April 05, 2009

Cahokia Mounds

Ever since I changed my minor from linguistics to anthropology, I have been learning things that I never knew existed. Such as Cahokia Mounds.

Cahokia was an ancient Native American city located near modern day St. Louis. It consisted of hundreds of mounds, serving both ritual and common needs. The largest of these is known as Monk's Mound, named for the monastery that was built upon it.
This is Monk's Mound. Estimates believe that it took around 167 years to build and is made entirely from dirt. See that tiny speck at the top of the mound? That's Dan. :)

We headed to Cahokia to listen to a lecture so that I could earn some much needed extra credit in my New World City States class. After the lecture we headed out to Monk's Mound.
It's quite a climb to get up there. I lost count when I was trying to count the stairs. It suddenly seemed more important to remember to breathe.
This is the second set of stairs that you have to go up to get to the top of the mound. This set alone has more than 100 stairs. The first set of stairs isn't as large and only has, at most, 50 stairs.

We were both winded. Mouth to mouth was necessary for survival. ;)
I love that we wear our geekiness on our shirts. He with his Chuck Norris, me with my Ghostbusters.

This sign pleased me more than I can say...Sledding down that huge hill hadn't even occurred to me. Especially as there is a major road directly in front of it.

1 comment:

Batty said...

That's amazing. Enormous ritual mounds. That's so cool.

About the no sledding... people at my college would go traying down the slope in front of the library. It was technically not allowed because... you guessed it, there's a major road at the base of the hill. But everyone did it anyway.