The Mounds

Cahokia Mounds is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. Photos by Yiren Gallagher

Cahokia Mounds

The remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico are preserved at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Within the 2,200-acre tract, located a few miles west of Collinsville, Illinois, lie the archaeological remnants of the central section of the ancient settlement that is today known as Cahokia. This agricultural society may have had a population of 10–20,000 at its peak between 1050 and 1150. Primary features at the site include Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas, covering over 13 acres and standing 100 feet high.  In 1982, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), designated Cahokia Mounds a World Heritage Site for its importance to our understanding of the prehistory of North America.

Cahokia Mounds Reconstructed. Cahokia Mounds Museum Society

Mounds, Oklahoma

My interest in the city of Mounds is solely for the name sake.  Mounds, a town in Creek County, Oklahoma originally named after the Creek poet, Posey and later renamed Mounds for twin hills that were nearby. The discovery of oil in the Glenn Pool field in 1905 turned Mounds into a shipping point for crude oil instead of cattle. 

However, the truly amazing archaeological site in Oklahoma is the mound center of Spiro in the Arkansas River valley in extreme eastern Oklahoma. Spiro was the westernmost of the main centers in the Mississippian world during the 12th through mid-15th centuries (A.D. 1100-1450).  In 1933, local entrepreneurs formed the "Pocola Mining Company" to loot Craig Mound, the site's largest mound. The destruction of much of this mound is one of the great tragedies of American archaeology.

The mounds have been excavated over the years and have produced a wide range of art and artifacts.  Dubbed the "King Tut of the Arkansas Valley" by the Kansas City Star in 1935, the Spiro Mounds have yielded elaborate ceremonial grave goods including basketry, feather capes and cloth.  Based on these historic finds, the Spiro Mounds have been hailed as home to the most elaborate, artistic and sophisticated decoration of any other Mississippian site. 1978, the Spiro Mounds State Park was open and today the site is situated on 150 acres of protected land that encompasses the twelve original mounds, the village area and sections of the ancient support city. 

Cahokia Mounds

Spiro Mounds

Spiro and the Arkansas Basin