Office of the Illinois State Treasurer Request for Proposals Master Management Plan . . . Cahokia Mounds State of Illinois Historic Site January 30, 2006

              Office of the Illinois State Treasurer
Judy Baar Topinka
Request for Proposals
Master Management Plan
Cahokia Mounds
State of Illinois Historic Site
January 30, 2006
A. Introduction
The Office of the Illinois State Treasurer (“Treasurer”) is issuing this Request for Proposals(“RFP”) for a Master Management Plan for the preservation of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, IL. The Treasurer has established the Cahokia Mounds Preservation Fund (“Fund”) to provide financial support to help preserve the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.
B. Background of the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site preserves and interprets the remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric American Indian civilization north of Mexico. Within a
3500-acre tract, located a few miles west of Collinsville, Illinois, lie the archaeological remnants of the central section of the ancient Indian city that is today known as Cahokia.
According to archaeological finds, the city of Cahokia was inhabited from about 700 A.D. to 1400 A.D. At its peak, the city covered nearly six square miles and had a population of about 20,000 in extensive residential sections. It was the regional center for a complex community that represented a culture that archaeologists call Mississippian. The fate of this once thriving culture is unknown. A gradual decline in population began about 1250 A.D., and by 1400 A.D. the site was abandoned.
In 1965 the site was designated a National Historic Landmark by the keepers of the National Register of Historic Places. In 1982 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), designated Cahokia Mounds a World Heritage Site for its importance to our understanding of the prehistory of North America. About 2200 acres of the site are owned by the State of Illinois (remaining acres are privately owned) and managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.
C. Contractual Services
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