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Prehistoric Cahokia
Cahokia Mounds
Covering about 4,000 acres, the Cahokia site was first inhabited around 700 A.D. and grew to a population of about 20,000 by 1100 A.D. Sixty-eight of the original one hundred and twenty entirely earthen mounds are preserved within the historic area.
Cahokia was first settled around 650 during the Late Woodland period, but mound building did not begin there until about 1050 at the beginning of the Mississippian cultural period. The site was abandoned before 1400. The inhabitants left no written records, and the city's original name is unknown. The name "Cahokia" refers to an unrelated clan of Illiniwek people living in the area when the first French explorers arrived in the 1600s, long after Cahokia was abandoned. The living descendants of the Cahokia people are unknown, although many Native American groups are plausible contenders.
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