We made a visit to Mound City, or the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, outside of Chillicothee, Ohio. The Park encompasses a series of burial mounds which are the remnants of a civilization that flourished in the Eastern part of the US from about 200 bc until its decline around 500. (A second "lost" civilization supplanted them, and lived here for another 1,000 years or so.) This society was really far flung, running up and down the US between the Mississippi to the Appalchians, with mounds found as far South as Louisiana. Artifacts found in the mounds came from as far away as the Pacific Northwest and the Gulf of Mexico. US 50 running though southern Illinois follows an old causeway across the flood plain made by these ancient people. The causeway runs all the way to St Louis, I think.
What was surprising, and a little embarassing, is that until this road trip, we knew nothing at all about this established and widespread society that was here before us. What's not suprising is that most of the mounds around the country have been degraded and destroyed by development. This is too bad, since so little is known about these people to begin with; the destruction of their remaining sites makes it harder to learn more. If you get a chance, visit Chillocthee of some of the other mound-builder sites. Here's the link: http://www.nps.gov/hocu
Above is picture of Grace at the mounds.
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