The smallest houses — typical wattle-and-daub structures of perhaps 15 to 20 square meters of floor space — are found in the outer residential zones.

Larger houses, sometimes with evidence of more elaborate construction or furnishing, appear closer to the city center and in areas that may have been associated with particular social or craft-producing groups.

The contents of houses and the refuse pits associated with them tell a story of daily life that is recognizably human in its particulars.

Cooking vessels — ceramic pots of various shapes and sizes, with evidence of use over fire — are the most common artifact type.

The pottery of Cahokia is distinctive and refined: shell-tempered wares with smooth surfaces, sometimes decorated with incised geometric designs or with more elaborate representational imagery.