The combination of these human-induced environmental changes with the natural climate variability of the period may have created a feedback cycle in which agricultural productivity declined just as climate was making it more difficult to sustain anyway.

Political instability is another line of evidence that some archaeologists have found significant.

The palisade wall that enclosed Cahokia’s central precinct was rebuilt multiple times, and the repeated reconstruction of this defensive structure suggests that the threat of external attack or internal conflict was a persistent reality.

The highly hierarchical social structure implied by the mortuary evidence — with a small elite controlling enormous resources and potentially demanding significant labor and tribute from a large population — may have generated internal tensions that became increasingly difficult to manage as environmental conditions deteriorated.

The bioarchaeological evidence from Cahokia — the analysis of skeletal remains to determine the health, nutrition, and life experiences of the population — has contributed a more human dimension to the story of the city’s decline.