page_title: Cahokia Woodhenge
section_title: Alignments
hierarchical_section_title: Cahokia Woodhenge / Construction sequence / Alignments
caption_attribution_description: English: Artists conception of the winter solstice sunrise over Fox Mound as seen from the Woodhenge timber circle circa 1000 CE at the Mississippian culture Cahokia Mounds site near Collinsville, Illinois. All rights held by the artist, Herb Roe © 2017. #cahokia #woodhenge #timbercircle #mississippianculture
context_page_description: The Cahokia Woodhenge was a series of large timber circles located roughly 850 metres to the west of Monks Mound at the Mississippian culture Cahokia archaeological site near Collinsville, Illinois. They are thought to have been constructed between 900 and 1100 CE; with each one being larger and having more posts than its predecessor. The site was discovered as part of salvage archaeology in the early 1960s interstate highway construction boom, and one of the circles was reconstructed in the 1980s. The circle has been used to investigate archaeoastronomy at Cahokia. Annual equinox and solstice sunrise observation events are held at the site.
context_section_description: The woodhenge is thought by archaeologists to be a solar calendar, capable of marking equinox and solstice sunrises and sunsets for the timing of the agricultural cycle and religious observances. During the equinoxes the sun rises due east of the timber circle. From the vantage point of the center of the circle it appears as if the sun is emerging from the front of Monks Mound which is roughly .5 miles (0.80 km) away. One of the reasons for the changing position and size of the timber circles may have been the growing size of Monks Mound as additional layers of earth raised its height and increased its geographic footprint and the desire to keep this symbolic emergence and alignment intact.
  The winter solstice sunrise pole is aligned with the Fox Mound (Mound 60, a rectangular platform mound paired with a conical burial mound, Mound 59) which sits across the grand plaza 1,640 feet (500 m) to the south of Monks Mound. The top of the roughly 46 feet (14 m) tall mound projects above the horizon and in Cahokian times would have had a large temple structure at its summit, raising it even higher. From the central pole of Woodhenge III the sun would have appeared to rise from this mound and temple at the winter solstice. Besides their celestial marking functions, the woodhenges also carried religious and ritual meaning that are reflected in their stylized depiction as a cross in circle motif on ceremonial beakers. One prominent example has markers added to the winter sunrise and sunset positions, and was found in an offertory pit near the winter solstice post pit. It also had radiating lines that probably symbolized the rays of the sun.
  As there are many more posts than are necessary for these simple alignments some archaeoastronomists have speculated that they were also used to observe other celestial events, such as lunar cycles, the motion of the Pleiades, or other stars and planets; while others have suggested they were used to align mound and causeway constructions projects.
caption: Artist's conception of midwinter sunrise over Mound 60 as seen from Woodhenge III
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