Was dead wrong about the Cahokia mounds being 'just dirt piles'

Honestly I spent years driving past them outside St. Louis thinking they were natural hills. Then last fall a park ranger named Mike stopped me near Monks Mound and pointed out the terrace layers. He said 'look at how flat each level is, that's all hand shaped.' He showed me core samples from a 1960s dig with charcoal and post holes. That 30 minute talk flipped my whole view on pre-Columbian cities in North America. Has anyone else had a site totally surprise them after talking with a local guide?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_white391mo ago

My friend Carol had the same thing happen at Poverty Point in Louisiana. She drove past it for years thinking it was just a big dirt hill with a museum. She finally took the tour and the guide showed her how the whole site was planned to line up with the sun and stars. She called me on the phone after and said she felt like she had to rethink everything she learned in school about ancient people in America. Now she drags her grandkids to any mound site she can find within a hundred miles.

fiona_lane1mo ago

Man, I watched a documentary that said some of those mounds are older than the pyramids in Egypt.