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Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Monks Mound in July.JPG
Monks Mound, the largest earthen structure at Cahokia (for scale, an adult is standing on top)
Map showing the location of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Map showing the location of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Location St. Clair County, Illinois, U.S.
Nearest city Collinsville, Illinois
Coordinates 38°39′14″N 90°3′52″W / 38.65389°N 90.06444°W / 38.65389; -90.06444Coordinates: 38°39′14″N 90°3′52″W / 38.65389°N 90.06444°W / 38.65389; -90.06444
Area 2,200 acres (8.9 km2)
Governing body Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
Official name Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Type Cultural
Criteria iii, iv
Designated 1982 (6th session)
Reference no. 198
State Party United States
Region Europe and North America
Official name Cahokia Mounds
Designated October 15, 1966
Reference no. 66000899
Official name Cahokia Mounds
Designated July 19, 1964

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site /kəˈhkiə/ (11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (c. 600–1400 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in southern Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville. The park covers 2,200 acres (890 ha), or about 3.5 square miles (9 km2), and contains about 80 mounds, but the ancient city was much larger. In its heyday, Cahokia covered about 6 square miles (16 km2) and included about 120 human-made earthen mounds in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and functions.

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture that developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States, beginning more than 1000 years before European contact. Today, Cahokia Mounds is considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico.

Cahokia Mounds is a National Historic Landmark and a designated site for state protection. It is also one of only 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites within the United States. The largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas north of Mexico, the site is open to the public and administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and supported by the Cahokia Mounds Museum Society.


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