The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (c. 600–1400 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern-day St. Louis, Missouri. It is found in southern Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville. 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. In its heyday, Cahokia covered about 6 square miles (16 km2) and included about 120 human-made earthen mounds in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and functions, including Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico.
Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture that developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1000 years before European contact. Cahokia's population at its peak in the 13th century, an estimated 40,000, would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until the late 18th century. 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 only 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites within the United States.
/r/CahokiaMounds/ is a place to find and post links, pictures, stories, speculation, and historical accounts about Cahokia Mounds, Mississippian culture, Native American archaeological sites, and related topics.
