Monks Mound
Monks Mound (German: Mönchshügel ) is the largest pre-Columbian earth pyramid in North America north of Mesoamerica .
Monks Mound is located in the ruined city of Cahokia ( Collinsville , Illinois , about eleven kilometers east of downtown St. Louis ) in the middle of 60 smaller, 10-12 m high mounds of earth. Monks Mound itself rises in four terraces up to 30 m high, is 220 m long at the base, 170 m wide and at the platform accordingly 90 m long and 40 m wide; it contains 700,000 m³ of earth. Since it was probably partially eroded away, its original height is uncertain. In the time of the Mississippi culture, the hill served the residents of Cahokia as a ceremonial site; its terraces were probably occupied by buildings for political or religious purposes, and a temple may have stood on the platform.
Henry Brackenridge visited Cahokia in 1813, published the first detailed description of the largest earth pyramid and named it Monks Mound after the Trappist monks who settled there .
literature
- American antiquities (mounds etc.). . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 1, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 481.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mikel's Skele: The Great Knob. Interpretations of Monks Mount. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 1988, accessed October 24, 2018 .
Coordinates: 38 ° 39 ′ 37 ″ N , 90 ° 3 ′ 44 ″ W.