Photo: Laurie Skrivan

James Lee III aims to elevate ancient city’s importance and capture its grandiosity with “Visions of Cahokia.”

Source: Composer James Lee III gives Cahokia its due with an SLSO world premiere

Photo: Sun Gazette

In the sleepy farming community of Cahokia, situated on the Illinois side of the Mississippi it had been a quiet night. In the predawn, villagers were moving about, rekindling cooking fires and preparing to begin their day. But what would happen next would change the course of the ancient heartland forever. It was July 4, 1054 AD.

Source: CAHOKIA: Ancient America’s greatest city

Photo: Ira Block

Cahokia was a robust economic and cultural center for the Mississippian people. They built hundreds of massive mounds but suddenly left the city in the 1300s.

Source: This American Indian metropolis was mysteriously abandoned. Archaeologists want to know why.

Photo: Kevin Koch

From the platform top of Monks Mound, Kevin Koch can see 7 miles across the Mississippi River to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. You might say he’s seeing 900 years into the future.

Source: Koch: Cahokia Mounds a window into past

Photo: Frontier Post

Pity the event planners tasked with managing Cahokia’s wildest parties. A thousand years ago, the Mississippian settlement – on a site near the modern US city of St Louis, Missouri – was renowned for bashes that went on for days. Throngs jostled for space on massive plazas.

Source: In the ancient Mississippian settlement, vast social events were the founding principle – The Frontier Post

In the ancient Mississippian settlement of Cahokia, vast social events – not trade or the economy – were the founding principle.

Source: The US’ lost, ancient megacity

Cahokia Mounds is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and may become part of the National Park Service. It’s great for a short vacation in southern Illinois.

Source: Discover an ancient civilization without leaving Illinois: Cahokia site has reopened with its mysterious ‘mounds’ and a view of St. Louis

USA – Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

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