Mound Builders were prehistoric American Indians, named for their practice of burying their dead in large mounds . Beginning about three thousand years ago, they built extensive earthworks from the Great Lakes down through the Mississippi River Valley and into the Gulf of Mexico region.
What were the Mound Builders good at?
The namesake cultural trait of the Mound Builders was the building of mounds and other earthworks . These burial and ceremonial structures were typically flat-topped pyramids or platform mounds, flat-topped or rounded cones, elongated ridges, and sometimes a variety of other forms.
What was the Mound Builders lifestyle?
Moundbuilders lived in dome shaped homes made with pole walls and thatched roofs . Important buildings were covered with a stucco made from clay and grass. These people grew native plants like corn, pumpkins, and sunflowers. They supplemented this by hunting, fishing, and gathering nuts and berries.
When did the Mound Builders flourish?
This civilization flourished from around 200 B.C. to A.D. 500 , leaving dozens of huge earthworks, including burial mounds, temple platforms, and walls around ritual centers. The most accessible are at Mound City, which is at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park near Chillicothe, Ohio, and was a burial complex.
Why did the Mound Builders settle around the Mississippi River?
Many diverse Indian groups, drawn by the bountiful wildlife, warm climate, and fertile soil, made their homes in what is now Mississippi for thousands of years before the first Europeans and Africans arrived. Mounds built of earth are the most prominent remains left on the landscape by these native peoples.
What language did the Mound Builders speak?
Some mounds were built along the ridge line of hilltops; others were shaped into platform pyramids, perfect cones or avenues of straight lines. So far as anyone knows, the Mound Builders had no written language ; they speak now only through what may be studied from the artifacts they left behind.
What were Mound Builders known for?
Mound Builders were prehistoric American Indians, named for their practice of burying their dead in large mounds . Beginning about three thousand years ago, they built extensive earthworks from the Great Lakes down through the Mississippi River Valley and into the Gulf of Mexico region.
Who did the Mound Builders worship?
The Mound Builders worshipped the sun and their religion centered around a temple served by shaven head priests, a shaman and the village chiefs. The Mound Builders had four different social classes called the Suns, the Nobles, the Honored Men and Honored Women and the lower class.
What are the three different Mound Builders?
Archeologists, the scientist who study the evidence of past human lifeways, classify moundbuilding Indians of the Southeast into three major chronological/cultural divisions: the Archaic, the Woodland, and the Mississippian traditions .
What are the three types of mounds?
- Cairn. Chambered cairn.
- Effigy mound.
- Kofun (Japanese mounds)
- Platform mound.
- Subglacial mound.
- Tell (also includes multi-lingual synonyms for mounds in the Near East)
- Terp (European dwelling mounds located in wetlands like flood plains and salt marshes)
- Tumulus (barrow) Bank barrow. Bell barrow. Bowl barrow.
What happened to the mound builders?
Another possibility is that the Mound Builders died from a highly infectious disease . ... Although it appears that for the most part, the Mound Builders had left Ohio before Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, there were still a few Native Americans using burial practices similar to what the Mound Builders used.
What did mound builders eat?
Corn (maize) was brought into the area from Mexico and was widely grown together with other vegetables like beans and squash. They also hunted both small animals like rabbits and squirrels and larger game animals like bison and various types of deer.
What two cultures are known as Mound Builders and why?
1650 A.D., the Adena, Hopewell, and Fort Ancient Native American cultures built mounds and enclosures in the Ohio River Valley for burial, religious, and, occasionally, defensive purposes. They often built their mounds on high cliffs or bluffs for dramatic effect, or in fertile river valleys.
What was the location of the largest mound building culture?
LaDonna Brown, Tribal Anthropologist for the Chickasaw Nation Department of History & Culture, describes Cahokia Mounds, which is located on the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city directly across the Mississippi River from present-day St. Louis .
What were Mississippian mounds used for?
Though other cultures may have used mounds for different purposes, Mississippian cultures typically built structures on top of them. The type of structures constructed ran the gamut: temples, houses, and burial buildings . Mississippian artists produced unique art works.
What is Native American religion called?
Native American Church, also called Peyotism, or Peyote Religion , most widespread indigenous religious movement among North American Indians and one of the most influential forms of Pan-Indianism.
