Cahokia: Monks Mound and the post circles ("Woodhenge") (near East St. Louis, Illinois; 800–1350/1400 CE)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1350 · Places: Europe
SUMMARYCahokia: Monks Mound and the post circles ("Woodhenge") (near East St. Louis, Illinois; 800–1350/1400 CE) [Connections: Tech of the Americas, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDUNESCO: Cahokia covered nearly 1,600 hectares, had "some 120 mounds," and "may have had a population of 10,000–20,000 at its peak between 1050 and 1150." Monks Mound "covers six hectares and rises in four terraces to a height of 30 meters." Wikipedia: Monks Mound is about "814,000 yd3 (622,000 m3) of earth," raised "through as many as 10 separate construction episodes" (Skele 1988; Snow 2010). Warren Wittry found the post circles in highway salvage digs in the early 1960s; the circles date to 900–1100 CE, "each one being larger and having 12 more posts than its predecessor." Wikipedia says the population "in the 12th century may have been larger than contemporaneous London and Paris."
PATTERNCity-scale earth engineering with repeated, planned rebuilding
LENS (WW9)A city that may have rivaled London, built of earth and wood, with its own copper workshop
OPENUNESCO calls the post circle "an astronomical observatory"; that is an archaeological reading, not a statement from the builders. The solstice/equinox alignments were not confirmed on the fetched pages