After reading the Contexts & Connections essay in this chapter, research the topic further by taking a look at the following links. Suggested essay questions follow to help you digest this material.

Cahokian Mound

Location: http://brewsteralexander.com/dar/moundsml.jpg

Description: Image of an Indian mound at Cahokia.

1.			Study the image of one of the mounds at Cahokia. Please list five organizational skills and technologies required to construct such a structure. What do the mounds suggest about the technological and cultural sophistication of the people who constructed them?

Pedro de Cieza de Léon: Chronicles of the Incas, 1540

Location: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1540cieza.html

Description: A Conquistadores account of Incan History.

2.			The selection Mounds and Their Interpreters makes clear that most Anglo-American commentators did not believe that Native Americans were capable of developing the sophisticated institutions needed to build the mounds. Contrast those interpretations with de Léon's description of the Incas. What does his account of Incan society suggest about the capabilities and sophistication of the peoples of the New World?