Archaeologists at Indiana University and the University of Illinois have been awarded two grants totaling $640,000 to continue and expand their research at Cahokia Mounds, site of the largest and possibly the most sophisticated pre-Columbian city north of Mexico.

Principal investigators for the grants are Susan Alt, associate professor of anthropology at IU Bloomington, and Timothy R. Pauketat, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois. Their work at Cahokia is producing a new narrative of the history of civilizations, showing that religion played a central role in organizing a complex society 1,000 years ago.