The Lunsford-Pulcher Archeological Site in rural Monroe and Saint Clair counties, Illinois, preserves a prehistoric Middle Mississippian village that was likely a satellite of Cahokia, tying it to a major pre-Columbian regional settlement network. The site includes several pyramidal burial mounds, along with excavated remains of houses and garden beds. Those preserved garden beds are especially rare among Mississippian village sites and make the place unusually valuable for understanding cultivation as well as domestic and ceremonial life. Known to European settlers since the area’s early settlement, the site remained in good condition despite farmland use and gained formal recognition on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Dupo, Illinois · USA