Mound Builders
Mound Builders, pre-Columbian North American Indians who built earth mounds. The Mound Builders belonged to a number of different groups and built mounds for diverse purposes. Thousands of their mounds, varying greatly in size and shape, are found in eastern North America, especially in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. The Mound Builders have been classified into three different cultural groups—the Adena (1000 B.C. to 200 A.D) the Hopewell (300 to 700), and the Mississippian (700 to 1500).
The Adena and the Hopewell, both named for sites in Ohio, were primarily hunters and gatherers. They lived in camps or villages. The Mississippian Mound Builders were farmers who lived in villages around large religious centers. Why the Mound Builders disappeared is not known, but warfare, epidemics, overpopulation, or famine may have been responsible.
Types of MoundsMounds are classified as burial, effigy (figure), and temple mounds; and earth-walled enclosures that were used as religious centers or forts. The Adena built mainly burial mounds. Hopewell earthworks included burial and effigy mounds and enclosures. The Mississippian Indians constructed temple mounds.
Burial Mounds sometimes have an elongated shape but usually are conical, with a perfectly circular base and rounded top. They resemble the barrows, or tumuli, of Europe. A burial mound contains one or more skeletons, accompanied by personal possessions such as necklaces of shell, pottery, clay pipes and figurines, stone or bone tools, mica mirrors, and copper breastplates. The mounds may be scattered or close together. In Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe, Ohio, there are 23 mounds. Most burial mounds are less than three feet (1 m) high, but some are very large. A conical mound at Moundsville, West Virginia, and one at Miamisburg, Ohio, are each about 70 feet (21 m) high.