Monk's Mound

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Monk's Mound is the largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in North America north of Mesoamerica. Located at the famous Cahokia site near Collinsville, Illinois, it is over 100 feet (30.5m) high, 1037 feet (316 m) long, and 790 feet (241 m) wide. This makes Monk's Mound larger at its base (about 16 acres) than the Great Pyramid of Giza, but unlike Egyptian pyramids which were built of stone, it was constructed almost entirely of basket-transported soil. The mound is composed of four major construction layers or terraces, each smaller and more recently constructed than the last. It may be the only mound in Eastern North America with more than two terraces. Erosion and slumping in the historic era have significantly altered the mound so that its original size is uncertain. This damage appears to have resulted from drying of the mound core caused by artificially reduced floodplain water levels in the 1950s. After the mound core was rehydrated by rising groundwater levels, it expanded, and a process of slumping of the mound exterior ensued.

The concrete staircase is modern, but it is built along the approximate course of the original wooden stairs.

Cahokia was the largest Mississippian city in North America, and Monk's Mound was the city's great ceremonial center. The mound appears to have been used as a monumental supporting structure for religious or governmental ceremonies. The top terrace supported a building as much as 50 feet high, while other buildings serving other functions rested atop the lower terraces. The function of the mound may have been akin to the pyramids of Mesoamerican cultures, with religious and political ceremonies carried out on its various levels.

Atop Monk's Mound

It acquired its modern name generations after the building civilization fell, when a group of Irish Christian monks lived nearby and gardened on its first terrace.

The east and northwest sides of Monk's Mound were subjected to two large trackhoe excavations in August 2007 as an attempt to stabilize the threat of slumping.