Mark W Leach

Cahokia in Chesterfield Mark W Leach

Nearly 1,000 years ago, the St. Louis area was the epicenter of an explosion of Native American culture, population, and grand civic construction. This cultured, centered at the three-part city of Cahokia, in and around present day St. Louis, radiated outward across much of the mid-continent. A vibrant Cahokian community filled the entire Chesterfield Valley in Chesterfield, Missouri. Like Cahokia, this civic, ceremonial, and market center was precisely planned and constructed to reflect important celestial alignments of the sun, moon, and Milky Way. A massive Calendar of the Sun, involving three temples and two earthen pyramids stretched 3.56 miles across the entire valley. Cahokia in Chesterfield has been the focus of professional archaeological research for over 70 years. Research is ongoing, and most excitingly, the very heart of the ancient city lies well preserved under six feet of flood deposited soil. You will never see your hometown quite the same way!