[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

I grew up around St. Louis and frequent visits to the Cahokia Mounds were a part of my upbringing. I still visit every year or so. It used to be just a place to go for picnics, with a small museum, but in the past few years they have gone to great lengths to preserve the area as a historical/archaelogical site, and the new museum is very informative. It's a worthwhile stop for anyone passing through the area.

[stayathomemom]

Maybe you can comment on this sentence from the beginning of the article: Cahokia was the hub of a way of life for millions of Native Americans before the society's decline and devastation by foreign diseases.

I've been there twice. Most recently two years ago. I was under the impression that they were unsure of why the society declined and disappeared. I was more under the impression that it may have been do to climatic factors.

[BDR]

Why does the United Nations Flag fly at this site?

[sphinx]

I've only been to Cahokia once. Fascinating site. What stuck me was the reconstructed wall. A simple palisade would not have been a surprise, but the park shows (based, I presume, on posthole traces) a bastioned wall with towers and a simple but still obvious gate complex -- in short, a developed piece of military architecture. Do you know if there is any evidence of large scale warfare at the site?

[Lurker]

I'm taking my family on a trip down there late this summer. It is a fascinating place.

That stretch of the Mississippi was also a notorius hangout for river pirates. (I'm not making that up.)

L