Cahokia Mounds: Ancient Native American Civilization

Did you know the largest Native American civilization north of Mexico is a little-known place east of St. Louis? It so needs to be a National Park! . . Cahokia Mounds covers 2,200 acres and has 80ish mounds of different sizes and purposes. The biggest mound in the country is Monks Mound which covers 14 acres and is up to 100 feet high. We climbed the stairs to the top to see the view across the land. They even have a reproduction “Woodhenge” which is their ancient calendar system of standing giant logs in a circle for marking seasons and equinoxes. . . The museum offered a brief video and the museum itself is so impressive. The full size village replica showed all scenes of village life, and the kids loved wandering over these multiple times. . . A fourth of the museum was dedicated to the archeological explorations and was great for my little archeologist. One of the best archeology exhibits we’ve ever seen. . . I didn’t even know Indian mounds were in the US until several years ago. If you’re in the southeast, there’s one not too far away. Go see the ancients in our own country!