The city we call Cahokia today was actually called differently in the past. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0. Thousands of years ago, this pyramidal structure was one of the main buildings in the city. Despite the fact that the society that built the mounds did not leave behind written records, symbols painted on various artifacts is evidence of the complexity of the people of Cahokia. However, surveys of the larger are have revealed that people inhabited the area prior to 1,200 BC. It is believed that around 1,000 CE the city grew further in importance thanks to trade and manufacturing. The settlement of Cahokia was already an influential metropolis and a large settlement of importance in the Mississippian region approximately one thousand years before the Europeans set foot on the American Continent. although perhaps not as elaborate in terms of precision and design, Monks Mound is a structure worthy of praise.Īnalysis of sites such as Cahokia has helped experts understand that various ancient mounds underwent repetitious episodes of construction spread out across periodic intervals.Īlthough Monk’s Mound–seen in the image above–is the largest pyramidal structure in Cahokia, surveys of the site have revealed that the ancient city once boasted as many as 120 similar structures ranging in size. The best example of such architecture is located in present-day Illinois where a monument known as the Monks Mounds stands proud and tall.Ĭompleted around 1100 AD, the Monks Mound Pyramid has a base that is much larger than that of the Great Pyramid at Giza. In North America, native American cultures erected large pyramidal structures that are known as pyramidal platform mounds. History tells that numerous ancient cultures in America built pyramids, either more simplistic monument such as those in Brazil, or more elaborate monuments like the Great Pyramid of Cholula, or the pyramids at the ancient city of Teotihuacan. In fact, the United States boasts a massive pyramid city called Cahokia ( 38☃9′38.4″N 90☃′43.36″W ). Image Credit: Herb Roe / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3. However, in addition to the more popular pyramids like those of Egypt, Sudan, Indonesia or even Mexico, there are pyramids in Northern America as well.Īn image of a diagram showing the interior structure that makes up the platform mounds at Cahokia. The oldest pyramids are believed to be monuments built more than five thousand years ago in present-day Brazil. ft.) it was a revolutionary, unprecedented monument in Egypt, one that would kick start a pyramid-building fever that lasted in Egypt for a thousand years. In Egypt, the history of pyramids can be traced back to Djoser’s Third Dynasty Reign when his royal vizier and architect Imhotep planned, designed and built the earliest colossal stone building in Egypt. Called the Great Pyramid of Cholula, this supermassive structure is not only the largest pyramid on the surface of the planet but also the largest monument ever built anywhere on Earth.įor several thousand years, pyramids were the most massive structures built by human hands. The largest pyramid on the surface of the planet is located in Central America, in present-day Mexico. The most famous pyramids are those of Egypt the Great Pyramid of Khufu, that of Khafre and the third-largest at Giza, the pyramid of Menkaure. Throughout history, ancient civilizations build pyramids in many parts of the planet. Pyramidomania, there are pyramids spread across the entire planet.