Cahokia

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site /kəˈhoʊkiə/ (11 MS 2)[2] is the site of a pre-
Columbian Native American city (which existed circa 1050–1350 CE[3]) directly across
the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in western
Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville.[4] The park covers 2,200 acres (890 ha),
or about 3.5 square miles (9 km2), and contains about 80 mounds, but the ancient city
was much larger. At its apex around 1100 CE, Cahokia covered about 6 square miles
(16 km2) and included about 120 manmade earthen mounds in a wide range of sizes,
shapes, and functions.[5] In population, it may have briefly exceeded contemporaneous
London.
 Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Monks Mound, the largest earthen structure at Cahokia (for scale, an adult is standing on top)

Location St. Clair County, Illinois, U.S.

Nearest city Collinsville, Illinois

Coordinates 38°39′14″N 90°3′52″W

Area 2,200 acres (8.9 km2)

Governing body Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Official name Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

Type Cultural

Criteria iii, iv

Designated 1982 (6th session)

Reference no. 198

State Party United States

Region Europe and North America

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

 Official name Cahokia Mounds

Designated October 15, 1966[1]

Reference no. 66000899

U.S. National Historic Landmark

Official name Cahokia Mounds

Designated July 19, 1964[1]

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian
culture, which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central
and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1,000 years before European
contact.[6] Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex
archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico.

Cahokia Mounds is a National Historic Landmark and a designated site for state
protection. It is also one of the 24 UNESCO World Heritage Sites within the United
States. The largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico,[5]
the site is open to the public and administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation
Division and supported by the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. In celebration of the
2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the Cahokia Mounds were selected as one of the Illinois 200
Great Places[7] by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois)
and was recognized by USA Today Travel magazine, as one of AIA Illinois's selections
for Illinois 25 Must See Places.[8]

History

Development
 A map showing approximate areas of various
Mississippian and related cultures. Cahokia is located
near the center of this map in the upper part of the
Middle Mississippi area.

Although some evidence exists of occupation during the Late Archaic period (around
1200 BCE) in and around the site,[9] Cahokia as it is now defined was settled around
600 CE during the Late Woodland period. Mound building at this location began with
the emergent Mississippian cultural period, about the 9th century CE.[10] The
inhabitants left no written records beyond symbols on pottery, shell, copper, wood, and
stone, but the elaborately planned community, woodhenge, mounds, and burials reveal
a complex and sophisticated society.[11]

The city's complex construction of earthen mounds required excavation, movement by

hand using woven baskets, and construction involving 55 million cubic feet of earth,
much of which was accomplished over a matter of just decades. Its highly planned
ceremonial plazas sited around the mounds with homes for thousands connected by
laid out pathways and courtyards suggest the location served as a central religious
pilgrimage city.[12]

The city's original name is unknown. 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. Most likely, multiple indigenous ethnic groups settled in the
Cahokia Mounds area during the time of the city's apex.[13][14]

Historian Daniel Richter notes that the apex of the city occurred during the Medieval
Warming Period. This period appears to have fostered an agricultural revolution in
upper North America, as the three-fold crops of maize, beans (legumes), and gourds
(squash) were developed and adapted or bred to the temperate climates of the north
from their origins in Mesoamerica. Richter also notes that Cahokia's advanced
development coincided with the development in the Southwest of the Chaco Canyon
society, which also produced large-scale works in an apparent socially stratified
society. The decline of the city coincides with the Little Ice Age, although by then, the
three-fold agriculture remained well-established throughout temperate North
America.[15]

Rise and peak (13th century)

Cahokia became the most important center for the people known today as
Mississippians. Their settlements ranged across what is now the Midwest, Eastern,
and Southeastern United States. Cahokia was located in a strategic position near the
confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers. It maintained trade links
with communities as far away as the Great Lakes to the north and the Gulf Coast to
the south, trading in such exotic items as copper, Mill Creek chert,[16] and whelk shells.

Artists recreation of central Cahokia.

Cahokia's east-west baseline
transects the Woodhenge, Monk's
Mound, and several other large
mounds

Mill Creek chert, most notably, was used in the production of hoes, a high demand tool
for farmers around Cahokia and other Mississippian centers. Cahokia's control of the
manufacture and distribution of these hand tools was an important economic activity
that allowed the city to thrive.[17] Mississippian culture pottery and stone tools in the
Cahokian style were found at the Silvernale site[18] near Red Wing, Minnesota, and
materials and trade goods from Pennsylvania, the Gulf Coast and Lake Superior have
been excavated at Cahokia. Bartering, not money, was used in trade.[19]

At the high point of its development, Cahokia was the largest urban center north of the
great Mesoamerican cities in Mexico and Central America. Although it was home to
only about 1,000 people before circa 1050, its population grew rapidly after that date.
According to a 2007 study in Quaternary Science Reviews, "Between AD 1050 and 1100,
Cahokia's population increased from between 1,400 and 2,800 people to between
10,200 and 15,300 people".[20] an estimate that applies only to a 1.8-square-kilometre
(0.69 sq mi) high density central occupation area.[21] Archaeologists estimate the city's
population at between 6,000 and 40,000 at its peak,[22] with more people living in
outlying farming villages that supplied the main urban center. In the early 21st century,
new residential areas were found to the west of Cahokia as a result of archeological
excavations, increasing estimates of area population.[23] If the highest population
estimates are correct, Cahokia was larger than any subsequent city in the United
States until the 1780s, when Philadelphia's population grew beyond 40,000.[24]
Moreover, according to some population estimates, the population of 13th-century
Cahokia was equal to or larger than the population of 13th-century London.[25]

One of the major problems that large centers like Cahokia faced was keeping a steady
supply of food. A related problem was waste disposal for the dense population, and
Cahokia became unhealthy from polluted waterways. Because it was such an
unhealthy place to live, Snow believes that the town had to rely on social and political
attractions to bring in a steady supply of new immigrants; otherwise, the town's death
rate would have caused it to be abandoned earlier.[17]

Decline

Mississippian period showing the multiple layers of

mound construction, mound structures such as
temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior
structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and
intrusive burials

The population of Cahokia began to decline during the 13th century, and the site was
eventually abandoned around 1300.[26] The area around it was not reoccupied by
indigenous tribes[27] until around 1350.[28] Scholars have proposed environmental
factors, such as overhunting, deforestation, and flooding, as explanations for
abandonment of the site.[26]

Another possible cause is invasion by outside peoples, though the only evidence of
warfare found are the defensive wooden stockade and watchtowers that enclosed
Cahokia's main ceremonial precinct. There is no other evidence for warfare, so the
palisade may have been more for ritual or formal separation than for military purposes.
Diseases transmitted among the large, dense urban population are another possible
cause of decline. Many theories since the late 20th century propose conquest-induced
political collapse as the primary reason for Cahokia's abandonment.[29]

Together with these factors, researchers found evidence in 2015 of major floods at
Cahokia, so severe as to flood dwelling places. Analysis of sediment from beneath
Horseshoe Lake has revealed that two major floods occurred in the period of
settlement at Cahokia, in roughly 1100–1260 and 1340–1460.[28][30]

Notable features

The original site contained 120 earthen mounds over an area of 6 square miles
(16 km2), of which 80 remain today. To achieve that, thousands of workers over
decades moved more than an estimated 55 million cubic feet [1,600,000 m3] of earth
in woven baskets to create this network of mounds and community plazas. Monks
Mound, for example, covers 14 acres (5.7 ha), rises 100 ft (30 m), and was topped by a
massive 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) building another 50 ft (15 m) high.[5]

Monks Mound

An 1882 illustration of Monks Mound

showing it with fanciful proportions

Incised sandstone tablet of a

Birdman found in 1971 during
excavations into the east side
 excavations into the east side
of Monks Mound

Monks Mound is the largest structure and central focus of the city: a massive platform
mound with four terraces, 10 stories tall, it is the largest man-made earthen mound
north of Mexico. Facing south, it is 100 ft (30 m) high, 951 ft (290 m) long, 836 ft
(255 m) wide and covers 13.8 acres (5.6 ha).[31] It contains about 814,000 cu yd
(622,000 m3) of earth.[17] The mound was built higher and wider over the course of
several centuries, through as many as 10 separate construction episodes, as the
mound was built taller and the terraces and apron were added.[31]

Monks Mounds was named for the community of Trappist monks who resided there
for a short time, after Euroamericans settled in the area. Excavation on the top of
Monks Mound has revealed evidence of a large building, likely a temple or the
residence of the paramount chief, which would have been seen throughout the city.
This building was about 105 ft (32 m) long and 48 feet (15 m) wide, and could have
been as much as 50 ft (15 m) high. It was about 5,000 sq ft (460 m2).

The east and northwest sides of Monks Mound were twice excavated in August 2007
during an attempt to avoid erosion due to slumping. These areas were repaired to
preserve the mound.[32]

Urban landscape

Early in its history, Cahokia underwent a massive construction boom. Along with the
early phase of Monks Mound, an overarching urban layout was established at the site.
It was built with a symbolic quadripartite worldview and oriented toward the four
cardinal directions with the main east-west and north-south axes defined with Monks
Mound near its center point. Four large plazas were established to the east, west,
north, and south of Monks Mound.[33][34]

To the south of Monks Mound is the Grand Plaza, a large area that covered roughly 50
acres (20 ha) and measured over 1,600 ft (490 m) in length by over 900 ft (270 m) in
width. Researchers originally thought the flat, open terrain in this area reflected
Cahokia's location on the Mississippi's alluvial flood plain, but instead soil studies have
shown that the landscape was originally undulating ridge and swale topography. In one
of the earliest large-scale construction projects, the site had been expertly and
deliberately leveled and filled by the city's inhabitants. It is part of the sophisticated
engineering displayed throughout the site.[35] It was used for large ceremonies and
gatherings, as well as for ritual games, such as chunkey. The game was played by
rolling a disc-shaped chunky stone across the field. The men would throw spears
where they thought the chunky stone would land. The game required a great deal of
judgment and aim.[17]
The major ceremonial north-south 'axis' connects the main precinct with the large
ridgetop mortuary mound to its south now known as the Rattlesnake Mound (Mound
66[36]). The feature, named the Rattlesnake Causeway by archaeologists, was an
elevated embankment about 18 metres (59 ft) wide, roughly 800 metres (2,600 ft) in
length and varies in height from 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) to almost 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) as it
traverses a low swampy area to the south of the Grand Plaza.[37] It is aligned 5° east of
north, a direction thought to mimic the maximum southern moon rise of 5° west of
north, albeit in reverse. This is thought to have had symbolic associations to the
builders in connection with their lunar maize goddess of the underworld.[38] This is
further strengthened by its close proximity to the ridgetop mortuary Mound 72, the
underworld connotations of the low water-filled area the causeway traversed, and its
terminus at the mortuary complex at the Rattlesnake Mound. The causeway itself may
have been seen as a symbolic "Path of Souls".[37]

The high-status central district of Cahokia was surrounded by a 2-mi-long palisade that
was equipped with protective bastions. A later addition to the site, when the palisade
was constructed, it cut through and separated some pre-existing neighborhoods.[17]
Archaeologists found evidence of the stockade during excavation of the area and
indications that it was rebuilt several times. Its bastions showed that it was mainly
built for defensive purposes.[17]

Beyond Monks Mound, as many as 120 more mounds stood at varying distances from
the city center. To date, 109 mounds have been located, 68 of which are in the park
area. The mounds are divided into three different types: platform, conical, and ridge-
top. Each appeared to have had its own meaning and function. In general terms, the
city center seems to have been laid out in a diamond-shaped pattern about 1 mi
(1.6 km) from end to end, while the entire city is 5 mi (8.0 km) across from east to
west.

Mound 72

Mound 72

During excavation of Mound 72, a ridge-top burial mound south of main urban precinct,
archaeologists found the remains of a man in his 40s who was probably an important
Cahokian ruler. The man was buried on a bed of more than 20,000 marine-shell disc
beads arranged in the shape of a falcon,[39] with the bird's head appearing beneath and
beside the man's head, and its wings and tail beneath his arms and legs.

The falcon warrior or "birdman" is a common motif in Mississippian culture. This burial
clearly had powerful iconographic significance. In addition, a cache of sophisticated,
finely worked arrowheads in a variety of different styles and materials was found near
the grave of this important man. Separated into four types, each from a different
geographical region, the arrowheads demonstrated Cahokia's extensive trade links in
North America.

Archeologists recovered more than 250 other skeletons from Mound 72. Scholars
believe almost 62% of these were sacrificial victims, based on signs of ritual execution,
method of burial, and other factors.[40] The skeletons include:

Four young males, missing their hands and skulls

A mass grave of more than 50 women around 21 years old, with the bodies arranged in
two layers separated by matting

A mass burial containing 40 men and women who appear to have been violently killed,
some of these may have been buried alive: "From the vertical position of some of the
fingers, which appear to have been digging in the sand, it is apparent that not all of the
victims were dead when they were interred – that some had been trying to pull
themselves out of the mass of bodies."[41]

The relationship of these burials to the central burial is unclear. They were unlikely to
have all deposited at the same time. Wood in several parts of the mound has been
radiocarbon-dated to between 950 and 1000 CE.

Excavations have indicated that Mound 72 was not constructed as a single mound, but
rather as a series of smaller mounds. These mounds were reshaped and covered over
to give Mound 72 its final ridge-top shape.[42]

Copper workshop

Mississippian culture repoussé copper

plates
Excavations near Mound 34 from 2002 to 2010 revealed a copper workshop. This
unique find was originally discovered in the 1950s by archaeologist Gregory Perino, but
its exact location was lost for 60 years. It is the only known copper workshop to be
found at a Mississippian culture site.[43] The area contains the remains of three tree
stumps thought to have been used to hold anvil stones. Analysis of copper found
during excavations showed that it had been annealed, a technique involving repeatedly
heating and cooling the metal as it is worked, as blacksmiths do with iron.[43]

Artisans produced religious items, such as long-nosed god maskettes, ceremonial

earrings with a symbolic shape, thought to have been used in fictive kinship
rituals.[44][45] Many of the stylistically related Mississippian copper plates, such as the
Wulfing cache from southeastern Missouri, some of the Etowah plates from Georgia,
and many of the Spiro plates from Oklahoma, are associated with the Greater Braden
style and are thought to have been made in Cahokia in the 13th century.[46][47][48][49]

Cahokia Woodhenge

View of the reconstructed Woodhenge

III and its alignment with the equinox
pole and Monks Mound .5 miles
(0.80 km) away

The Cahokia Woodhenge was a series of large timber circles located roughly 850 m
(2,790 ft) to the west of Monks Mound. They are thought to have been constructed
between 900 and 1100 CE, with each one being larger and having 12 more posts than
its predecessor.[50] The site was discovered during salvage archaeology undertaken by
Dr. Warren Wittry in the early 1960s interstate highway construction boom. Although
the majority of the site contained village house features, a number of unusually
shaped, large post holes were also discovered. When the holes were plotted out, they
formed several arcs of equally spaced holes.[51] Detailed analytical work supported the
hypothesis that the placement of these posts was by design,[52] and Wittry
hypothesized that the arcs could be whole circles. He began referring to the circles as
"woodhenges", comparing the structures to England's well-known circles at
Woodhenge and Stonehenge.[53][54]
Additional excavations in the 1960s–1980s used predictions based on verified
posthole locations and spacing to locate other postholes and confirm the existence of
five separate timber circles in the general vicinity. The circles are now designated
Woodhenges I through V in Roman numerals.[51] In 1985, a reconstruction of
Woodhenge III was built with the posts being placed into the original excavated post
positions.[51] The circle, which has 48 posts in the circle and a 49th central post, has
been used to investigate archaeoastronomy at Cahokia.[55] The Illinois Historic
Preservation Division that oversees the Cahokia site hosts public sunrise observations
at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices. Out of
respect for Native American beliefs, these events do not feature ceremonies or rituals
of any kind.[56][57][58]

Related mounds

Until the 19th century, a series of similar mounds existed in what is now the city of St.
Louis, some 20 km (12 mi) to the southwest of the Cahokia site. Most of these
mounds were leveled throughout the construction of St. Louis, as their material was
reused in construction projects.

The lone survivor of these mounds is Sugarloaf Mound, which is located on the west
bank of the Mississippi. It marked the initial border between St. Louis and the once
autonomous city of Carondelet.

Cahokia Museum and Interpretive Center

Museum and Interpretive Center

The Cahokia Museum and Interpretive Center, which receives up to a million visitors a
year, was designed by AAIC Inc. The building, which opened in 1989, received the
Thomas H. Madigan Award, the St. Louis Construction News & Reviews Readers Choice
Award, the Merit Award from the Metal Construction Association, and the Outstanding
Achievement Award from the Brick Manufacturer Association.

Designations
Cahokia Mounds was first protected by the state of Illinois in 1923 when its legislature
authorized purchase of a state park. Later designation as a state historic site offered
additional protection, but the site came under significant threat from the federal
highway building program in the 1950s. The highway program reduced the site's
integrity; however, it increased funding for emergency archeological investigations.
These investigations became intensive, and today continue, and have led to the
present understanding of the significance of the site. The site was designated a
National Historic Landmark on July 19, 1964, and listed on the National Register of
Historic Places on October 15, 1966.[1]

In 1982, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
designated the site a World Heritage Site. This is the only such self-contained site in
Illinois and among only 24 World Heritage Sites in the United States.[59] State Senator
Evelyn M. Bowles wrote about the Cahokia Mounds site:

Through the years my friends and I made occasional Sunday afternoon

trips to the Mounds. When I became the State Senator, it afforded me the
opportunity to secure funds for the acquisition of additional acreage in
which there are smaller Mounds. Many of these have contained
additional artifacts." The designation has helped protect the property
and attract funds to conduct research on this significant civilization.[60]
  

A Mississippian-era priest, in the 13th century, Cahokia metropolis, holding a ceremonial flint
mace and severed sacrificial head

Tamarois et Caouquias on a map of Illinois in 1718 south of the confluence of the Illinois and
Mississippi rivers (approximate modern state area highlighted) from Carte de la Louisiane et
du Cours du Mississipi by Guillaume de L'Isle

The Rattlesnake Causeway leading from Monks Mound to Mound 66 is the city's ceremonial
north-south axis.
  

The "Chunkey Player" statuette made of Missouri flint clay depicts the ancient Native
American game of chunkey. The statuette is believed to have been originally crafted at or
near Cahokia Mounds was excavated at a Mississippian site in Muskogee County,
Oklahoma.

Clay statuette excavated at Cahokia site

See also

American Bottom

List of Mississippian sites

Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere

Mississippian stone statuary

List of archaeoastronomical sites by country

Notes

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they
are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an more
Learn

^ a: See Engraved beaker from Cahokia site, donated by Moorehead, ISM collection.
for image of the object in question.

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Viking Press. pp. 23–34. ISBN 978-0-670-02090-4. "Pg 23 "Cahokia was so large-
covering three to five square miles-that archaeologists have yet to probe many
portions of it. Its centerpiece was an open 50-acre Grand Plaza, surrounded by packed-
 clay pyramids. The size of 35 football fields, the Grand Plaza was at the time the
biggest public space ever conceived and executed north of Mexico."...Pg 34 "a flat
public square 1,600-plus feet in length and 900-plus feet in width"

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41. Young & Fowler, pp. 146–149.

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44. "Gahagan Long-nosed god maskette" . University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved

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46. Kelly et al. in King, 57–87

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48. Townsend, Sharp, and Bailey 151

49. Bolfing 67–68

50. "Visitors Guide to the Woodhenge" . Retrieved December 19, 2017.

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52. Friedlander, Michael W. (2007). "The Cahokia Sun Circles". The Wisconsin Archeologist.
88 (1): 78–90.

53. Wittry, Warren L. (1964). "An American Woodhenge". Cranbrook Institute of Science
Newsletter. 33 (9): 102–107 – via Explorations into Cahokia Archaeology, Bulletin 7,
Illinois Archaeological Survey, 1969.
54. Wittry, Warren L. "Discovering and Interpreting the Cahokia Woodhenges". The
Wisconsin Archaeologist. 77(3/4): 26–35.

55. Thomas, Mary (2005). American Woodhenge: Archaeoastronomy at Cahokia (PDF)

(Bachelors thesis). Northern Illinois University. Retrieved December 20, 2017.

56. Iseminger, William. "Welcome the Fall Equinox at Cahokia Mounds" . Illinois
Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved December 20, 2017.

57. "Winter Solstice Sunrise Observance at Cahokia Mounds" . Collinsville Chamber of

Commerce. Retrieved December 20, 2017.

58. "Cahokia Mounds Mark Spring Equinox : The keepers of Cahokia Mounds will host a
spring gathering to celebrate the vernal equinox" . Indian Country Today. Indian
Country Media Network. Retrieved December 20, 2017.

59. "United States of America – UNESCO World Heritage Centre" . UNESCO World
Heritage Centre. March 11, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2009.

60. "Congressional representative letter" . Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Archived
from the original on October 19, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2011.

Bibliography

Bolfing, Christopher (May 1, 2010). The Paradigm of the Periphery in Native North
America (Thesis). Texas State University-San Marcos, University College, University
Honors Program. pp. 67–68. Retrieved May 2, 2012.

Chappell, Sally A. Kitt (2002). Cahokia: Mirror of the Cosmos . Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10136-1.

Emerson, Thomas E. (1997). Cahokia and the Archaeology of Power . Tuscaloosa, AL:
University of Alabama. ISBN 0-8173-0888-1. Archived from the original on February
24, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2006.

Emerson, Thomas E.; Lewis, R. Barry (1991). Cahokia and the Hinterlands: Middle
Mississippian Cultures of the Midwest . Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois. ISBN 0-
252-06878-5. Archived from the original on September 5, 2006. Retrieved
September 21, 2006.

Kelly, John E.; Brown, James A.; Hamlin, Jenn M.; Kelly, Lucretia S.; Kozuch, Laura;
Parker, Kathryn; Van Nest, Julieann (August 26, 2007). "Mound 34 : The Context for the
Early Evidence of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex at Cahokia". In King, Adam
(ed.). Southeastern Ceremonial Complex: Chronology, Content, Context. University of
Alabama Press. pp. 57–87. ISBN 978-0-8173-5409-1.
 Lankford, George E.; Reilly, F. Kent; Garber, James, eds. (January 15, 2011). Visualizing
the Sacred: Cosmic Visions, Regionalism, and the Art of the Mississippian World (PDF).
University of Texas Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0292723085.

Pauketat, Timothy R. (2009). Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi.
New York: Viking Adult. ISBN 978-0-670-02090-4.

Pursell, Corin (2004). Geographic distribution and symbolism of colored mound

architecture in the Mississippian Southeast (Thesis). Southern Illinois University
Carbondale. p. 205.

Townsend, Richard F; Sharp, Robert V; Bailey, Garrick Alan (2000). Hero, Hawk, and
Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South . Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-10601-7.

Young, Biloine; Fowler, Melvin L. (2000). Cahokia: The Great Native American
Metropolis . Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois. ISBN 0-252-06821-1. Archived from
the original on September 5, 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2006. full text available
at [2]

Further reading

Introductory Bibliography of Published Sources on Cahokia Archeology

Scholarly Bibliography of Published Sources on Cahokia Archaeology

Emerson, Iseminger; Nance, L. Michael; Winslow, Madeline; Gass, Marilyn (2001).

Cahokia Mounds State Historical Site Nature / Culture Hike Guidebook, 4th revised
edition. Collinsville, Illinois: Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. pp. 79 pp.

Fowler, Melvin L.; Rose, Jerome; Leest, Barbara Vander; Ahler, Steven R. (1999). The
Mound 72 Area: Dedicated and Sacred Space in Early Cahokia. Illinois State Museum
Society. ISBN 978-0-89792-157-2.

Milner, George R. (2004). The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America.
London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd.

Mink, Claudia Gellman (1992). Cahokia, City of the Sun: Prehistoric Urban Center in the
American Bottom . Collinsville, IL: Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. ISBN 1-881563-
00-6.

Pauketat, Timothy (1994). The Ascent of Chiefs: Cahokia and Mississippian Politics in
Native North America . Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama. ISBN 0-8173-0728-1.
Archived from the original on September 4, 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2006.

Price, Douglas T.; Feinman, Gary M. (2008). Images of the Past (5 ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill. pp. 280–285 . ISBN 978-0-07-340520-9.
External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cahokia.

Cahokia Mounds Homepage and Map of the Site

Cahokia Mounds Photo Gallery

Cahokia Mounds Information & Videos – Chickasaw.TV

"Cahokia Mounds" , Illinois Historic Preservation Agency

"Metropolitan Life on the Mississippi" , Washington Post, March 12, 1997

Mississippian Art and Artifacts

Visitors' perspectives

Woodhenge and the Cahokia Mounds

"Cahokia: America's Forgotten City" , National Geographic Magazine, January 2011

IHPA video with narration on Cahokia

Illinois Great Places – Mounds

Society of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on the Cahokia Mounds

  Cahokia travel guide from Wikivoyage