Warning: The dig at Cahokia Mounds changed how I see urban planning

I was working a field school there in 2019, and we uncovered a section of the central plaza's original clay floor. Seeing the sheer scale of that engineered space, built around 1050 AD, hit me. It wasn't just a big village, it was a real city with public areas planned out centuries before Europeans arrived. Now I can't look at any modern city grid without thinking about those old mounds. Has anyone else had a site totally shift their view on something we think is 'modern'?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_green852d ago

Honestly, my view of "modern" got wrecked by seeing Roman plumbing. They had better water pressure than my first apartment. Makes you realize we're just rebuilding old ideas with new materials.

troyjackson2d ago

Hey, I get what you mean but I see it the other way! The Romans had great plumbing but only for the rich in a few cities. Our real win is making clean water and good pressure normal for almost everyone, not just the elite. That's a huge step forward, not just a remake.