Existing comment:
Ridgetop Mounds:
The six ridgetop mounds at Cahokia are especially intriguing to archaeologists.
Marker Mounds:
Located in strategic spots, at least four of the six ridgetop mounds may have been markers of the Cahokia city site. One was located at an extreme western point of the site "diamond," toward the Mississippi. Another is at the extreme southern point, and two more lie on a possible center line of the city directly south of Monks Mound.
Excavations at Powell, Mound 72, and Rattlesnake have revealed burials in all three and have indicated that ridgetop mounds may have held some significance other than location for the Mississippians. Powell Mound seems to have been built upon an earlier platform mound. And Mound 72 covered three smaller conical mounds.
The shape of the ridgetop mounds was linear, like a long pup tent or a mountain ridge. They varied greatly in size. Powell Mount was 40 feet high, 310 feet long, and 180 feet wide. That is a striking contrast with Mound 72, which was only 6 feet high, 160 feet long,and 85 feet wide. |