Historian Patricia Cleary Digs Into The Long-Lost Mounds Of St. Louis

[Sherman A1]

A multitude of truncated earthworks — more commonly known as mounds — once dotted the St. Louis landscape. For the ancient Mississippian people who constructed them many centuries ago, these structures were full of meaning and purpose.

The mounds also drew the interest of European newcomers to the region long after the mounds were built. But by the late 19th century, most of these sacred Native American places had been destroyed — the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois, being a significant exception.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske talked with Patricia Cleary, a St. Louis native who is currently working on a book about the mounds that she plans to publish leading up to Missouri’s bicentennial celebration of statehood in 2021. Cleary’s visit came in advance of her James Neal Primm Lecture at the Missouri History Museum, set for Monday evening.

Cleary discussed what she has described as “the life, death and aftermath” of St. Louis’ ancient mounds. Within St. Louis’ current city limits, only one of the mounds remains intact to this day.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/historian-patricia-cleary-digs-long-lost-mounds-st-louis

[Comatose Sphagetti]

1. Thanks

Love this stuff.

[mitch96]

2. There is one in Ohio also

I visited it once.. facinating..

https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/museum-and-site-locator/serpent-mound

m

[wnylib]

3. There are several mounds in Ohio.

When I lived in OH my husband and I toured the state visiting them. I've always been interested in Native cultures, past and present.

We drove through SE OH around Chilicothe and then west to the Cincinnati area. Among the mounds we saw were Tarleton Cross, Mound City, and the Serpent mound.

They are part of the Hopewell and Adena cultures that preceded Cahokia. Hopewell artifacts and mounds have been found in western PA and SW NY too.

There are related mounds in the US SE also, eg AL and GA. The mound building cultures rose and spread through the OH and MS river systems making a network of different socio linguistic groups connected to each other through trade and the shared mound building custom.

At some distant point in time they were influenced by Mesoamerican cultures since they shared some customs and adopted the corn agriculture that started in what is now Mexico.

Note: edited to correct typos

[mitch96]

4. You just jogged my memory. I visited the serpent mound... neat stuff

Sorta blows the top off of "who was here first"......
m

[mitch96]

5. BTW welcome to the funny farm!

[wnylib]

6. Thanks for the welcome

It is a bit crazy here sometimes isn' t it?

Yep the serpent mound is awesome. Numerous mounds have not been excacated at all. I found myself staring at hills after our tour trying to guess which were natural and which were man made mounds with grass growing over them.