This page has been optimized for printing through your browser.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
& Interpretive Center

DESCRIPTION: Cahokia Mounds is the site of the largest prehistoric Indian city north of Mexico. The Indians of the Late Woodland culture began living in villages in what is now the St. Louis area about 700 AD. Sometime around 850 AD the Mississippians, a more sophisticated culture, emerged and built the complex community that has come to be called Cahokia. At its height, the prehistoric city, arranged in rows around open plazas, had approximately 20,000 residents. A great wooden stockade encircled the Grand Plaza with its 17 mounds. A total of 120 mounds were built in the area.

The 2200-acre historic site, located on an expansive flood plain near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, includes an interpretive center, 69 mounds which were built by the city's prehistoric inhabitants and Woodhenge, a solar calendar which was used by the ancient people.

Cahokia Mounds has been designated a United Nations World Heritage Site. It is administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

ADDRESS: 30 Ramey Street, Collinsville, Illinois 62234

LOCATION: Eight miles east of downtown St. Louis across the Mississippi River in Illinois.

PHONE NUMBER: 618-346-5160

WEB SITE: www.cahokiamounds.com

GETTING THERE: From downtown, take I-55/70 or I-64/40 across the Poplar Street Bridge. Follow I-55/70 north to Exit 6, (Illinois Rt. 111). Exit and turn right onto Rte.111 south. At the stoplight, make a left onto Collinsville Road. Proceed approximately 1.5 miles. The Interpretive Center is on the right.

HOURS: The Interpretive Center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; closed Mondays and Tuesdays, several holidays and general election day. The grounds are open 8 a.m. to dusk. The orientation show "City of the Sun" is shown on the hour from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

TOURS: Public tours are conducted June-August at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday and at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. During April, May, September and October, tours are conducted at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. No reservations are needed. Taped tours in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish can be borrowed from the Information Desk with a drivers' license. The tour covers three hiking trails -- through the Plaza,
up Monks Mound, the largest structure, and around Woodhenge. The trails take 30-45 minutes to walk.

A tour guidebook, available in 13 foreign languages and Braille, is sold in the Museum Shop for a nominal fee. A booklet on a 6.2-mile nature/culture hike through remote areas of the site is also available for purchase. The booklet explains the culture of the Mississippian Indians who built the mounds, archaeology and the environment.

ADMISSION: Free but donations of $2 for adults and $1 for children are suggested.

ANNUAL ATTENDANCE: 380,000

WHAT'S NEW: The Interpretive Center has a new exhibit which shows the simulated excavation of a mound. The orientation show, "City of the Sun," has recently been revised and updated and is an improved, dynamic digital presentation.

The Center also features temporary exhibits which change every three to four months. Some are visiting exhibits and others are created by staff members. Call for details of current exhibits.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• The site has 69 mounds preserved within its boundaries.
• Monks Mound, named for the French trappist monks who lived nearby in the early 1800s, is the largest Indian Mound north of Mexico and the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the New World. It has a base of more than 14 acres and rises in four terraces to a height of 100 feet.
• Nearly 300 ceremonial and sacrificial burials -- mostly young women in mass graves -- were revealed with the excavation of Mound 72 but most of the mounds including Monks Mound, the largest mound in the area, were used for ceremonies, not for burial.
• The Interpretive Center offers visitors an award-winning orientation film for an overview of the site and its significance. Seven exhibit islands display hundreds of artifacts, dioramas and graphics that explain the complex Mississippian society that built the mounds.
• A replica of a village as it might have existed at the time of the mound builders tells the fascinating story of the vanished Native American civilization. Visitors can walk through many parts of the village and observe scenes of daily life as they may have occurred. Buildings include houses, a sweat lodge and a granary. Music and the sounds of inhabitants working in the background add to the mood of the scenes.
• Among the activities the visitor will see in the depictions are log peeling, corn grinding, pottery making, flint knapping, venison being prepared and a house being constructed. A dozen mannequins in the exhibit were cast from living Native Americans. The mirrored walls reflect the images numerous times giving the impression of being in part of the ancient city.
• Massive bronze doors leading into the interpretive center feature bas relief panels designed and sculpted by Preston Jackson of Peoria, Illinois. Scenes on the exterior doors depict birds in flight over Monks Mound. The outer doors weigh approximately 800 pounds and depict people, the stockade, Monks Mound, a falcon and ravens.
• The Birdman tablet, a carving of a man with wings which has become the official symbol of the site, was discovered on the eastern slope of Monks Mound during 1971 excavations.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS: There are many features of the site, including Monks Mound and the Village in the interpretive center, that have great appeal for children. Several special events held throughout the year, such as Kids Day, also give children an opportunity to participate in hands-on activities related to life during the time of the Mounds civilization, such as making arrowheads and pottery, playing Indian games and identifying animal tracks and furs.

ANNUAL SPECIAL EVENTS: Several special events are held at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site during the year. One called Rediscover Cahokia Days, features expert craftpersons making bows, arrows and pottery, firemaking, carving bone and shell ornaments, gourd craft, fingerweaving, basket making, and many other crafts. The American Indian Center also holds a competitive pow wow in conjunction with Rediscover Cahokia Days. On Raptor Awareness Day visitors can see birds of prey with demonstrations from the World Bird Sanctuary, and the Native Harvest Festival features activities and special displays about how the Indians grew corn and other crops and harvested native plants and animals for food, clothing and other uses. The Contemporary Indian Art Show features Indian artists from across the country displaying and selling works of fine art, such as sculpture, paintings, ceramics, and silverwork. The solstice and equinox observances are held each year on the Sunday morning closest to the actual event. The observances are not ceremonies but are conducted for education and information. The center also offers classes on crafts such as flint-knapping, finger-weaving and shell and bone jewelry making.

HISTORY: Archaeologists estimate Cahokia was inhabited from 700 to 1400 AD. At its peak, 1100-1200 AD, the city covered almost six square miles and the population reached as high as 20,000 people living in a thriving agricultural civilization.

The site was abandoned by 1400 AD. It is not known exactly why but experts suspect a combination of factors including depletion of local resources, climatic changes that may have affected crops, political and economic disruptions, Cahokia's loss of power and possibly disease.

The area had long been recognized as the site of Indian mounds but it was not until the late 1800's that people took interest in them after an amateur archeologist did some digging in the area and found a number of artifacts. The artifacts were exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago and St. Louis and drew enough attention from the public to spawn a movement to turn the area in which they were found into a state park. In the early 1900's, archeologists dug in the
area and proved that the mounds were manmade. In 1923, a bill appropriated the funds to acquire the first 144 acres, and in 1925 the land was purchased and the park created. Several additional parcels were acquired from the 1960s to the 1980s, bringing the size to 2200 acres. Today the site has 69 of the original 120 mounds. Most of the rest were altered or destroyed by modern farming and urban construction.

In the early 1960's while preparations were being made for construction of a new interstate highway, archaeologists found the remains of what has been called Woodhenge, tall wooden poles sunk vertically into the ground in a massive circle. Some experts believe Woodhenge was a calendar that helped ancient people tell the time of the year. Others think it was used as an engineering device to lay out the village. There was evidence of at least five such wooden circles in the area. In 1985 Woodhenge was rebuilt so that visitors could see what it would have looked like in ancient times.

WHAT'S COMING UP: Plans are underway for a new large outdoor interpretive signs to be placed at the parking lot and at Monks Mound, the Stockade reconstruction, at Woodhenge, and at the Grand Plaza. These will provide information about these particular site features as well as general information about the site.

GIFT SHOP: The gift shop in the Interpretive Center sells items relating to Native American culture and the history of the area including books, games, toys, posters, slides, postcards and other items, as well as t-shirts, hats and shirts with Cahokia Mounds and other Indian themes. Most the jewelry, pottery, fetishes, kachinas and other items are all Indian-made.

WHAT'S NEARBY: Downtown St. Louis and the Gateway Arch are just minutes west of Cahokia Mounds. Gateway International Raceway is nearby and The Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows is 10 miles southeast.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: William R. Iseminger, public relations director, 618-346-5160, cahokiamounds@ezl.com.

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com