East St Louis was Civilized—Who knew?

A thousand years ago, huge pyramids and earthen mounds stood where East St. Louis sprawls today in Southern Illinois. This majestic urban architecture towered over the swampy Mississippi River floodplains, blotting out the region’s tiny villages. Beginning in the late 900s, word about the city spread throughout the southeast. Thousands of people visited for feasts and rituals, lured by the promise of a new kind of civilization. Many decided to stay.

At the city’s apex in 1050, the population exploded to as many as 30 thousand people. It was the largest pre-Columbian city in what became the United States, bigger than London or Paris at the time.

“The primary purpose of the city was not trade or work. It was spiritual,” Pauketat said after we plied him with more beer. “Wealth isn’t really the right word for what they had, but it was a side-effect.”

Read more at Ars Technica