>The city's elites may have led the performance to show their political and spiritual power, much the way their European counterparts of the same era were condu

>The city's elites may have led the performance to show their political and spiritual power, much the way their European counterparts of the same era were conducting public executions and crusades. I wish the article laid out more empirical evidence for this rather than resorting to "well the Europeans were doing it, so this must have been what they were also doing!" > He and Alt were both very opposed to the idea that Cahokia might have been a trade center and called it a mistake to view the city as an economic entity. Cities are inherently economic entities... Kind of gives the impression that these archaeologists are imposing a bit of their own belief systems. It might be more reflective of the informal writing style than anything else.