Mississippian Culture (Cahokia)

I feel the wind tickle my grassy sides as it rushes across a wide, flat plain. The sun warms me up like a cozy blanket, and I listen to the Mississippi River flowing nearby, telling its own long story. For a very, very long time, I have been here, a family of giant green hills reaching for the sky. When people visit, they feel how ancient I am. They walk up my slopes and wonder, "Who made these big hills. What are they for.". They can almost hear the old secrets sleeping deep inside my dirt. I am not just a bunch of hills made of earth. I am a city that was once full of thousands of people, full of life and laughter. I am the great city of Cahokia.

About a thousand years ago, clever people called the Mississippians decided to build their biggest city right here. They were amazing builders, and I am their greatest creation. They didn't have big machines or trucks like you see today. Instead, they built me with their own two hands and their strong hearts. Can you imagine carrying a heavy basket full of dirt on your back. They did that over and over, trip after trip, for many, many years. They carried countless baskets of earth to make my hills, which are called mounds. My biggest and proudest mound is called Monks Mound. It’s so tall that their leader could live in a special house on top and see the whole city sparkle below. My city was a busy, happy place. Thousands of people lived in cozy wooden houses all around me. In the very middle was a big, flat field called a plaza. Kids played games there, and grown-ups gathered for important ceremonies and fun festivals with music and dancing. They also built a very special circle of tall wooden posts. It wasn't a fence. It was a giant calendar called Woodhenge, and it helped them watch the sun to know when spring would arrive or when it was time to harvest their corn.

For hundreds of years, I was the biggest city around. But then, things began to change. The people started to move away to build new homes in other places. My streets became quiet. The happy sounds of playing children and busy markets faded away, and soon, only the wind was left to sing to me. For a very long time, I slept. Grass and trees grew all over my mounds, and I looked just like a group of natural hills again. But my story wasn't over. Much later, people in modern times came to visit. They were special scientists called archaeologists. They carefully dug into my earth and found tools, pottery, and the shapes of old houses. They rediscovered my secrets. Today, I am a special place that holds the stories of an amazing culture. I teach everyone who visits about the incredible things people could build and achieve together, long, long ago, with just their hands and their dreams.