Artists rendition of Cahokia Mounds in 1150 A.D., Cahokia Mounds Museum Society and Art Grossman
My husband and I are going on our tenth anniversary vacation to Cahokia Mounds this week. What fascinates me about this site is that it’s estimated between 20,000 to over 100,000 people made their homes here as recently as European contact. It’s the most sophisticated settlement north of Mexico. This is similar in size to South Bend, Indiana or Las Cruces, New Mexico.
I find some of the practices of the original inhabitants to be frightening: specifically, the practice of human sacrifice. One of the burial sites has over 300 bodies mostly of young women, who may have been killed at the time of death of a ruler, who is buried nearby. The theory is that they may have been sacrificed to serve him in the afterlife.
I’ll know more once we visit, of course, but I’m excited about seeing something like this especially this far north. Cahokia is near St. Louis, Missouri, which is comparatively very far north from the rest of the mound building culture, (which was mostly in Mexico, as far as current knowledge goes).
What about you? What’s your favorite vacation spot?
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I live in Illinois for a few years now and as I drive by Cahokia Mounds I wondered what it was. Reading about it and that your going for your anniversary has me intrigued. I will going now. I want to see it myself.
My dream vacation is going to the beach because I don’t get to go very often. I, when on vacation like to find out of the way places, see things I have never seen and learn more about my country. I love to go to museums and historical sites.
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Laughlin, NV. Every year there is a clown convention and I try to attend. So much fun to see the different faces and skits involved to create characters. It’s a learning experience for all.
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Hi, Linda! I like doing that too, researching and finding out about a place and “going native.” You can find some cool things that way (like the Superman Museum in Illinois, for example). I love AAA’s maps and tour books for that.
I hope you do get to go to Cahokia; it’s well worth the visit – it’s one of the World Heritage Sites. Pretty incredible, and right here in our back yard.
If you’re ever up in Chicago, I hope you’ll stop by my writing group, Writer Zen Garden. Here’s our meetup page, if it’s something you can do: Meetup.
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Hi, Pat! You’re actually one of the few people I know that *wants* to go to Laughlin, lol. I used to live in Las Vegas and I didn’t know about that clown convention; that sounds fun. Being a clown is hard work – it’s not just dress up. I agree with you; seeing all the creativity that goes into it is inspiring. I learned, for example, that the performers in Cirque du Soleil do their own makeup! Amazing.
I hope you have an awesome time this year and that it’s not too hot!
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Any place that has a pool, preferably pool side bar service and slot machines.
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Ooh. A pool would be a lot of fun! 😉