In the state of Illinois there are some amazing mounds of dirt. One of the mounds is very big. There are also many other mounds around the big one. The story about why there are mounds is amazing. These mounds were built by Native Americans that lived there before Columbus came to America. We call these ancient Indians the Cahokia.
The biggest mound is 100 feet tall. It is the tallest earth hill that has been built in the Americas. There are 80 smaller mounds nearby, and there were probably 120 at one time. Many other mounds like these can also be found in other places. They are near the rivers that feed or flow into the Mississippi. Mound-building people lived in these areas.
We know about the Cahokia people because of what archaeologists have found. Archaeologists are scientists who dig for old things. They search places where ancient people lived. They look for things that were left behind. They find bones, dishes, houses, tools, and weapons. They also look at things they drew and wrote. When they find old things that were left behind, they use them to figure out what those people were like. Archaelogists have found things the Cahokia left. Today we can even go see some of these things. The Cahokia museum is near the mounds.
For their food the Cahokia Indians hunted, fished, and grew corn and squash. As their city got bigger, they needed more food. Corn became a more important crop and became one of the main things they ate. They would store the corn in special buildings. The buildings for the corn had floors that were a few feet above the ground.
The Cahokia people built houses. The walls of some of the houses were made of reed mats. They dug holes around the edge of where a house was to be built. Then, they stood poles upright in the holes. Next, they wove mats and hung them on the poles. Some walls they made thicker and stronger. For the stronger walls, they wove reeds and willows between the poles. Then, they covered the weaved reeds with mud.
The Cahokia also made pots and baskets. Their pots were made of clay and skins. They would put things in the pots and stored them. They made baskets with reeds. Pieces of bark were used to cover the things they wanted to store.
At the bottom of the big mound they found a tablet. The tablet had a picture of a birdman carved into one side.
The Cahokia used rocks to do work and to fight. Many rocks they left behind have pointed edges. You can see that some were made into tools for chopping, cutting, and digging. Some look like axes or picks. Others look like they were weapons for fighting.
Cahokia Indians played games. One game was played with a stick that had a ring tied to it. A person playing would swing the stick and ring up and try to catch the ring on the stick.
Another game also used sticks. They would throw a stick up and try to catch it. Then they would throw two sticks up and try to catch both. They also would play the game with three sticks.
Another game was a spinner game. The spinner game was played with a button and a string. The Cahokia would make a round-shaped button. Then they would drill out two small holes in the center. String or strips of leather were threaded through the holes. The string was then tied and looped around a finger on each hand. Then a person would stretch the hands out and then bring them in. This causes the button to spin. The spinning button winds the string and the pulling stretches it out.
The largest mound is called Monks' Mound. It was built by putting dirt in baskets and carrying it to the mound. They would get the dirt from nearby borrow pits. The large mound took a lot of dirt. It needed some 22 million cubic feet of earth. Many Indian workers would have worked for years to make Monks Mound. It was called Monks because French Monks came and lived there for awhile. They were there from 1809 to 1813. For some reason that was the name that stuck.
At one burial mound many interesting things were found. There were 20,000 shell beads under one man. Nearby there were also more than 745 arrowheads or arrow points. The arrow points were made from flint stones. The flint came from different states. There were 15 chunkey stones. Chunkey stones were disks of stone used to play a sports game. There was also a stick or staff of rolled copper and some mica. Mica is a special rock or powder used in trading.
Another interesting thing they found were some sun calendars. The calendars are patterns of circles made with cedar poles. Holes for the poles were dug out. Then the poles were stood up in the holes. The circles were used for following the seasons. The sun would make a shadow on certain places for summer, fall, winter, and spring.
There was also a large wall, or palisade, built to protect Cahokia. It was made of tree trunks. They were cut down and then stood up on end and placed side by side. It is estimated that some 15,000 to 20,000 trees were required to make this wall. Where would you get that many trees? What would cutting that many trees do to the environment?
The Cahokia mounds are pretty amazing. Monks Mound is so big. There are so many mounds. And, they were built so long ago.
Study the timeline, and see when the Cahokia lived there.
Text Credits:
Notes from visit to state historic site;
Brochure on Cahokia Mound State Historic Site;
Illinois State Historic Site pamphlet;
Census Estimates- https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_17_5YR_DP05&src=pt;
Native Lands: Indians and Georgia by Sara H. Hill and Sue Evans Vrooman printed by Atlanta History Center (15,000 to 20,000 trees required for Cahokia palisade)
ATOS- 4.4
Flesch-Kincaid Level- 3.6