Lost American Medieval City

When my daughters studied medieval civilization, we traveled to Germany to explore medieval castles like Neuschwanstein (Fairytale castle) and took a night watchman’s tour of Rothenburg. We loved imagining what it must have been like to live in an era without electricity and cars. But now we can travel to a much closer destination here in the United States. 

Just east of St. Louis, archaeologists have discovered a huge (bigger than Paris!) pre-Columbian city that had over 30,000 people at their peak in 1050.  This medieval city was called Cahokia and was a booming megalopolis of the Mississippian culture.

By 1400, the population completely disappeared, leaving behind buildings, trash pits, and graves. Archaeologists from Indiana University, University of Toledo, and Eastern Connecticut State University have started uncovering this buried city east of St. Louis.

To read more about their discoveries and about the Cahokians, read this article!