Native America

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Timothy Pauketat

I remember an early trip past Cahokia. My father was a truck driver and occasionally as a little kid, 6 or 7, I would go with him and we would drive past it. (trucks driving) I remember feeling like, wait a minute, like what's this doing here? You know, what is this? -

Narrator

That drive past the mound sparked a career for archeologist, Tim Pauketat. His research suggests that Cahokia, like Taotie Quan, is laid out on a celestial blueprint. The mounds are positioned in various ways to reference something. They are not arbitrarily, randomly placed. They never just dump dirt. -

Narrator

Tim and his team are looking for evidence of that celestial blueprint just west of Cahokia's largest mountain. They use a gradiometer, an instrument that detects holes where posts once stood. -

Woman In Blue

Were seeing very quiet readings and then it jumps up again. So it could be consistent with post holes. (eerie music) -

Narrator

The original posts have rotted away. But new ones have been erected in their place. They form a ring with one post in the middle. Its known as Woodhenge. (eerie music) Woodhenge is a large ring of sizable cedar posts. And if you look from across that post to the perimeter post, you can watch the sun on the horizon rise and set and you'd know when the solstices' were. -

Narrator

Just like the sun disc paintings in the Amazon, Woodhenge is a solar calendar. It can be used to determine when to plant and harvest. And when to gather for ceremonies. This is a big ritual ground. Inside the circle is some kind of sacred space and you go there for certain ceremonial events.