Visiting the Cahokia Mounds

Since most Native Americans were nomads, they left few structures behind unlike their more southern counterparts. Along the Mississippi River in Illinois though, you can see some scant remains of an ancient native American civilization that exited over 1,000 years ago. This ancient city was constructed of giant mounds of earth topped with wooden temples that were surrounded by small villages. Known as the Cahokia Mounds, these are the largest native American ruins in North America outside of Mexico. Artists imaginations look better of what the mounds actually look like now, such as this painting above.

A millennium later, the mounds have been weathered down and might not be very scenic, but they represent a unique tribe of and accomplishment during the North America’s largely unknown medieval times. Photographed above is the largest mound known as the Monk Mound.

Occasionally at the Cahokia Mounds are Indian festivals known as pow wows. Pow wows still take place all over the United States, and always include Native American singing and dancing with traditional clothing. I stumbled across the pow wow on accident when it was almost done so I missed most of the singing and dancing, but will definitely return for another one! These ancient photos were early on my travel days, so I’ll do more justice to the Cahokia Mounds one day.