CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE HISTORIC SITE
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Unesco heritage site, with several fairly short trails, offering a visit with a film on its history.
Although there is evidence of occupation about 1200 BCE in and around the site, Cahokia as it is now defined was settled about 600 CE. Mound building at this site began with the emerging Mississippi cultural period, around the ninth century CE. It is the largest pre-Columbian earthen structure in northern Mexico-Americas. By 1250, Cahokia was a city larger than London. It had a population of some 15,000 to 30,000. The Native Americans who lived here (the Mississippians) erected a wide variety of structures ranging from dwellings for daily life to public monumentals that retained their grandeur for centuries until the decline in 1300. The inhabitants left no written record other than symbols on everyday objects. It was undoubtedly a complex and sophisticated society. Monks Mound is the largest structure and the center of the city: a massive platform mound with four terraces and 10 stories high. Facing south, it is 30 m high, 290 m long, 255 m wide and covers 5.6 ha. It is named after the Indians who lived on the site when white men arrived in the 17th century. Your visit begins with a film that tells the history of this site, then you deepen your knowledge thanks to the adjacent museum. Several trails allow you to explore the surroundings.
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