The faunal remains from Cahokia excavations show deer, turkey, fish, and various small mammals.

The botanical remains show beans, squash, goosefoot, and other plants.

The diversity of the food system provided resilience against the failure of any single crop or hunting season.

The production of this food was distributed across the broader settlement zone around Cahokia, not concentrated in the city itself.

The city’s core was primarily a center of political power, ceremony, and specialized craft production, not an agricultural zone.

The surrounding villages and farmsteads produced the food that fed the urban population, and the organizational challenge of getting that food from producers to consumers across the American Bottom was a significant administrative task.