The Cahokia Moundswith 16 plates; a preliminary paper by Warren King Moorehead ([c1922])

If you are looking for a jumping off spot to begin studying Cahokia, you might well start here as there is scant academic literature that precedes this paper.

Moorehead begins with a description of the view from the mounds. He then touches on historical references including Tonti's account of the region when he was traveling with La Salle. Moorehead ends with praise for the farmers who had chosen not to raze the sites, and a plea that a thorough, systematic study be done before manmade or natural events overtook these mysterious artifacts. [[Even as Moorehead was making examinations, local idiots officials from St. Louis wanted to level the mounds and use the dirt for landfill.]]

Warren King Moorehead

[1866-1939]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
(note: many of these items are less than one page long)

Preface
Introduction
The View from Monks Mound
The Village Site
Description of the Mounds and of Recent Explorations
The Largest Mound. Monks or Cahokia
The Ramey Mound
The Kunnemann Mound
Smith's Mound
The Edward's Mounds
The Jesse Ramey Mound
Other Mounds Tested
Conclusions on the Excavations
Exploration of the Village Site
Utensils and Implements from Cahokia
Notes upon a Collection Secured from the Surface
The Pottery from Cahokia
Caches at Cahokia
Use of Copper at Cahokia
Conclusions
Possibility of Important Discoveries
Preservation of the Group
Resolution by American Anthropological Association
Cahokia
Bibliography

The most probable points of interest in this paper are not Moorehead's history of the mounds, nor his plea for them to be preserved, but the photographs of the mounds as they existed at the time he published.

There are 16 plates that show various sites, as well as one body, some arrowheads, an awl, and bits of broken pottery. There are also some sketches which include a cross section of earth-materials found in deconstructing a mound, and a vision of what a restored mound might have originally looked like.

Quick Summary :::
Moorehead's observations are so preliminary as to be of little use except as historiography. However the photos are interesting and show the mounds as they existed before environmental conditions worsened. Other pictures show pottery fragments, the distinctive arrowheads of the region, and other relics. There is a one page bibliography.

Where to Find::: free at Archive.org