyar Etowah Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Summerour Taskigi Tomotley Toqua Town Creek Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks
Fort Walton culture	Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin–Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Leon-Jefferson culture Letchworth Velda Yon
Pensacola culture	Bottle Creek Dauphin Island Fort Walton Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people
Plaquemine Mississippian	Anna Atchafalaya Basin Emerald Fitzhugh Flowery Fosters Ghost Glass Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Julice Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Natchez Taensa Pocahontas Routh Scott Place Sims Transylvania Venable Winterville
Caddoan Mississippian	Battle Belcher Blue Spring Shelter Bluffton Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Hughes Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Keller Spiro
Upper Mississippian cultures	Oneota Anker Beattie Park Blood Run Carcajou Point Fifield Fisher Mound Group Gentleman Farm Grand Village of the Illinois Griesmer Hartley Fort Hotel Plaza Hoxie Farm Huber Juntunen Knoll Spring Mero site Moccasin Bluff Oak Forest Palos Plum Island Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Schwerdt Summer Island Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village
Culture	Agriculture Beans Chenopodium Little barley Maize Marshelder Pumpkin Squash Sunflower Three Sisters Tobacco Artwork Emmons mask Copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Duck River cache Long-nosed god maskette Mill Creek chert Pottery Shell gorget Stone statuary Languages Caddoan Central Algonquian Cherokee Mobilian Jargon Muskogean Natchez Taensa Siouan Timucuan Tunican Yuchi Religion Ballgame (Southeastern) Northern Black drink Burial mound Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Red Horn Sacred bundle Village bundle Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther
Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Mound Builders de Soto Expedition

• Former territorial entities in North America
• Middle Mississippian culture
• Former chiefdoms in North America
• Cahokia