Cahokia Mounds, IL

Cutting though the largest native American plaza in North America and lying at the base of the largest mound of all runs the four lane highway, Collinsville Road. Veterans Carpet Bargains sells their bargain carpets in the middle of the collection of 80 remaining mounds. And Interstate 70, just north, blocks access to the Mississippi flood plain that sustained the ancient city. This is Cahokia, the crowning achievement of the Mississippian culture.

Cahokia is located east of St Louis and you can clearly see the Gateway Arch from atop Monks Mound.

Although inhabited from 700-1400 CE, Cahokia got really big in a really short time from 1050 to 1200 CE. During that peak 10,000 to 40,000 people lived in Cahokia, comparable to the London or Paris of that time. It was the largest city of the Mississippian culture, and the largest city in North America until Philadelphia in the 1800s. The original site contained 120 earthen mounds over an area of six square miles. Inside the city houses for the residents were arranged in rows and around open plazas. And outside lay vast agricultural fields.

Monk's Mound, the largest man-made earthen mound north of Mexico, stands 10 stories tall and covers almost 14 acres. Here's a view from the east:

When you don't have writing, your names will be forgotten. This is actually not Cahokia. When the French explorers arrived about 1700 an unrelated tribe called the Cahokia lived in this area. So Cahokia it was. And the largest mound here -- indeed the largest in North America -- had no monks for its 700 year original occupation. Yet Monks Mound retains its name from Trappist community that briefly lived on it. And the names of all the other mounds -- Fox, Round Top, Mound 72 -- come from our culture, not theirs. Their names are lost.

Even the name and meaning of the Birdman, found during excavations of Monks Mound, remain a mystery.

But it's a mystery because we don't understand, not because the inhabitants were somehow mysterious. I'm sure that historians from future civilizations will argue off the 'mysterious' depopulation of Detroit. The fact is that cultures rise and fall, and that there's never any single reason for either.

I highly recommend a visit to Cahokia. The grounds are remarkable -- even with the highway bisecting it. And the museum is extensive -- even having reconstucted houses in situ with the modern building.

But one of the reasons I visited is just to give the site and the people who built it a bit of respect. I can't rebuild the dozens of mounds leveled during the building of St Louis. And I can't undo the disrespect that my culture has for the mound builder peoples. But I can personally witness the accomplishments of all these cultures, who built structures that stand as evidence of their existence and who say to us through the centuries "We were here."