Heritage with Related Tags
Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point
The Poverty Point Monumental Works are named for the 19th-century plantation adjacent to the site, which is located on slightly elevated, narrow terrain in the lower Mississippi River valley. The complex consists of five mounds, six concentric semi-elliptical ridges separated by shallow depressions, and a central plaza. It was built by a group of hunter-gatherers for residential and ceremonial purposes between 3,700 and 3,100 years ago. It is a remarkable achievement in North American earthen architecture, unmatched for at least 2,000 years.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Located approximately 13 km northeast of St. Louis, Missouri, Cahokia Mounds is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was primarily inhabited during the Mississippian period (800-1400), when it covered nearly 1,600 hectares and included about 120 mounds. It is a classic example of a complex chiefdom society, with many satellite mound centers and numerous outlying hamlets and villages. This agricultural society may have numbered 10-20,000 people at its peak between 1050 and 1150. Major features of the site include the Monks Mound, the largest prehistoric earthwork in the Americas, covering more than 5 hectares and standing 30 meters high.