I’m reading a book called “Weird Illinois” by Troy Taylor and there is a section about Mound Builders as follows (pg31):
"What happened to the Mound Builders of Cahokia? Perhaps they abandoned the area because of overcrowding or contaminatino of the local water supply, or there may have been a breakdown of civilization itself. Around 1500, the Mississippi Valley was seized by a religious movement called the Death Cult, and a new type of grotesque artwork became prevalent, portraying winged beasts, skulls, and weird faces. The rituals practiced during this period of decline are unknown, but scholars have hinted at human sacrifice and cannibalism.
I can’t find ANYTHING to support this on the internet. Anyone know anything more about this ‘religious movement’?
I’m not sure how a period that extended from 1200 C.E. to the mid 1600s C.E. could be described as a “decline” without establishing a sufficiently long period of progress before it. I suspect that the author of the book is using hype to keep the interest of the reader. I have never heard claims of sacrifice or cannibalism associated with it, although I have not read extensively on the topic.
The “Death Cult” is more formally known as the “Southern Death Cult” and is also known as the “Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.” There are several hits on the former via Google™ and lots of hits on the latter. (To find “Southern Death Cult” on Google™, use the search argument “southern death cult -music -band -punk” to eliminate as many references as possible to the band of the same name.) The references I have seen indicate that it arose 300 years earlier than the 1500 that the Weird Illinois author provides. If anything “arose” around 1500, it might have been the massive death of several societies sharing the culture due to disease introduced during DeSoto’s exploration of the region. However, the designs associated with the Southern Death Cult originated long before Europeans entered the land.
I’m not sure of the validity of it, and I’ve never heard of the cult mentioned in the OP, but the description instantly reminded me of one of our area’s stranger bits of native folklore, the Piasa Monster.
Why yes, I would think that they could conveivably have been a part of The Southern Death Cult phenomenon. Just because they have been appropriated by New Agers doesn’t make them any less valid as ceremonial artifacts.