🌾 Cahokia Mounds

About This Sacred Site

Cahokia Mounds, near present-day St. Louis, was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture and the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. At its peak around 1100 CE, Cahokia had a population of 10,000 to 20,000, rivaling contemporary London. Monks Mound, the largest earthen structure in the Americas, covers 14 acres and rises 100 feet. The site includes a series of wooden posts called 'Woodhenge' that functioned as a solar calendar. The city was a major ceremonial center, and its influence spread across much of eastern North America through trade and religion.

Key Facts

• •Monks Mound is the largest pre-Columbian earthen structure in the Americas at 100 feet tall
• •Population reached 10,000-20,000 around 1100 CE, larger than London at the time
• •Woodhenge — a circle of wooden posts — served as a precise solar calendar
• •UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982
• •Over 120 earthen mounds were built, of which 80 survive today

Location

Coordinates: 38.6554, -90.0619