Galliart - Blog 14

Monks Mound is a large pyramid located at Cahokia in southern Illinois along the Mississippi river. It is the largest known site of Precolumbian Mississippian culture. The pyramid is constructed of earth and has slumped over time, but originally had a base about the same size as Khufu's pyramid at Giza (though it was shorter). It was not merely a pile of dirt; within the structure were levees and bulwarks incorporating different types of soil, notably clay, to reinforce its structure and minimize slumping. The site was occupied around 600-1400 CE, and in its time Monks Mound would have been the center of a city. The city was constructed primarily of perishable materials (wood), so relatively little evidence of it survives. Now the mound is continually repaired by the state of Illinois and much engineering has been done to reduce slumping.