Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley

"Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley" 

A "Great Wonders" talk by Megan Kassabaum, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Weingarten Assistant Curator, American Section, Penn Museum

Stretching over 2,500 miles from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River has been called “the Nile of North America.” Like its counterpart in Egypt, the Lower Mississippi Valley is among the richest archaeological regions on the continent. Home to thousands of earthen mounds, it contains both the oldest and the most elaborate monumental architecture in North America. Dr. Kassabaum explores the exceptional variability in the mounds themselves and the prehistoric cultures who constructed them.