The Cahokia Mounds: The Rise and Fall of a Mississippi Metropolis

The Cahokia Mounds: The Rise and Fall of a Mississippi Metropolis

The Cahokia Mounds in modern-day Illinois represent the largest and most influential urban center of the Mississippian culture. At its peak around 1050–1150 CE, Cahokia was larger than London was at the same time, housing an estimated population of 10,000 to 20,000 people.It was a city of monumental earthen architecture, sophisticated astronomical alignments, and a complex social hierarchy that dominated the American Bottom floodplain for centur…