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The combined movements of local and foreign people from pre-Mississippian villages and hamlets into mound centers and out to isolated farmsteads resulted in the creation of Cahokia at AD 1050 as an urban space and the center of a regionally integrated polity. Through these movements, landscapes were redefined and identities and power relations among local and foreign groups were negotiated. It is asserted that such movements interfered with local sources of power while a sense of shared identity was fostered through participation in communal events. Through analyses of site layout, occupational history, and material culture, the historical effects of these movements are traced.