Remembering Cahokia's Forgotten Goddesses

Recent retellings of Cahokia symbolism have focused on a pan-regional Red Horn cosmology intimately tied to late nineteenth-century Siouan mythology. However, the archaeological evidence of such a cosmology at Cahokia is strikingly rare. The dominant archaeological symbols recovered in the American Bottom are predominately associated with female figurines bearing serpentine and vegetative icons. This pattern was reinforced by the recent discovery of a red flint clay female during the University of Illinois - IT ARP's long-tenn and ongoing excavations at the East St. Louis Mound center. The place of this new figurine is reviewed in the context of Cahokia's symbolic tradition.