Field excursion to Cahokia Mounds Archeological Site
From Environmental Technology
Revision as of 22:36, 24 January 2006
Our first trip is in the planning stages. Make a mark on Saturday, February 25th as a tentative date. Currently, I am putting forth the trip proposal to College Administration for approval.
To outline, and when approved, the trip will occur on February 25th. The expected leave time will be 8:00am from JALC Main Campus. I expect us to get back around 1 to 2pm that day. That gives us about an hour or so to exlpore the area and soak up all kinds of environmental vibes.
The plan is - we will all leave at the same time, and car pooling is definately permitted and suggested. See map link below. We will all travel north on I-57, and then west on I-64 in the direction of St. Louis. Just before we get to St. Louis, we turn north onto I-255. Signs are posted.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
The site has recently been Open Wednesday through Sunday only.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is just eight miles from downtown St. Louis near Collinsville, Illinois, off Interstates 55-70 and 255, and Illinois 111, on Collinsville road. Entrance is free of charge.
The remnants of the Mississippian's central city - now known as Cahokia for the Indians who lived nearby in the late 1600s - are preserved within the 2200-acre tract that is the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
- "The fate of the prehistoric Cahokians and their city is unknown, but the decline seems to have been gradual, beginning in the 1200s and the site had been abandoned by A.D. 1400. Exactly where the people went or what tribes they became is yet to be determined. Depletion of resources probably contributed to the city's decline. A climate change after A.D. 1200 may have affected crop production and the plant and animal resources needed to sustain a large population. War, disease, social unrest, and declining political and economic power may have also taken their toll."
