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Written by Xiuhcoatl
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Feb 18, 2006 at 07:56 PM |
Cahokia Mounds to expand, protect archaeological sites
By Jim Suhr
The Associated Press
COLLINSVILLE — For years, Cahokia Mounds' administrators longed to
snatch up more property near the ruins of the prehistoric city but
lacked the money to do it, fearing all the while that artifacts on the
coveted private land could be forever lost to development.
Their concerns eased a bit Thursday, when the state finally released
funds — $837,800 — earmarked years ago for expanding the Cahokia Mounds
State Historic Site, now spanning 2,200 acres of the 4,000 that
comprised the once-thriving city of up to 20,000 American Indians.
"We're so proud of Cahokia," Bob Coomer, the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency's director, said during a news conference at the
historic site just west of this St. Louis suburb. Land-acquistion
"funds have been extremely difficult to come by; we feel very fortunate
to get these funds at this time.
"
Officials declined to specify how many of the 1,800 acres the state
looks to buy or where those parcels are, insisting that revealing such
details could prompt landowners to inflate their selling prices. Coomer
said officials have targeted for possible purchase three or four
"primary points that have a significant relationship to the site," with
negotiations to begin "as soon as possible."
Mark Esarey, the site's manager, said the state funds — earmarked in
2000 but held until now as the state wrestled with budgetary issues —
represent the largest sum of money for Cahokia Mounds land acquisition
in about 15 years.
"It's a big deal," he said.
Historically significant site
Believed to have been inhabited from 700 to 1400 A.D., Cahokia was
among the most complex, sophisticated societies of prehistoric North
America. Its enduring collection of mounds served as ceremonial sites,
residences and tombs for Cahokia's leaders and servants. Evidence
retrieved from burial mounds and other sites suggest a hierarchical
political structure, a specialized economy and significant scientific
knowledge.
The prehistoric city originally had 120 mounds, and the locations of
109 have been recorded. The state historic site includes about 70 of
the mounds, ranging in height from about five to 100 feet. Many others
have been altered or destroyed by modern farming and urban sprawl. In
2000, one such mound was plowed under to make way for a new subdivision
near Edwardsville.
During its peak at about 1100 to 1200, researchers say, the city
covered nearly six square miles and had as many as 20,000 inhabitants.
The site was abandoned by 1400 and remained uninhabited until Illini
Indians moved into the area in about 1650.
Its tallest existing landmark, the 100-foot-tall Monks Mound, is made
up of 22 million cubic feet of dirt. It is the largest pre-Columbian
structure north of Mexico and is the largest all-earthen pyramid in the
New World. The site includes an unearthed wooden sun calendar similar
to Stonehenge.
Cahokia was designated a World Heritage Site by a United Nations agency
in 1982, joining the likes of the Great Wall of China, Egypt's
pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
Over the years, the mounds' caretakers have implored police to stop
interlopers who have torn down fences and run over the remote mounds.
On the Net
•Cahokia Mounds: www.cahokiamounds.com •Illinois Historic Preservation Agency: www.state.il.us/HPA
02/17/06 |
Archaeology 
