Cahokia Mounds, part 2

We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the Cahokia Mounds.


It reminds me, somewhat, of a golf course, with its perfectly kept expanses of grass. It’s hard to imagine 4000 people per square mile inhabiting this place - 250 people per square mile is the definition of an urban area.



Seeing St. Louis from the top of Monk’s Mound was cool.



The exhibit area is quite comprehensive and impressive.

The diet of the people who lived here consisted of corn, squash, pumpkin, a green leafy plant with black seeds (I can’t remember the name), sunflower seed, and the animals that they could hunt.




Evidently it was not an ideal situation since many of the people were malnourished and their bones show advanced arthritis and gum disease. They used the term, "urban stress".

As usual, I’m interested in the prairie grasses ...


Coming home we passed, again, the Federal Prison just outside of Greenville. I am always sad, seeing this place, and it looked especially grim today. Not the best photo because I took it from the car window and John wouldn't slow down because there was a cop behind us.

Cahokia Mounds, part 1

Enroute to Edwardsville (yes, I did get my sparkling water), we went to Cahokia Mounds. I had been wanting to visit this ancient Indian site since we were in Missouri last year.

They were hosting a Native American art exhibit yesterday, so there was a crowd, which I didn't expect.

We were impressed with both the site and the exhibit hall. Huge, huge mounds, comparable to pyramids, around which was built a Native American center with 10-20,000 inhabitants. The wealth rested upon the huge amounts of corn that could be grown and stored. This land has been farmland for a long time.

The largest mound, Monk's mound, is named after some French Trappist monks who farmed on its terraces in the late 1800's.

The rain began just as we were ready to walk around the grounds and climb Monks Mound, so we will have to go back.

Meanwhile, this is what the Japanese Beetles are doing to the grapevine on the back fence.