View source for Mound Builders

{{short description|Pre-Columbian cultures of North America}}
{{Other uses|Mound builder (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Monks Mound in July.JPG|thumb|[[Monks Mound]], built {{circa|950–1100 CE}} and located at the [[Cahokia|Cahokia Mounds]] [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] near [[Collinsville, Illinois]], is the largest [[pre-Columbian]] [[Earthworks (archaeology)|earthwork]] in America north of [[Mesoamerica]].]]

Many [[pre-Columbian]] cultures in North America were collectively termed "'''Mound Builders'''", but the term has no formal meaning. It does not refer to specific people or archaeological culture but refers to the characteristic [[mound]] earthworks that indigenous peoples erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span the period of roughly 3500 [[Common Era|BCE]] (the [[construction]] of [[Watson Brake]]) to the 16th century CE, including the [[Archaic period in the Americas|Archaic period]] ([[Horr's Island]]), [[Woodland period]] ([[Caloosahatchee culture|Caloosahatchee]], [[Adena culture|Adena]] and [[Hopewell culture]]s), and [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian period]]. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the [[Great Lakes]], the [[Ohio River]] Valley, Florida, and the [[Mississippi River]] Valley and its tributary waters.<ref>Squier p. 1</ref> Outlying mounds exist in South Carolina at [[Santee_Indian_Mound_and_Fort_Watson|Santee]] and in North Carolina at [[Town_Creek_Indian_Mound|Town Creek]].

The first mound building was an early marker of political and social complexity among the cultures in the Eastern United States. [[Watson Brake]] in Louisiana, constructed about 3500 BCE during the [[Archaic period in the Americas|Middle Archaic period]], is the oldest known and dated mound complex in North America. It is one of 11 mound complexes from this period found in the Lower Mississippi Valley.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ccsmpug-xaoC&dq=Hedgepeth+Middle+Archaic+site&pg=PA177 Robert W. Preucel, Stephen A. Mrozowski, ''Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism,''] John Wiley & Sons, 2010, p. 177</ref>
These cultures generally had developed hierarchical societies that had an elite. These commanded hundreds or even thousands of workers to dig up tons of earth with the hand tools available, move the soil long distances, and finally, workers to create the shape with layers of soil as directed by the builders. However early mounds found in Louisiana preceded such cultures and were products of hunter-gatherer cultures.

From about 800 CE, the mound-building cultures were dominated by the [[Mississippian culture]], a large archaeological [[horizon (archaeology)|horizon]], whose youngest descendants, the [[Plaquemine culture]] and the [[Fort Ancient culture]], were still active at the time of European contact in the 16th century. One tribe of the Fort Ancient culture has been identified as the [[Mosopelea]], presumably of southeast Ohio, who spoke an [[Ohio Valley Siouan languages|Ohio Valley Siouan language]]. The bearers of the Plaquemine culture were presumably speakers of the [[Natchez language|Natchez]] language isolate.
The first written description of these cultures were made by members of Spanish explorer [[Hernando de Soto]]'s expedition, between 1540 and 1542.

==Mounds==
[[File:Mississippian culture mound components HRoe 2011.jpg|thumb|right|A mound diagram of the [[platform mound]] showing the multiple layers of mound construction, mound structures such as temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and intrusive burials]]

The namesake cultural trait of the Mound Builders was the building of mounds and other earthworks. These burial and ceremonial structures were typically [[Frustum|flat-topped pyramid]]s or [[platform mound]]s, flat-topped or rounded cones, elongated ridges, and sometimes a variety of other forms. They were generally built as part of complex villages. The early earthworks built in [[Louisiana]] around 3500 BCE are the only ones known to have been built by a hunter-gatherer culture, rather than a more settled culture based on agricultural surpluses.

The best-known flat-topped pyramidal structure is [[Monks Mound]] at [[Cahokia]], near present-day [[Collinsville, Illinois]]. This community was the center of the Mississippian culture. This mound appears to have been the main ceremonial and residential mound for the religious and political leaders; it is more than {{convert|100|ft|m}} tall and is the largest pre-Columbian earthwork north of Mexico. This site had numerous mounds, some with conical or ridge tops, as well as palisaded stockades protecting the large settlement and elite quarter. At its maximum about 1150 CE, Cahokia was an urban settlement with 20,000–30,000 people. 

[[File:Serpent Mound - The Century.gif|thumb|right|A depiction of the [[Serpent Mound]] in southern Ohio, as published in the magazine ''The Century'', April 1890]]
Some [[effigy mound]]s were constructed in the shapes or outlines of culturally significant animals. The most famous effigy mound, [[Serpent Mound]] in southern Ohio, ranges from {{convert|1|ft|m}} to just over {{convert|3|ft|m}} tall, {{convert|20|ft|m}} wide, more than {{convert|1330|ft|m}} long, and shaped as an undulating [[Serpent symbolism|serpent]].

===Early descriptions===
[[File:Parkin Mounds Aerial HRoe 2016.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of the [[Parkin Archeological State Park|Parkin site]], thought to be the capital of the province of [[Casqui]] visited by de Soto]]

Between 1540 and 1542, [[Hernando de Soto]], the Spanish [[conquistador]], traversed what became the southeastern United States. There he encountered many different mound-builder peoples who were perhaps descendants of the great [[Mississippian culture]]. De Soto observed people living in fortified towns with lofty [[Platform mound|mounds]] and plazas and surmised that many of the mounds served as foundations for priestly temples. Near present-day [[Augusta, Georgia]], de Soto encountered a group ruled by a queen, [[Cofitachequi]]. She told him that the mounds within her territory served as burial places for nobles.

[[File:Bulletin (1901) (20396721516).jpg|thumb|right|Engraving after [[Jacques le Moyne]], showing the burial of a Timucua chief]]

The artist [[Jacques le Moyne]], who had accompanied French settlers to northeastern Florida during the 1560s, likewise noted Native American groups using existing mounds and constructing others. He produced a series of watercolor paintings depicting scenes of native life. Although most of his paintings have been lost, some engravings were copied from the originals and published in 1591 by a [[Southern Netherlands|Flemish]] company. Among these is a depiction of the burial of an aboriginal Floridian tribal chief, an occasion of great mourning and ceremony. The original caption reads:

{{cquote|Sometimes the deceased king of this province is buried with great solemnity, and his great cup from which he was accustomed to drink is placed on a tumulus with many arrows set about it.|20px|20px|Jacques le Moyne, 1560s}}

[[Maturin Le Petit]], a [[Jesuit]] priest, met the [[Natchez people]], as did [[Le Page du Pratz]] (1758), a French explorer. Both observed them in the area that today is known as Mississippi. The Natchez were devout [[solar deity|worshippers of the sun]]. Having a population of some 4,000, they occupied at least nine villages and were presided over by a [[paramount chief]], known as the Great Sun, who wielded absolute power. Both observers noted the high temple mounds that the Natchez had built so that the Great Sun could commune with God, the sun. His large residence was built atop the highest mound, from "which, every morning, he greeted the rising sun, invoking thanks and blowing tobacco smoke to the four cardinal directions".<ref>Mallory O'Connor, ''Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast'' (University Press of Florida, 1995).</ref><ref>Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis, ''Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley'' (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. 1. Washington DC, 1848)</ref><ref>Biloine Young and Melvin Fowler, ''Cahokia: The Great Native American Metropolis'' (University of Illinois Press, 2000).</ref><!-- These cover all of the above paragraphs -->

===Archaeological surveys===
[[File:Portsmouth Works Group A B C D Squier and Davis 01.jpg|thumb|right|A depiction of the [[Portsmouth Earthworks]] in ''[[Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley]]'']]
The most complete reference for these earthworks is ''[[Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley]]'', written by [[E. G. Squier|Ephraim G. Squier]] and Edwin H. Davis. It was published [[1848 in archaeology|in 1848]] by the [[Smithsonian]] Institution, which had commissioned the survey. Since many of the features that the authors documented have been destroyed or diminished by farming and development, their surveys, sketches, and descriptions are still used by modern [[archeology|archaeologists]]. All of the sites that they identified as located in [[Kentucky]] came from the manuscripts of [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]].

==Chronology==

===Archaic era===
{{main|Archaic period in the Americas}}
[[File:Watson Brake Aerial Illustration HRoe 2014.jpg|thumb|Illustration of [[Watson Brake]], the oldest known mound complex in North America]]
[[File:Poverty Point Aerial HRoe 2014.jpg|thumb|Illustration of [[Poverty Point]] in [[West Carroll Parish, Louisiana]]]]

Radiocarbon dating has established the age of the earliest Archaic mound complex in southeastern Louisiana. One of the two Monte Sano Site mounds, excavated in 1967 before being destroyed for new construction at Baton Rouge, was dated at 6220 BP (plus or minus 140 years).<ref name="RSaunders"/> Researchers at the time thought that such hunter-gatherer societies were not organizationally capable of this type of construction.<ref name="RSaunders">Rebecca Saunders, "[https://www.jstor.org/pss/40656501 The Case for Archaic Period Mounds in Southeastern Louisiana]", ''Southeastern Archaeology'', Vol. 13, No. 2, Winter 1994. Retrieved November 4, 2011</ref> It has since been dated as about 6500 BP or 4500 BCE,<ref>{{cite web|title=Important new findings in Louisiana|url=http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/000363.html|work=Archaeo News|publisher=Stone Pages|access-date=September 5, 2011}}</ref> although not all agree.<ref name="Rees">Joe W. Saunders, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ed3aT7jIxQUC&q=Monte+Sano+Site+%2816EBR17%29 Middle Archaic and Watson Brake]", in ''Archaeology of Louisiana'', edited by Mark A. Rees, Ian W. (FRW) Brown, LSU Press, 2010, p. 67</ref>
 
[[Watson Brake]] is located in the floodplain of the [[Ouachita River]] near Monroe in northern Louisiana. Securely dated to about 5,400 years ago (around 3500 BCE), in the Middle Archaic period, it consists of a formation of 11 mounds from {{convert|3|ft|m}} to {{convert|25|ft|m}} tall, connected by ridges to form an oval nearly {{convert|900|ft|m}} across.<ref name="Saunders 2010 pp. 69-76">Saunders, in Rees and Brown (2010), ''Archaeology of Louisiana'', pp. 69–76</ref> In the Americas, the building of complex earthwork mounds started at an early date, well before the [[pyramids]] of Egypt were constructed. Watson Brake was being constructed nearly 2,000 years before the better-known [[Poverty Point]], and the building continued for 500 years.<ref name="Saunders 2010 pp. 69-76"/> Middle Archaic mound construction seems to have ceased about 2800 BCE. Scholars have not ascertained the reason, but it may have been because of changes in river patterns or other environmental factors.<ref>Saunders, in Rees and Brown (2010), ''Archaeology of Louisiana'', pp. 73–74</ref>

With the 1990s dating of Watson Brake and similar complexes, scholars established that pre-agricultural, pre-ceramic American societies could organize to accomplish complex construction during extended periods, invalidating scholars' traditional ideas of Archaic society.<ref>Saunders, in Rees and Brown (2010), ''Archaeology of Louisiana'', p. 63</ref> Watson Brake was built by a hunter-gatherer society, the people of which occupied this area only on a seasonal basis. Successive generations organized to build the complex mounds over 500 years. Their food consisted mostly of fish and deer, as well as available plants.

Poverty Point, built about 1500 BCE in what is now Louisiana, is a prominent example of Late Archaic mound-builder construction (around 2500 BCE – 1000 BCE). It is a striking complex of more than {{convert|1|mi2}}, where six earthwork crescent ridges were built in concentric arrangement, interrupted by radial aisles. Three mounds are also part of the main complex, and evidence of residences extends for about {{convert|3|mi|km}} along the bank of [[Bayou Macon]]. It is the major site among 100 associated with the [[Poverty Point culture]] and is one of the best-known early examples of earthwork monumental architecture. Unlike the localized societies during the Middle Archaic, this culture showed evidence of a wide trading network outside its area, which is one of its distinguishing characteristics.

The [[Tomoka State Park|Tomoka Mound Complex]] on the [[St. Johns River]] in Florida included a mound constructed between 4629 and 4000 [[Before Present|BP]] (2679 to 2050 BCE).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Piatek |first=Bruce John |date=1994 |title=The Tomoka Mound Complex in Northeast Florida |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40656500 |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=109–118 |issn=0734-578X}}</ref> [[Horr's Island]] in [[Southwest Florida]] included a burial mound dated to 3400 BCE, making it the oldest known burial mound in North America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Russo |first=Michael |date=1994 |title=Why We Don't Believe in Archaic Ceremonial Mounds and Why We Should: The Case from Florida |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40656499 |journal=Southeastern Archaeology |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=93–109 |issn=0734-578X}}</ref>

===Woodland period===
{{main|Woodland period}}
[[File:Grave Creek Mound.jpg|thumb|right|[[Grave Creek Mound]], [[Moundsville, West Virginia]], [[Adena culture]]]]
The oldest mound associated with the Woodland period was the mortuary mound and pond complex at the [[Fort Center]] site in Glade County, Florida. Excavations and dating in 2012 by Thompson and Pluckhahn show that work began around 2600 BCE, seven centuries before the mound-builders in Ohio.

The Archaic period was followed by the Woodland period (''circa'' 1000 BCE). Some well-understood examples are the [[Adena culture]] of [[Ohio]], [[West Virginia]], and parts of nearby states. The subsequent [[Hopewell culture]] built monuments from present-day [[Illinois]] to Ohio; it is renowned for its geometric earthworks. The Adena and Hopewell were not the only mound-building peoples during this period. Contemporaneous mound-building cultures existed throughout what is now the Eastern United States, stretching as far south as [[Crystal River (Florida)|Crystal River]] in western Florida. During this time, in parts of present-day Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the Hopewellian [[Marksville culture]] degenerated and was succeeded by the [[Baytown culture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/seac/outline/04-woodland/index-3.htm|title=Southeastern Prehistory-Late Woodland Period|access-date=2008-09-23}}</ref> Reasons for degeneration include attacks from other tribes or the impact of severe climatic changes undermining agriculture.

===Coles Creek culture===
[[File:Kings Crossing Site HRoe 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of [[Kings Crossing site]] in [[Warren County, Mississippi]]]]
{{main|Coles Creek culture}}
The Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland culture (700–1200 CE) in the [[Lower Mississippi Valley]] in the Southern United States that marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population and cultural and political complexity increased, especially by the end of the Coles Creek period. Although many of the classic traits of [[chiefdom]] societies had not yet developed, by 1000 CE, the formation of simple elite polities had begun. Coles Creek sites are found in Arkansas, [[Louisiana]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Mississippi]], and [[Texas]]. The Coles Creek culture is considered ancestral to the Plaquemine culture.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kidder|first=Tristram|editor1=R. Barry Lewis |editor2=Charles Stout|title=Mississippian Towns and Sacred Spaces|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|year=1998|isbn=978-0-8173-0947-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Troyville-Coles Creek|date=July 1, 2010|work=Louisiana prehistory|url=http://www.crt.state.la.us/archaeology/virtualbooks/LAPREHIS/marca.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110032136/http://www.crt.state.la.us/archaeology/virtualbooks/LAPREHIS/marca.htm|archive-date=2012-01-10}}</ref>

===Mississippian cultures===
[[File:Cahokia Aerial HRoe 2015.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of [[Cahokia]] with the large [[Monks Mound]] in the central precinct, encircled by a palisade, surrounded by four plazas, notably the Grand Plaza to the south]]
{{main|Mississippian culture}}
Around 900–1450 CE, the [[Mississippian culture]] developed and spread through the Eastern United States, primarily along the river valleys.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-707|author=Adam King|title=Mississippian Period: Overview|publisher=New Georgia Encyclopedia|year=2002|access-date=2010-07-01|archive-date=March 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301201548/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-707|url-status=dead}}</ref> The largest regional center where the Mississippian culture was first definitely developed is located in Illinois along a tributary of the Mississippi and is referred to as [[Cahokia]]. It had several regional variants including the Middle Mississippian culture of Cahokia, the South Appalachian Mississippian variant at [[Moundville Archaeological Site|Moundville]] and [[Etowah Indian Mounds|Etowah]], the Plaquemine Mississippian variant in south Louisiana and Mississippi,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/seac/outline/05-mississippian/index.htm|title=Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period|access-date=2010-07-01}}</ref> and the [[Caddoan Mississippian culture]] of northwestern Louisiana, eastern Texas, and southwestern Arkansas.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Peter N. Peregrine|title=Archaeology of the Mississippian culture: a research guide|publisher=[[Garland Publishing]]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-8153-0336-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofmis0000pere/page/165 165]|author-link=Peter N. Peregrine|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofmis0000pere/page/165}}</ref> Like the mound builders of the Ohio, these peoples built gigantic mounds as burial and ceremonial places.<ref>Nash, Gary B. ''Red, White and Black: The Peoples of Early North America'' Los Angeles: 2015. Chapter 1, p. 6</ref>

===Fort Ancient culture===
[[File:Sunwatch Aerial illustration HRoe 2018 400px.jpg|thumb|right|Artist's conception of the Fort Ancient culture [[SunWatch Indian Village]]]]
{{main|Fort Ancient culture}}
Fort Ancient is the name for a Native American culture that flourished from 1000 to 1650 CE among a people who predominantly inhabited land along the [[Ohio River]] in areas of modern-day southern Ohio, northern [[Kentucky]], and western [[West Virginia]].

===Plaquemine culture===
[[File:Holly Bluff Aerial HRoe 2016.jpg|right|thumb|Illustration of the [[Holly Bluff site]] in [[Yazoo County, Mississippi]]]]
{{main|Plaquemine culture}}
A continuation of the Coles Creek culture in the lower [[Mississippi River]] Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. Examples include the [[Medora site]] in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana; and the [[Anna site|Anna]] and [[Emerald Mound site|Emerald Mound]] sites in Mississippi. Sites inhabited by Plaquemine peoples continued to be used as vacant ceremonial centers without large village areas much as their Coles Creek ancestors had done, although their layout began to show influences from Middle Mississippian peoples to the north. The [[Winterville site|Winterville]] and [[Holly Bluff site|Holly Bluff]] (Lake George) sites in western Mississippi are good examples that exemplify this change of layout, but a continuation of site usage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://home.nps.gov/seac/hnc/outline/05-mississippian/index.htm|title=Mississippian and Late Prehistoric Period|access-date=2016-10-20}}</ref> During the Terminal Coles Creek period (1150 to 1250 CE), contact increased with Mississippian cultures centered upriver near the future [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. This resulted in the adaption of new [[Mississippian culture pottery|pottery techniques]], as well as new ceremonial objects and possibly new social patterns during the Plaquemine period.<ref name=PLAQMISS>{{cite web|url=http://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/archaeology/virtualbooks/LAPREHIS/plaqu.htm|title=Plaquemine-Mississippian|access-date=2016-10-20|archive-date=April 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402054220/http://www.crt.state.la.us/dataprojects/archaeology/virtualbooks/LAPREHIS/plaqu.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> As more Mississippian cultural influences were absorbed, the Plaquemine area as a distinct culture began to shrink after CE 1350. Eventually, the last enclave of purely Plaquemine culture was the Natchez Bluffs area, while the Yazoo Basin and adjacent areas of Louisiana became a hybrid Plaquemine-Mississippi culture.<ref name=ENCYCARCH>{{cite book|title=Archaeology of prehistoric native America: an encyclopedia|author1=Guy E. Gibbon|author2=Kenneth M. Ames|publisher=Routledge|date=August 1, 1998|isbn=978-0-8153-0725-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/657 657–658]|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofpre0000unse/page/657}}</ref> This division was recorded by Europeans when they first arrived in the area. In the Natchez Bluffs area, the [[Taensa]] and [[Natchez people]] had held out against Mississippian influence and continued to use the same sites as their ancestors. The Plaquemine culture is considered directly ancestral to these historic period groups encountered by Europeans.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/cacv/cacvbrvl.htm|title=The Plaquemine Culture, A.D 1000|access-date=2008-09-08}}</ref> Groups who appear to have absorbed more Mississippian influence were identified as those tribes speaking the [[Tunica language|Tunican]], [[Chitimacha language|Chitimachan]], and [[Muskogean languages]].<ref name=PLAQMISS/>

===Disappearance===
{{see also|Mississippian shatter zone}}
Following the description by [[Jacques le Moyne]] in 1560,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Cyrus |title=Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections |publisher=Salzwasser-Verlag Gmbh |year=2018}}</ref> the mound-building cultures seem to have disappeared within the next century. However, there were also other European accounts, earlier than 1560, that give a first-hand description of the enormous earth-built mounds being constructed by Native Americans. One of them was [[Garcilaso de la Vega (chronicler)|Garcilaso de la Vega]] (c.1539–1616), a Spanish chronicler also known as "''El Inca''" because of his Incan mother. He was the record-keeper of the noted ''De Soto'' expedition that landed in present-day Florida on May 31, 1538. Garcilaso gave a first-hand description in his ''Historia de la Florida''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Haughton|first=Brian|title=Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places: A Field Guide to Stone Circles, Crop Circles, Ancient Tombs and Supernatural Landscape|publisher=The Career Press|year=2008|isbn=978-1-60163-000-1|location=USA|pages=295–296}}</ref> (published in 1605, Lisbon, as ''La Florida del Inca'') describing how the Indians had built mounds and how the Native American mound cultures practiced their traditional way of life.<ref name=":0" /> De la Vega's accounts also include vital details about the Native American tribes' systems of government present in the southeast, tribal territories, and the construction of mounds and temples.<ref name=":0" /> A few French expeditions in the 1560s<ref name=":1" /> reported staying with Indian societies who had built mounds.<ref name="feder"/>

==== Diseases ====
Later explorers to the same regions, only a few decades after mound-building settlements had been reported, found the regions largely depopulated with its residents vanished and the mounds untended. Conflicts with Europeans were dismissed by historians as the major cause of population reduction since few clashes had occurred between the natives and the Europeans in the area during the same period. The most widely accepted explanation today is that new infectious diseases brought from the Old World, such as [[smallpox]] and [[influenza]], had decimated most of the Native Americans from the last mound-builder civilization, as they had no [[immunity (medical)|immunity]] to such diseases.<ref>Davis Brose and N'omi Greber (eds.), ''Hopewell Archaeology'' (Kent State University Press, 1979)</ref><ref>Roger Kennedy, ''Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North American Civilization'' (Free Press, 1994)</ref><ref>Robert Silverberg, "...And the Mound-Builders Vanished from the Earth", originally in the 1969 edition of ''American Heritage'', collected in the anthology ''A Sense of History'' [Houghton-Mifflin, 1985]; available online [http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1969/4/1969_4_60.shtml here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828083500/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1969/4/1969_4_60.shtml |date=August 28, 2008 }}.</ref><ref>Gordon M. Sayre, "The Mound Builders and the Imagination of American Antiquity in Jefferson, Bartram, and Chateaubriand", ''Early American Literature'' 33 (1998): 225–249.</ref>

The [[Fort Ancient culture]] of the [[Ohio River]] valley is considered a "sister culture" of the Mississippian horizon, or one of the "Mississippianised" cultures adjacent to the main area of the mound building cultures. This culture was also mostly extinct in the 17th century, but remnants may have survived into the first half of the 18th century.

While this culture shows strong Mississippian influences, its bearers were most likely ethnolinguistically distinct from the Mississippians, possibly belonging to the [[Siouan]] phylum. The only tribal name associated with the Fort Ancient culture in the historical record is the [[Mosopelea]], recorded by [[Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin]] in 1684 as inhabiting eight villages north of the Ohio River.

The Mosopelea is most likely identical to the Ofo (''Oufé'', ''Offogoula'') recorded in the same area in the 18th century. The [[Ofo language]] was formerly classified as [[Muskogean languages|Muskogean]] but is now recognized as an eccentric member of the [[Western Siouan languages|Western Siouan]] phylum. The late survival of the Fort Ancient culture is suggested by the remarkable amount of European-made goods in the archaeological record. Such artifacts would have been acquired by trade even before direct European contact. These artifacts include brass and steel items, glassware, and melted down or broken goods reforged into new items. 
 
The Fort Ancient peoples are known to have been severely affected by disease in the 17th century ([[Beaver Wars]] period). Carbon dating seems to indicate that they were wiped out by successive waves of disease.

==== Massacre and revolt====
Because of the disappearance of the cultures by the end of the 17th century, the identification of the bearers of these cultures was an open question in 19th-century ethnography. Modern stratigraphic dating has established that the "Mound builders" have spanned an extended period of more than five millennia so that any ethnolinguistic continuity is unlikely. The spread of the [[Mississippian culture]] from the late 1st millennium CE most likely involved cultural assimilation, in archaeological terminology called "Mississippianised" cultures.

19th-century ethnography assumed that the Mound-builders were an ancient prehistoric race with no direct connection to the [[Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands|Southeastern Woodland peoples]] of the historical period who were encountered by Europeans. A reference to this idea appears in the poem "The Prairies" (1832) by [[William Cullen Bryant]].<ref>Bryant, William Cullen, "[http://www.4literature.net/William_Cullen_Bryant/Prairies/ The Prairies]" (1832) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105173208/http://www.4literature.net/William_Cullen_Bryant/Prairies/ |date=January 5, 2007 }}</ref>

The cultural stage of the Southeastern Woodland natives encountered in the 18th and 19th centuries by British colonists was deemed incompatible<ref name=":0" /> with the comparatively advanced stone, metal{{dubious|date=July 2021}}, and clay artifacts of the archaeological record.<ref name="feder"/> The age of the earthworks was also partly over-estimated.

[[Caleb Atwater]]'s misunderstanding of stratigraphy caused him to significantly overestimate the age of the earthworks. In his book, ''Antiquities Discovered in the Western States'' (1820), Atwater claimed that "Indian remains" were always found right beneath the surface of the earth, while artifacts associated with the Mound Builders were found fairly deep in the ground. Atwater argued that they must be from a different group of people. The discovery of metal artifacts further convinced people that the Mound Builders were not identical to the Southeast Woodland Native Americans of the 18th century.<ref name="feder"/>

It is now thought that the most likely bearers of the [[Plaquemine culture]], a late variant of the Mississippian culture, were ancestral to the related [[Natchez people|Natchez]] and [[Taensa]] peoples.<ref name="The Plaquemine Culture, A.D 1000">{{cite web | url = http://bcn.boulder.co.us/environment/cacv/cacvbrvl.htm| title = The Plaquemine Culture, A.D 1000  | access-date = September 8, 2008 }}</ref> The [[Natchez language]] is a language isolate.

The Natchez are known to have historically occupied the [[Lower Mississippi Valley]]. They are first mentioned in French sources of around 1700, when they were centered around the [[Grand Village of the Natchez|Grand Village]] close to present-day [[Natchez, Mississippi]]. In 1729 the [[Natchez revolt]]ed and massacred the French colony of Fort Rosalie. The French retaliated by destroying all the Natchez villages. The remaining Natchez fled in scattered bands to live among the [[Chickasaw]], [[Muscogee|Creek]], and [[Cherokee|Cherokee people]]. They traveled with them on the [[trail of tears]] when federal [[Indian removal]] policies after 1830 forced the Native Americans out of the Southeast and west of the Mississippi River to [[Indian Territory]] (admitted in the early 20th century as the state of [[Oklahoma]]). The Natchez language became extinct in the 20th century, with the death in 1957 of the last known native speaker, [[Nancy Raven]].

==Maps==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Hopewellsphere2 map HRoe 2008.jpg|[[Hopewell tradition]]s
File:Ohio Arch Cultures map HRoe 2008.jpg|[[Adena culture]]
File:Troyville and Baytown cultures map HRoe 2011.jpg|[[Troyville culture]] and [[Baytown culture]]
File:Coles Creek culture map HRoe 2010.jpg|[[Coles Creek culture]]
</gallery>
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Mississippian cultures HRoe 2010.jpg|[[Mississippian culture]]
File:Caddoan Mississippian culture map HRoe 2010.jpg|[[Caddoan Mississippian culture]]
File:Fort Ancient Monongahela cultures HRoe 2010.jpg|[[Fort Ancient culture]]
File:Plaquemine culture map HRoe 2010.jpg|[[Plaquemine culture]]
</gallery>

==Pseudoarchaeology==

===The myth of the Mound Builders===

Based on the idea that the origins of the mound builders lay with a mysterious ancient people, various other suggestions were belonging to the more general genre of [[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories]], specifically involving [[Norse colonization of North America|Vikings]], [[Atlantis]], and the [[Ten Lost Tribes of Israel]], summarised by Feder (2006) under the heading of "The Myth of a Vanished Race".<ref name="feder">{{cite book |title=Frauds, Myths, And Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology |last=Feder |first=Kenneth L. |author-link=Kenneth Feder |year=2005 |publisher=McGraw Hill |location=Central Connecticut State Univ |chapter=The Myth of the Moundbuilders |isbn=978-0-07-286948-4 |pages=151–155, 159–160, 164–166 |chapter-url=http://www.udel.edu/anthro/neitzel/mythofmoundbuilders.pdf |access-date=May 19, 2012 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780072869484/page/151 }}</ref>

[[Benjamin Smith Barton]] in his ''Observations on Some Parts of Natural History'' (1787) proposed the theory that the Mound Builders were associated with "Danes", i.e. with the [[Norse colonization of North America]]. In 1797, Barton reconsidered his position and correctly identified the mounds as part of indigenous prehistory.

Notable for the association with the Ten Lost Tribes is the [[Book of Mormon]] (1830). This provides a related belief, as its narrative describes two major immigrations to the Americas from [[Mesopotamia]]: the [[Jaredite]]s (ca. 3000 - 2000 BCE) and an Israelite group during 590 BCE (termed [[Nephite]]s, [[Lamanite]]s and [[Mulekite]]s). While the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites were all of Jewish origin coming from Israel around 590 BCE, the Jaredites were a non-Abrahamic people separate in all aspects, except in a belief in Jehovah, from the Nephites. ''The Book of Mormon'' depicts these settlers building magnificent cities, which were destroyed by warfare about CE 385. The Book of Mormon can be placed in the tradition of the "Mound-Builder literature" of the period and has been called "the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature".<ref>Curtis Dahl, "Mound-Builders, Mormons, and William Cullen Bryant", ''[[The New England Quarterly]]'', vol. 34, no. 2, June 1961, pp. 178–90 ("Undoubtedly the most famous and certainly the most influential of all Mound-Builder literature is the ''Book of Mormon'' (1830)). Whether one wishes to accept it as divinely inspired or the work of Joseph Smith, it fits exactly into the tradition. Despite its pseudo-Biblical style and its general inchoateness, it is certainly the most imaginative and best sustained of the stories about the Mound-Builders" (at p. 187).</ref>

[[Josiah Priest]]'s 1833 400-page publication ''American Antiquities'' centered around his study of the Bible and [[antiquarian]] journals, supplemented by information from his travels. After visiting [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]] in Ohio and New York, Priest concluded that these mounds could be traced back to a [[lost race]] that had inhabited America even before the Native Americans. This idea is now referred to as the "mound builder myth" and still has supporters in society today. The book grew in popularity because of Priest's views on Native Americans. "It tapped into the widely accepted view of those times that Native Americans were merely bloodthirsty savages, bent on the destruction of all but their own race. It was inconceivable to Priest and like-minded men that a race so lazy and inept could conceive and build such huge, elaborate structures."<ref>Harpster, Jack; Stalter, Jeff. "Captive! The Story of David Ogden and the Iroquois." ABC-CLIO, LLC., 2010, p. xi.</ref> Priest speculated that the original dwellers could be the [[Ten Lost Tribes of Israel]].<ref>These tribes made up the Kingdom of Israel in Biblical times. When Assyria left their kingdom in ruins, the tribes disappeared and were never seen again.</ref>

The reasoning Priest gives for his conclusion that there was an even earlier settler than the Native Americans relies upon his interpretation of the Biblical flood story.  According to Priest, after the great flood disappeared, Noah and his ark landed in America. While surveying the land, Noah also discovered mounds that had been constructed before the waters rose. Upon seeing this, Noah questioned where these agricultural phenomena came from. "Surveying the various themes of mound builder origins, he could not decide whether the mounds were the work of Polynesians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Scandinavians, Welsh, Scotts, or Chinese, although he felt certain the Indians had not built them."<ref>Silverberg, Robert. "The Mound Builders." Ohio UP, 1986, pp. 65-66, cited in De Villo Sloan, 2002.</ref> Priest's racism has also been discussed in detail by author [[Robert Silverberg]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silverberg |first1=Robert |title=Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth |date=1968 |publisher=New York Graphic Society |location=Greenwich, CT}}</ref> archaeologist [[Stephen Williams (archaeologist)|Stephen Williams]],<ref name="Williams1991">{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Stephen |title=Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory |date=1991 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0812213126}}</ref> and author [[Jason Colavito]].<ref name="Colavito2020">{{cite book |last1=Colavito |first1=Jason |title=The Mound Builder Myth: Fake History and the Hunt for a "Lost White Race" |date=2020 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |location=Norman |isbn=978-0806164618}}</ref> Later authors placing the Book of Mormon in this context include Silverberg (1969),<ref>Robert Silverberg, ''Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archeology of a Myth'' (New York: New York Graphic Society, 1968); {{Harvnb|Silverberg|1969}}.</ref> Brodie (1971),<ref>[[Fawn M. Brodie]], ''[[No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith]]'' (rev. ed., New York: Knopf, 1971) p. 36.</ref> Kennedy (1994),<ref>{{Harvnb|Kennedy|1994}}.</ref> and Garlinghouse (2001).<ref>Garlinghouse, Thomas, "Revisiting the Mound Builder Controversy", ''History Today'', September 2001, Vol. 51, Issue 9, p. 38.</ref>

Some nineteenth-century archaeological finds (e.g., earth and timber fortifications and towns,<ref>See {{Harvnb|Squier|1849}}</ref> the use of a plaster-like cement,<ref>See mound builder homes of "clay-plastered poles":  Stuart, George E., Who Were the "Mound Builders"?, ''National Geographic'', Vol. 142, No. 6, December 1972, pg. 789</ref> ancient roads,<ref>See ''Searching for the Great Hopewell Road'', based on the investigations of archaeologist Dr. Bradley Lepper, Ohio Historical Society, Pangea Production Ltd, 1998</ref> metal points and implements,<ref>See Priest, Josiah, ''American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West'', pg. 179;</ref> copper breastplates,<ref>See ''Mound Builders & Cliff Dwellers'', Lost Civilizations series, Dale M. Brown (editor), pg. 26</ref> head-plates,<ref>Priest, Josiah, ''American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West'', 176; ''Mound Builders & Cliff Dwellers'', Lost Civilizations series, Dale M. Brown (editor), pg. 26</ref> textiles,<ref>See Ritchie, William A. ''The Archaeology of New York State'', pp. 259, 261</ref> pearls,<ref>See freshwater pearl necklaces, and pearls sewn on clothing: ''Mound Builders & Cliff Dwellers'', Lost Civilizations series, Dale M. Brown (editor), pg. 26</ref> native North American inscriptions, North American elephant remains etc.) were well-publicized at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon and there is the incorporation of some of these ideas into the narrative. References are made in the Book of Mormon to a then-current understanding of [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] civilizations, including the formative [[Mesoamerica]]n civilizations such as the (Pre-Classic) [[Olmec]], [[Maya civilization|Maya]], and [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]].

[[Lafcadio Hearn]] in 1876 wrote about a theory that the mounds were built by people from the lost continent of Atlantis.<ref name="feder"/><ref>{{cite news |title=The Mound Builders |author=Hearn, Lafcadio |url=http://www.trussel.com/prehist/mound.htm |newspaper=The Commercial |date=April 24, 1876 |access-date=May 17, 2012}}</ref> The Reverend Landon West in 1901 claimed that the Serpent Mound in Ohio was built by God, or by man inspired by him. He believed that God built the mound and placed it as a symbol of the story of the [[Garden of Eden]].<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SbYBG7ynKZAC&q=Landon%20West%20reverend&pg=PA225
|title=Ohio history, Volume 10 
|author=Ohio Historical Society
|quote=The Garden of Eden, it seems, is now definitely located. The site is in Ohio, "Adams" county, to be more precise...The Rev. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, O., a prominent and widely known minister of the Baptist church... arrives at the conclusion that this great work was created either by God himself or by man inspired by Him to make an everlasting object lesson of man's disobedience, Satan's perfidy and the results of sin and death. In support of this startling claim the Rev. Mr. West quotes Scripture and refers to Job 16:13: "By His spirit. He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent."
|access-date=2011-07-25
|year=1901 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.thecommononline.org/features/adam-and-eve-and-reverend-west-ohio
 |title        = Adam and Eve –and Reverend West – in Ohio
 |author       = Brook Wilensky-Lanford
 |date         = May 23, 2011
|publisher    = The Common
 |quote        = The Eden I found in a 1909 pamphlet by Reverend Landon West—the Serpent Mound earthwork that is now an Ohio state park—was still preserved for all to see, so I went...Details that fell outside of West's lifetime were hard to fit into the book: his son [[Dan West (philanthropist)|Dan West]] became the founder of the [[Heifer Project]] charity, and his accomplishments no doubt helped preserve the memory of his father's Garden of Eden.
 |access-date  = July 25, 2011
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111104170710/http://www.thecommononline.org/features/adam-and-eve-and-reverend-west-ohio
 |archive-date = 2011-11-04
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref>

More recently, [[Black nationalism|Black nationalist]] websites claiming association with the [[Moorish Science Temple of America]], have taken up the Atlantean ("[[Mu (mythical lost continent)|Mu]]") association of the Mound Builders.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.federationmsta.org/mound.html| publisher= Federation : MSTA | title= The Mound Builders of North America Part I| access-date=2017-12-24 }}</ref> Similarly, the "[[Washitaw Nation]]", a group associated with the Moorish Science Temple of America established in the 1990s, has been associated with mound-building in Black nationalist online articles of the early 2000s.<ref>{{cite web| title= The Black Washitaw Nation of America | date= May 12, 2010 | url= https://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-black-washitaw-nation-on-america/ | access-date=2017-12-24 }}</ref>

In a January 2023 episode of [[Tucker Carlson]]'s Fox Nation show ''[[Tucker Carlson Today]]'' had a guest who stated that: "They didn't build 'em. Someone before them built 'em". Carlson replied: "That's right" and said there was "skeletal evidence of people who bear no genetic resemblance to the current Indians".<ref>{{cite web |title=RANDALL CARLSON on TUCKER CARLSON TODAY - S02E123 - ENVIRONMENTAL EARTHWORKS | website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOqzLhxzd6s |language=en}}</ref>

==== Newark Holy Stone ====
[[File:Keystone_Holy_Stones.gif|thumb|Keystone]]
On June 29, 1860, David Wyrick, the surveyor of [[Licking County, Ohio|Licking County]] near [[Newark, Ohio|Newark]], discovered the so-called "Keystone" in a shallow excavation at the monumental [[Newark Earthworks]], which is an extraordinary set of ancient geometric enclosures created by Indigenous people.<ref>{{Citation |last=Townsend |first=Richard F. |title=The Newark Earthworks: Monumental Geometry and Astronomy at a Hopewellian Pilgrimage Center |date=September 6, 2016 |url=https://www.aaeportal.com/ |work=Hero, Hawk, and Open Hand: American Indian Art of the Ancient Midwest and South |publisher=Art Institute of Chicago |language=en |isbn=978-0-300-22560-0 |access-date=2022-04-14}}</ref> There he dug up a four-sided, [[plumb-bob]]-shaped stone with [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] letters engraved on each of its faces. The local Episcopal minister John W. McCarty translated the four inscriptions as "Law of the Lord," “Word of the Lord," “Holy of Holies," and "King of the Earth." [[Charles Whittlesey (geologist)|Charles Whittlesey]], who was one of the foremost archaeologists at that time, pronounced the stone to be authentic. The Newark Holy Stones, if genuine, would provide support for [[monogenism|monogenesis]], since they would establish that American Indians could be encompassed within Biblical history.
[[File:Decalogue_stone.jpg|thumb|upright|Decalogue Stone]]
After his first expedition, Wyrick uncovered a small stone box that was found to contain an intricately carved slab of black limestone covered with archaic-looking Hebrew letters along with a representation of a man in flowing robes. When translated, once again by McCarty, the inscription was found to include the entire [[Ten Commandments]], and the robed figure was identified as [[Moses]]. Naturally enough, it became known as the [[Newark Holy Stones|Decalogue Stone]].

Rather than being found beneath only a foot or two of soil, the Decalogue Stone was claimed to have been buried beneath a forty-foot-tall stone mound. Instead of modern Hebrew typography, the characters on the stone were blocky and appeared to be an ancient form of the Hebrew alphabet. Finally, the stone bore no resemblance to any modern [[Masonic]] artifact.  In 1870, Whittlesey declared finally that the Holy Stones and other similar artifacts were "Archaeological Frauds."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feder |first=Kenneth L. |url=http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780072869484 |title=Frauds, myths, and mysteries : science and pseudoscience in archaeology |date=2006 |publisher=Boston : McGraw-Hill |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-07-286948-4}}</ref>

==== Giants ====
In 19th-century America, many popular mythologies surrounding the origin of the mounds were in circulation, typically involving the mounds being built by a race of [[giant]]s. A ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]] ''article from 1897 described a mound in [[Wisconsin]] in which a giant human skeleton measuring over {{convert|9|ft}} in length was found.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 20, 1897 |title=Wisconsin Mound Opened: Skeleton Found of a Man Over Nine Feet High with an Enormous Skull |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B02EED61330E333A25753C2A9649D94669ED7CF}}</ref> In 1886, another ''New York Times'' article described water receding from a mound in [[Cartersville, Georgia]], which uncovered acres of skulls and bones, some of which were said to be gigantic. Two thigh bones were measured with the height of their owners estimated at {{convert|14|ft}}.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 5, 1886 |title=Monster Skulls and Bones |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E1D71330E533A25756C0A9629C94679FD7CF}}</ref> President [[Abraham Lincoln]] referred to the giants whose bones fill the mounds of America.

{{blockquote|But still there is more. It calls up the indefinite past. When Columbus first sought this continent – when Christ suffered on the cross – when Moses led Israel through the Red-Sea – nay, even, when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker – then as now, Niagara was roaring here. The eyes of that species of extinct giants, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara, as ours do now. Co[n]temporary with the whole race of men, and older than the first man, Niagara is strong, and fresh to-day as ten thousand years ago. The Mammoth and Mastodon – now so long dead, that fragments of their monstrous bones, alone testify, that they ever lived, have gazed on Niagara. In that long – long time, never still for a single moment. Never dried, never froze, never slept, never rested.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext|title=Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln|volume=2|chapter=Fragment: Niagara Falls ''[c. September 25–30, 1848]''|pages=10–11|first=Abraham|last=Lincoln|author-link=Abraham Lincoln|editor-first=Roy P.|editor-last=Basler|date=1953|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/}}</ref>}}

The antiquarian author [[William Pidgeon (archaeologist)|William Pidgeon]] in 1858 created fraudulent surveys of mound groups that did not exist.<ref name="Pidgeon">Pidgeon, William (1858) ''Traditions of Dee-Coo-Dah and Antiquarian Researches''. Horace Thayer, New York.</ref>
<!--it is unclear what this is meant to express, is "this opinion" Lincoln's, and are these references dated 2000 and 2008 somehow meant to "replace" Pidgeon? How? Context or explanation? Quotes?
possibly tainting this opinion, which was replaced by others.<ref>Finney, Fred (2008) William Pidgeon and T.H. Lewis. ''Minnesota Archaeologist'' 67: 89–105</ref><ref>Birmingham, Robert A. and Leslie E. Eisenberg (2000) ''Indian Mounds of Wisconsin.'' University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 24–27.</ref>
-->
Beginning in the 1880s, the supposed origin of the earthworks with a race of giants was increasingly recognized as spurious. Pidgeon's fraudulent claims about the archaeological record were shown to be a hoax by Theodore Lewis in 1886.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Theodore H. |date=1886-01-01 |title=The 'Monumental Tortoise' Mounds of 'Dee-Coo-Dah' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/496041 |journal=The American Journal of Archaeology |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=65–69 |doi=10.2307/496041 |jstor=496041 |s2cid=133844936 |access-date=2023-09-01|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A major factor contributing to public acceptance of the earthworks as a regular part of North American prehistory was the 1894 report by [[Cyrus Thomas]] of the [[Bureau of American Ethnology]]. Earlier authors making a similar case include [[Thomas Jefferson]], who excavated a mound and from the artifacts and burial practices, noted similarities between mound-builder funeral practices and those of Native Americans in his time.

===== Walam Olum =====
The [[Walam Olum]] hoax had considerable influence on perceptions of the Mound Builders. In 1836, [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]] published his translation of a text he claimed had been written in pictographs on wooden tablets. This text explained that the [[Lenape]] Indians originated in Asia, told of their passage over the [[Bering Strait]], and narrated their subsequent migration across the North American continent. This "Walam Olum" tells of battles with native peoples already in America before the Lenape arrived. People hearing of the account believed that the "original people" were the Mound Builders and that the Lenape overthrew them and destroyed their culture. David Oestreicher later asserted that Rafinesque's account was a hoax. He argued that the Walam Olum glyphs were derived from [[Chinese characters|Chinese]], [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian]], and [[Maya script|Mayan]] alphabets. Meanwhile, the belief that the Native Americans destroyed the mound-builder culture had gained widespread acceptance.

==See also==
* [[List of burial mounds in the United States]]
* [[Petroform]]
* [[Prehistory of Ohio]]
* [[Southeastern Ceremonial Complex]]
* [[Tumulus]], mounds (or barrows) of Europe and Asia
* [[Tumulus culture]]
* Mormon publications:
** [[Heartland model]] - an interpretation of the [[Book of Mormon]] that the Mound Builders were among those peoples described.
** [[Zelph]] (Archaeology and the Book of Mormon)

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | editor-last=Abrams | editor-first=Elliot M. | editor2-last=Freter |editor2-first=AnnCorinne | title=The Emergence of the Moundbuilders: The Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southeastern Ohio | year=2005 | publisher= [[Ohio University Press]] | location=Athens | isbn=978-0-8214-1609-9}}
* [[Cyrus Thomas|Thomas, Cyrus]]. ''Report on the mound explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology''. pp.&nbsp;3–730. Twelfth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–91, by J. W. Powell, Director. XLVIII+742 pp., 42 pls., 344 figs. 1894.
* [[Mark Jarzombek]], Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective, (New York: Wiley & Sons, August 2013)
* [[Kenneth Feder|Feder, Kenneth L.]] ''Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology''. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006.
* {{cite book | last1=Squier | first1=E. G. | last2=Davis |first2=E. H. | title=Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4301/| year=1847 | publisher= [[Smithsonian Institution]] | location=Washington DC }}
* {{cite book | last=Gale | first=George | title=Upper Mississippi: or, Historical Sketches of the Mound-builders, the Indian tribes and the Progress of Civilization in the North-west, from A.D. 1600 to the Present Time | year=1867 | publisher=Clarke | location=Chicago | url=https://archive.org/stream/uppermississippi00galerich#page/n7/mode/2up}}

==External links==
{{EB1911 poster|Mound-builders}}
* [http://archaeology.about.com/od/lterms/g/lostraces.htm Lost Race Myth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611095445/http://archaeology.about.com/od/lterms/g/lostraces.htm |date=June 11, 2011 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045026/http://www.lenaweehistory.com/lenawee-ch1.html#indians LenaweeHistory.com | Mound Builders section, The Western Historical Society 1909, reprint.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070205072711/http://www.artisthideout.com/art-of-the-ancients-2/ Artist Hideout, Art of the Ancients]
* [http://jqjacobs.net/archaeo/sites/ Ancient Monuments Placemarks]
* {{Gutenberg|no=17987|name=The Mound Builders}}
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18888119 With Climate Swing, a Culture Bloomed in Americas] (mound builders in Peru)
* [https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.277.5333.1796 Science 19 September 1997] (a mound complex in Louisiana at 5400u–5000 years ago)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkLSkaYCe10 Bruce Smith video] on the 1880s Smithsonian explorations to determine who built the ancient earthen mounds in eastern North America can be viewed as part of series [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCE40A5EEBE458D2A 19th Century Explorers and Anthropologists: Developing the Earliest Smithsonian Anthropology Collections]

{{Pre-Columbian North America}}
{{Adena culture}}
{{Hopewellian peoples}}
{{Late Woodland cultures}}
{{Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures}}
{{Mississippian and related cultures}}
{{Fort Ancient culture}}
{{Prehistoric technology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pre-Columbian architecture]]
[[Category:Archaic period in North America]]
[[Category:Formative period in the Americas]]
[[Category:Archaeological cultures of North America]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian cultures]]
[[Category:Woodland period]]
[[Category:Native American history]]
[[Category:Mounds]]
[[Category:4th-millennium BC establishments]]
[[Category:16th-century disestablishments in North America]]
[[Category:Pyramids in North America]]
[[Category:Archaeology and racism]]
[[Category:Nationalism and archaeology]]
[[Category:Mound Builders| ]]