Editing Cahokia (section)

== Contemporary usage (post 19th-century) ==

=== Descendant communities ===
[[File:QuickToSeeSmith CahokiaStateNamesMap.png|thumb|350x350px|Cahokia: State Names Map (2023) by [[Jaune Quick-to-See Smith|Jaune Quick-To-See Smith]] illustrating the contemporary, far-reaching relationships Cahokia has with Native American groups and places. ]]
As one of the most impactful cities in the history of the North American continent, Cahokia's reach has been extensive. Many [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] peoples and tribes recognize the site today as being important to their heritage. The [[Osage Nation]] is a primary collaborator with archaeologists and site management.<ref>{{Cite book |last=National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior |title=Cahokia Mounds Reconnaissance Survey |date=2016}}</ref> One of the only remaining [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] mounds across the river in St. Louis, [[Sugarloaf Mound|Sugarloaf mound]], was purchased by the nation to care for it in posterity.

Many Indigenous people groups and nations including the [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], [[Chickasaw]], and [[Muscogee|Muscogee-Creek]], carry on their moundbuilding traditions similar to those of Cahokia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Jay |title=Ancestral Mounds: Vitality and Volatility of Native America |date=2015 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press}}</ref> Native American people continue to venerate the site as sacred, coming to the grounds to perform ceremony and dance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloch |first=Lee |title=Sweetgum's Amber: Animate Mound Landscapes and the Nonlinear Longue Durée ni the Native South |date=2018 |publisher=University of Virginia |type=PhD Dissertation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 1, 2019 |title=Native American Tribes Support National Park Status For Cahokia Mounds |url=https://www.stlpr.org/arts/2019-10-01/native-american-tribes-support-national-park-status-for-cahokia-mounds |access-date=December 2, 2024 |website=STLPR |language=en}}</ref> The site has served as inspiration for much Native American art. Notably Howard Revard, an esteemed poet and member of Osage Nation, wrote about the site in ''Winning the Dust Bowl''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Revard |first=Howard |title=Winning the Dust Bowl |date=2001 |publisher=University of Arizona Press |pages=175–179}}</ref> Artist [[Jaune Quick-to-See Smith]], a member of  [[Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes]], displayed the works, "''State Names Map: Cahokia"'' and "''Trade Canoe: Cahokia,''" both  inspired by the site, as part of an exhibit at [[Saint Louis Art Museum|St. Louis Art Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 17, 2024 |title=Jaune Quick-to-See Smith |url=https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/jaune-quick-to-see-smith/ |access-date=December 2, 2024 |website=Saint Louis Art Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Cahokia Museum and Interpretive Center ===
[[File:Cahokia 1.jpg|thumb|right|Museum and Interpretive Center]]
The Cahokia Museum and Interpretive Center, which receives up to a million visitors a year, was designed by [[AAIC Inc.]]  The building, which opened in 1989, received the Thomas H. Madigan Award, the ''St. Louis Construction News & Reviews'' Readers Choice Award, the Merit Award from the [[Metal Construction Association]], and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Brick Manufacturer Association.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hahn |first=Valerie Schremp |date=February 19, 2022 |title=Monumental makeover: Cahokia Mounds center to close for nearly $7 million in renovations |url=https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/monumental-makeover-cahokia-mounds-center-to-close-for-nearly-7-million-in-renovations/article_d08249f7-d728-5f31-a03a-98d2725a3cfe.html |access-date=February 19, 2022 |work=STLtoday.com |publisher=St. Louis Post Dispatch |language=en}}</ref>

=== Academia ===
Cahokia has long been a point of interest in the academic community. As early as the 1960s, universities across the Midwest have gone to the site to conduct research in fields ranging from geology to archaeology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Skousen |first=Jacob |date=2016 |title=Pilgrimage and the Construction of Cahokia: A View from the Emerald Site.pdf |url=https://www.academia.edu/26477802/Pilgrimage_and_the_Construction_of_Cahokia_A_View_from_the_Emerald_Site_pdf |access-date=May 25, 2024}}</ref><ref>''Grimley, David A., Phillips, Andrew C., Lepley, Scott W.'' Surficial Geology of Monks Mound Quadrangle. 2007. https://chf.isgs.illinois.edu/maps/quad/monks-mound-sg-report.pdf</ref> One of the most prominent archaeological researchers of Cahokia is [[Timothy Pauketat]]. He has been writing about and researching Cahokia for the majority of his professional career. Other prominent Cahokia academics include Warren Wittry, who was instrumental in the recovery of [[Cahokia Woodhenge]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wittry |first=Warren |date=Winter 1980 |title=Cahokia Woodhenge Update |url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/cahokia-woodhenge-update/docview/1294888560/se-2. |journal=Archaeoastronomy |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=12–14 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

=== Designations ===
Cahokia Mounds was first protected by the state of Illinois in 1923 when its legislature authorized purchase of a state park. Later designation as a state historic site offered additional protection, but the site came under significant threat from the federal highway building program in the 1950s. The highway program reduced the site's integrity; however, it increased funding for emergency archeological investigations. These investigations became intensive, and today continue. They have resulted in the present understanding of the national and international significance of the site. The site was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] on July 19, 1964, and listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on October 15, 1966.<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |title=Cahokia Mounds |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=682&ResourceType=Site |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303145337/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=682&ResourceType=Site |archive-date=March 3, 2008 |access-date=July 23, 2008 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service }}</ref>

In 1982, [[UNESCO]] (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) designated the site a [[World Heritage Site]]. This is the only such self-contained site in Illinois and among [[List of World Heritage Sites in the United States|24]] [[World Heritage Site]]s in the United States in 2009.<ref name="unesco">{{cite web |date=March 11, 2009 |title=United States of America – UNESCO World Heritage Centre |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/us |access-date=March 11, 2009 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref>

State Senator [[Evelyn M. Bowles]] wrote about the Cahokia Mounds site:

{{blockquote|Through the years my friends and I made occasional Sunday afternoon trips to the Mounds. When I became the State Senator, it afforded me the opportunity to secure funds for the acquisition of additional acreage in which there are smaller Mounds. Many of these have contained additional artifacts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cahokiamounds.org/learn/congressional-representative-letter/|title=Congressional representative letter|publisher=Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site|access-date=2011-10-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019093843/http://cahokiamounds.org/learn/congressional-representative-letter/|archive-date=October 19, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref>}}

The designation has helped protect the property and attract funds to conduct research on this significant civilization.