American History

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts) Tue Sep 10, 2019, 06:11 PM Sep 2019

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

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

6 replies

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Historian Patricia Cleary Digs Into The Long-Lost Mounds Of St. Louis (Original Post) Sherman A1 Sep 2019 OP

Thanks Comatose Sphagetti Sep 2019 #1

There is one in Ohio also mitch96 Sep 2019 #2

There are several mounds in Ohio. wnylib Oct 2019 #3

You just jogged my memory. I visited the serpent mound... neat stuff mitch96 Oct 2019 #4

BTW welcome to the funny farm! mitch96 Oct 2019 #5

Thanks for the welcome wnylib Oct 2019 #6

Comatose Sphagetti

(836 posts)

1. Thanks

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Tue Sep 10, 2019, 07:06 PM

Sep 2019

Love this stuff.

mitch96

(14,692 posts)

2. There is one in Ohio also

Reply to Sherman A1 (Original post)

Tue Sep 10, 2019, 08:38 PM

Sep 2019

I visited it once.. facinating..

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

m

wnylib

(24,506 posts)

3. There are several mounds in Ohio.

Reply to mitch96 (Reply #2)

Sat Oct 26, 2019, 08:58 PM

Oct 2019

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

(14,692 posts)

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

Reply to wnylib (Reply #3)

Sun Oct 27, 2019, 05:00 AM

Oct 2019

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

mitch96

(14,692 posts)

5. BTW welcome to the funny farm!

Reply to wnylib (Reply #3)

Sun Oct 27, 2019, 05:01 AM

Oct 2019

wnylib

(24,506 posts)

6. Thanks for the welcome

Reply to mitch96 (Reply #5)

Tue Oct 29, 2019, 11:24 AM

Oct 2019

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.

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