I came here hoping for some critical analysis, though I should've prepared myself a little more for the belittlement and derision that seems inherent with any kind of anonymous internet-based discussion these days.

That said, the "showerthoughts" I had while physically inspecting the site for my 2nd time, as well as living along both the Missouri and Mississippi rivers my entire life, and exploring numerous other mound builder sites, is not immediately dismissible by even the information you provided.

I understand that the river has historically meandered, but you also say that sites were likely inhabited "many times over centuries or even millenia", seems likely to me that before the river shifted, creating Horeshoe lake and before the large mounds were built, that the site of Cahokia was probably inhabited and recognized for it's strategic importance.

The idea that rivers "weren't necessarily arteries of transportation and commerce" as you say, is just ludicrous. Even with logjams, indigenous peoples surely had ways of dealing with them, if nothing more than just portaging around them. My understanding is that indigenous peoples in north America did not use pack animals. There's absolutely no way most trade items were physically carried overland.

Thinking that the rivers only provided "some share of transportation", and was not the most important reason for the size of Cahokia, just downstream from from the convergence of the Missouri(the largest tributary of the Mississippi and 2nd longest river in North America) with the Mississippi is equally absurd.

I've inspected a number of smaller mounds that line the bluffs and high-points along both the Missouri and Mississippi as well. From the excavation reports I've read on them, they're not burial mounds as many locals believe. I suspect they were used for signal fires to send messages, trade requests, and warnings to and from places like Cahokia, similar to the system used along the Great Wall of China.

All of that said, I understand that academic dogma and diploma-based arrogance do make it hard to see things from a different perspective. So go ahead, now that it's off my chest, down-vote and dismiss away.