You Must Check Out These Native American Landmarks in the US

By
Ian Morris
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Image by Andreas F. Borchert/Wikipeida

Although it might not be as readily apparent as it is in some other American nations, Native American culture and landmarks can be found all over the United States. It’s important that we, as travelers, support and protect the remnants of these pre-Columbian cultures that speak to our continent’s past and origins.

Here are three Native American landmarks in the United States that are worth a visit.

Cahokia Mounds: Collinsville, Illinois

The Cahokia Mounds, located just a few minutes’ drive outside of St. Louis, is the largest pre-Columbian site that is known to exist north of Mexico. It hosts burial grounds, ancient monuments, and the remnants of what was once a city with between 10,000 and 20,000 residents.

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The views ascending and descending Monks Mound which is the largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the Americas and the largest pyramid north of Mesoamerica. It stands 100 feet (30 m) high, 955 feet (291 m) long including the access ramp at the southern end, and 775 feet (236 m) wide. This makes Monks Mound roughly the same size at its base as the Great Pyramid of Giza (13.1 acres / 5.3 hectares). The perimeter of its base is larger than the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan in Mexico. Monks Mound is the center piece of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois. The site is a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed circa 1050–1350) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. At its most advanced stage Cahokia covered roughly 6 square miles and included 120 manmade earthen mounds of various sizes, shapes, and functions. The population of this city is thought to have been equal to London during this same period of time (80,000 people). Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement of the Mississippian culture, which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the central and southeastern United States. This culture began to flourish more than 1,000 years before Europeans came to the continent. Cahokia is that culture’s apex and considered the largest and most complex archaeological site north of the great pre-Columbian cities in Mexico. Because of this, it has deservedly earned a designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. • • • #cahokiamounds #mississippianculture #ancientcitiesoftheworld

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Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings: Mesa Verde, Colorado

Perhaps the most striking example of cliff dwellings left in the United States is this site located in Mesa Verde National Park in southern Colorado. Here, you will see excavated homes that were painstakingly carved out of a cliff in order to be sheltered from the elements by pre-Columbian Native Americans.

Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs: Pahoa, Hawaii

Hawaii also had native residents before the Europeans arrived, and proof of this history is found at the Pu’u Loa Petroglyphs on the Big Island. Hundreds of years ago, native residents of the area carved over 23,000 surviving images into the hardened lava that characterizes the area.