Stirling and Moorehead Phase (AD 1100–1250) Architecture and Community Organization at East St. Louis

East St. Louis was occupied continuously from approximately AD 900 (Terminal Late Woodland period) through AD 1250 (early Moorehead phase). This paper will focus on the late occupation of the site through the Stirling and early Moorehead phases. The Stirling phase saw the rapid expansion of East St. Louis as an urban center with the expansion of both elite and domestic activities. This includes evidence of the re-organization of formally domestic areas as pub I ic or sacred spaces as well as the expansion of new domestic neighborhoods into areas not previously occupied. We will delineate differences in architectural style, arrangement of do-mestic architecture, and the identification of supra-household storage features and buildings. We will also address the apparent abandonment of the mound center at the beginning of the Moorehead phase and how that relates to the eventual col-lapse of Cahokia and its environs.