Mill Creek Chert Hoes and Prairie Soils: Implications for Cahokian Production and Expansion

Population growth in the American Bottom after A.D. 1050 may have outstripped agricultural productivity. It has been suggested that farmers expanded agricultural practices into previously unused upland prairies to expand production. Historic accounts describe the difficulty that early settlers had with prairie, making this supposition questionable. However, experiments with replica Mill Creek hoes suggest that these tools were capable of converting prairie into farmland.