Cahokia - Once larger than London.
I've been learning about Native Americans at school, which I've enjoyed a lot. During Thanksgiving break I went to explore Cahokia Mounds. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in the 1100s it had more people living in it than London, plus an astronomy site like Stonehenge.
Dad keeps saying, "Why didn't I ever learn about this when I was in school?"
Here's the official site, with a good short silent movie on the front page
http://www.cahokiamounds.com/
The timeline link is good, too - especially in the 1100s (see esp. Woodhenge and Monks Mound):
http://www.cahokiamounds.com/explore/timeline
Pics from my adventure...
The entry display-
What it used to look like (the web links above are better)-
At the base of the biggest mound (its base covers more than 15 acres, built over about 300 years, one bucket of soil at a time), today. Those little dots on top are people walking around-
At the top of the biggest mound, looking across the main plaza area to other mounds-
To the west from the top of the mound, you can see the Arch.
I wonder what it will look like 1000 years after it was built...?
recent branches
A really kool site
The more I travel the more I realize that people in different places have had very similliar ideas and probably very like experiences, thoughts and struggles.
The human condition remains just that.... "human". I think it is important to learn from history so we can progress rather than repeating the same problems.
Your generation has a real opportunity because we know the world is relatively a small place and we really need to begin to live as a global people caring about important issues rather than thinking locally or by boarders or politics or religions or race.
Nice your family finds interesting things that further your interests and thoughts.
I love visiting historical sites like this. I had no idea there was one so close to where you live. Way COOL!
I've often thought being an archaeologist would be a great job, being part of teams tasked with discovering how older civilizations lived based on remnants of that civilization found in the dirt today.
If you have an interest as well .. some facts about being an archaeologists.
http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/anthro/dlcfaq.html
Pat and Brian -
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. We've looked at the very nice archeology web-links, and have discussed the prospect of joining a dig someday (we suspect the finds are once-in-a-decade kind of event, but it'd still be nice to learn the rigor involved in doing a dig right).
By weird coincidence I found this link in the NYTimes, a few days after our school-inspired trip to Cahokia. The web-site below features very well done interactive audio/images of other intriguing cultural sites further east, and mentions a book that has reconsidered Pre-Columbian North America.
The audio links offer some moving and profound comments from people who know more (although they are still doing guessing, too) about ancient endogenous midwestern cultures. We think the serpent mounds and the buried art objects are incredible.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/14/travel/escapes/20080814_MILEPOSTS_FEATURE.html#