Solid Core Drilling of Monks Mound: Technique and Findings

Solid core drilling was used to provide guidelines for future excavation of Monks Mound at the Cahokia site. The objective was to study, within reasonable limits of time and finances, the internal structure of the largest earthen mound in North America. The process is described along with a discussion of its problems and limitations as applied to similar archaeological situations. Radiocarbon dates indicate construction over approximately 250 years, from A.D. 900 to 1150. Evidence of construction stages is described and used to arrive at an estimate of labor figures and the necessary sustaining population of the Cahokia settlement. It is suggested that most of the mounds at the site were built after the completion of Monks Mound.