Western Wall of a Palisade Compound Found at Cahokia

COLLINSVILLE, ILLINOIS—Students from Italy’s University of Bologna and their professor, Davide Domenici, have been traveling to Cahokia for the past three years. The city, known for its mounds, covered an area of six square miles and was home to approximately 20,000 people in 1250 A.D. This year, the researchers uncovered plaster and postholes marking the west wall of a rectangular compound with rounded bastions. “A single post bit seems nothing, but when you put all together on a map you start understanding them,” Domenici said.