Cahokia Mounds: discover the mysterious America’s first city

Near present-day St. Louis, Cahokia was the largest pre-Columbian settlement in the New World north of Mexico.
The now state archaeology park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville, covering about 9 km2 and containing about 80 manmade mounds, even if the ancient city was much larger.
Once, in fact, it had about 120 mounds, built for various purposes by the inhabitants of the area.
One of them is Monks Mound which, at 30 meters tall, is the largest earthwork in North America from prehistoric times.
Cahokia was a center of culture and religion for possibly up to 20,000 people of the Mississippian cultural tradition and, at its height in roughly the year 1250, it was bigger than London.
Actually the city’s original name is unknown, and the mounds were later named after the Cahokia tribe, a historic Illiniwek people living in the area when the first French explorers arrived in the 17th century.
As this was centuries after Cahokia was abandoned by its original inhabitants, the Cahokia tribe was not necessarily descended from the earlier Mississippian-era people and, most likely, multiple indigenous ethnic groups settled in the mounds area during the time of the city’s apex.

Although some evidence exists of occupation during the Late Archaic period (around 1200 BCE) in and around the site, Cahokia as it is now defined was first settled around 600 and mounds were built starting about 300 years later.
However, the settlement continued until perhaps as late as the early 15th century when it was abandoned for unknown reasons.
Many theories have been proposed for the abandonment, including invasion and warfare, as well as lack of game animals and deforestation as a result of erosion.

Within the ceremonial complex, there was a wooden monument built to mark the equinox and solstice, in much the same way that Stonehenge in England does.
The remnants of the wood poles were discovered by archaeologists and a replica has now been built.
In any case, the area now encompassing Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site has a long and interestingly history. In addition to its status as a center of trade and culture, it also existed as a large ceremonial and ritual complex. One mound in particular, Mound 72, shows evidence of hundreds of sacrificial burials, containing 4 male skeletons buried together, all missing their hands, and skulls.
Also within this mound, skeletons in a mass grave were found with their fingers extended into the sand surrounding them, suggesting to archaeologists that the people were alive when they were buried and were trying to claw their way through the dead bodies surrounding them.
The skeletons in this grave were all from young women, ranging from ages 15 to 30, which further suggests that these individuals were not opponents but rather sacrificial victims.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982.
The true story behind these deaths, and the abandonment of Cahokia?
It’s possible we’ll never know.

Images from web – Google Research