Cahokia Mounds to expand
By Jim Suhr
Associated Press
Thursday, Feb. 16 2006
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- For years, Cahokia Mounds' administrators longed
to snatch up more property near the ruins of the prehistoric city but lacked
the money to do it, fearing all the while that artifacts on the coveted private
land could be forever lost to development.
Their concerns eased a bit Thursday, when the state finally released funds
-- $837,800 -- earmarked years ago for expanding the Cahokia Mounds State
Historic Site, now spanning 2,200 acres of the 4,000 that comprised the
once-thriving city of up to 20,000 American Indians.
"We're so proud of Cahokia," Bob Coomer, the Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency's director, said during a news conference at the historic site just west
of this St. Louis suburb. Land-acquistion "funds have been extremely difficult
to come by; we feel very fortunate to get these funds at this time."
Officials declined to specify how many of the 1,800 acres the state looks to
buy or where those parcels are, insisting that revealing such details could
prompt landowners to inflate their selling prices. Coomer said officials have
targeted for possible purchase three or four "primary points that have a
significant relationship to the site," with negotiations to begin "as soon as
possible."
Mark Esarey, the site's manager, said the state funds -- earmarked in 2000
but held until now as the state wrestled with budgetary issues -- represent the
largest amount of money for Cahokia Mounds land acquisition in about 15 years.
"It's a big deal," he said.
Believed to have been inhabited from 700 to 1400 A.D., Cahokia was among the
most complex, sophisticated societies of prehistoric North America. Its
enduring collection of mounds served as ceremonial sites, residences and tombs
for Cahokia's leaders and servants. Evidence retrieved from burial mounds and
other sites suggest a hierarchical political structure, a specialized economy
and significant scientific knowledge.
The prehistoric city originally had 120 mounds, and the locations of 109
have been recorded. The state historic site includes about 70 of the mounds,
ranging in height from about five to 100 feet. Many others have been altered or
destroyed by modern farming and urban sprawl; in 2000, one such mound was
plowed under to make way for a new subdivision near Edwardsville.
At its peak around 1100 to 1200, researchers say, the city covered nearly
six square miles and had as many as 20,000 inhabitants. The site was abandoned
by 1400 and remained uninhabited until Illini Indians moved into the area
around 1650.
Its tallest existing landmark, the 100-foot-tall Monks Mound, is made up of
22 million cubic feet of dirt. It is the largest pre-Columbian structure north
of Mexico and the largest all-earthen pyramid in the New World. The site also
includes an unearthed wooden sun calendar similar to Stonehenge.
Cahokia was designated a World Heritage Site by a United Nations agency in
1982, joining the likes of the Great Wall of China, Egypt's pyramids, the Taj
Mahal, Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
Over the years, the mounds' caretakers have implored police to stop
interlopers who have torn down fences and run over the remote mounds.
------
On the Net:
Cahokia Mounds, http://www.cahokiamounds.com
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, http://www.state.il.us/HPA
______________________________________________________________________
Considering the real estate market of State Park - that money should go pretty far. I'm happy as hell to see that they were finally able to get it. Hopefully, they can finish Woodhenge now that they have the money to buy the tiny strip of land necessary to do so.
By Jim Suhr
Associated Press
Thursday, Feb. 16 2006
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- For years, Cahokia Mounds' administrators longed
to snatch up more property near the ruins of the prehistoric city but lacked
the money to do it, fearing all the while that artifacts on the coveted private
land could be forever lost to development.
Their concerns eased a bit Thursday, when the state finally released funds
-- $837,800 -- earmarked years ago for expanding the Cahokia Mounds State
Historic Site, now spanning 2,200 acres of the 4,000 that comprised the
once-thriving city of up to 20,000 American Indians.
"We're so proud of Cahokia," Bob Coomer, the Illinois Historic Preservation
Agency's director, said during a news conference at the historic site just west
of this St. Louis suburb. Land-acquistion "funds have been extremely difficult
to come by; we feel very fortunate to get these funds at this time."
Officials declined to specify how many of the 1,800 acres the state looks to
buy or where those parcels are, insisting that revealing such details could
prompt landowners to inflate their selling prices. Coomer said officials have
targeted for possible purchase three or four "primary points that have a
significant relationship to the site," with negotiations to begin "as soon as
possible."
Mark Esarey, the site's manager, said the state funds -- earmarked in 2000
but held until now as the state wrestled with budgetary issues -- represent the
largest amount of money for Cahokia Mounds land acquisition in about 15 years.
"It's a big deal," he said.
Believed to have been inhabited from 700 to 1400 A.D., Cahokia was among the
most complex, sophisticated societies of prehistoric North America. Its
enduring collection of mounds served as ceremonial sites, residences and tombs
for Cahokia's leaders and servants. Evidence retrieved from burial mounds and
other sites suggest a hierarchical political structure, a specialized economy
and significant scientific knowledge.
The prehistoric city originally had 120 mounds, and the locations of 109
have been recorded. The state historic site includes about 70 of the mounds,
ranging in height from about five to 100 feet. Many others have been altered or
destroyed by modern farming and urban sprawl; in 2000, one such mound was
plowed under to make way for a new subdivision near Edwardsville.
At its peak around 1100 to 1200, researchers say, the city covered nearly
six square miles and had as many as 20,000 inhabitants. The site was abandoned
by 1400 and remained uninhabited until Illini Indians moved into the area
around 1650.
Its tallest existing landmark, the 100-foot-tall Monks Mound, is made up of
22 million cubic feet of dirt. It is the largest pre-Columbian structure north
of Mexico and the largest all-earthen pyramid in the New World. The site also
includes an unearthed wooden sun calendar similar to Stonehenge.
Cahokia was designated a World Heritage Site by a United Nations agency in
1982, joining the likes of the Great Wall of China, Egypt's pyramids, the Taj
Mahal, Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
Over the years, the mounds' caretakers have implored police to stop
interlopers who have torn down fences and run over the remote mounds.
------
On the Net:
Cahokia Mounds, http://www.cahokiamounds.com
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, http://www.state.il.us/HPA
______________________________________________________________________
Considering the real estate market of State Park - that money should go pretty far. I'm happy as hell to see that they were finally able to get it. Hopefully, they can finish Woodhenge now that they have the money to buy the tiny strip of land necessary to do so.
