Mound

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Mound

A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
, gravel

Gravel

Gravel is rock that is of a specific particle size range. Specifically, it is is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters in its largest dimension and no more than 64 millimeters ....
, sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
, rocks, or debris

Debris

Debris is a word used to describe the remains of something that has been otherwise destroyed. Debris is pronounced with a silent s and a long e....
. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hill

Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area. Hills often have a distinct Summit , although in areas with Escarpment a hill may refer to a particular section of scarp slope without a well-defined summit ....
s and mountain

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, Natural satellite, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features ....
higher elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the above mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an aircraft in flight or a s...
on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including ceremonial (platform mound

Platform mound

A platform mound is any earthworks or mound intended to support a structure or activity.The Mississippian Native American Platform Mound...
), burial (tumulus

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of Soil and Rock s raised over a Grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, H?gelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world....
), and commemorative purposes (e.g.

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North American archaeology

In the archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, archeology, or arch?ology is the science that studies Homo cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, Artifact , features, Biofact s, and cultural landscape....
of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
and Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, the term "mound" has specific and technical connotations. In this sense, a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or earthwork

Earthworks (engineering)

Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed rock . Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the Cut match those of the Fill dirt, while minimizing the distance of movement....
, intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word "tumulus

Tumulus

Burial

Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over....
customs.

While the term "mound" may be applied to historic constructions, most mounds in the United States are prehistoric

Prehistory

Prehistory is a term often used to describe the period before Recorded history. Paul Tournal originally coined the term Pr?-historique in describing the finds he had made in the caves of southern France....
earthworks, built by Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
peoples. Native Americans built a variety of mounds, including flat-topped pyramids or cones known as platform mound

Platform mound

A platform mound is any earthworks or mound intended to support a structure or activity.The Mississippian Native American Platform Mound...
s, rounded cones, and ridge or loaf-shaped mounds. Some mounds took on unusual shapes, such as the outline of cosmologically significant animals. These are known as effigy mound

Effigy mound

File:So-called-alligator-mound-ohio.pngSites in the U.S. of similar history may be found at Indian Mounds ParkAn effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, or human figure....
s. Some mounds, such as a few in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
, have rock formations, or petroforms within them, on them, or near them.

While these mounds are perhaps not as famous as burial

Burial

Burial, also called interment and inhumation, is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over....
mounds, like their European analogs, Native American mounds also have a variety of other uses. While some prehistoric cultures, like the Adena culture

Adena culture

The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native Americans in the United States culture that existed from 1000 BC to 200 BC, in a time known as the early Woodland Period....
, used mounds preferentially for burial, others used mounds for other ritual and sacred acts, as well as for secular functions. The platform mound

Platform mound

A platform mound is any earthworks or mound intended to support a structure or activity.The Mississippian Native American Platform Mound...
s of the Mississippian culture

Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture was a Mound builder Native Americans in the United States culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Eastern United States, and Southeastern United States United States from approximately 800 Common Era to 1500 Common Era, varying regionally....
, for example, may have supported temple

Temple

A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A ??templum?? constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur....
s, the houses of chief

Chief

Chief may refer to:...
s, council house

City hall

A city hall or town hall is the chief administrative building of a city or town's Local government and usually houses the City council town council, its associated departments and their employees....
s, and may have also acted as a platform for public speaking. Other mounds would have been part of defensive walls to protect a certain area. The Hopewell culture

Hopewell culture

The Hopewell tradition is the term used to describe common aspects of the Native Americans in the United States culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 200 BC to 500 AD....
used mounds as markers of complex astronomical alignments related to ceremonies.

Mounds and related earthworks are the only significant monument

Monument

A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past events....
al construction in prehistoric Eastern and Central North America.

Archaeology elsewhere

Mound, as a technical term in archaeology, is not generally in favor in the rest of the world. More specific local terminology is preferred, and each of these terms has its own article (see below).

Mound types

Cairn
Cairn

A cairn is a manmade pile of stones, often in a conical form. They are usually found in Upland and lowland , on moorland, on mountaintops or near waterways....

Chambered cairn
Chambered cairn

A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable chamber was constructed....

Effigy mound
Effigy mound

File:So-called-alligator-mound-ohio.pngSites in the U.S. of similar history may be found at Indian Mounds ParkAn effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, or human figure....
Kofun
Kofun

are megalithic tombs or tumulus in Japan, constructed between early 3rd century and early 7th century. They gave their name to the Kofun period . Most of the Kofun have a keyhole-shaped mound , which was unique to ancient Japan....
(Japanese mounds)
Platform mound
Platform mound

A platform mound is any earthworks or mound intended to support a structure or activity.The Mississippian Native American Platform Mound...
Tell
Tell

Tell, tel , meaning "hill" or "mound", is a type of archaeology site in the form of an earthen mound that results from the accumulation and subsequent erosion of material deposited by long human occupation....
(also includes multi-lingual synonyms for mounds in the Near East)
Tumulus
Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of Soil and Rock s raised over a Grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, H?gelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world....
(Barrow)

Bank barrow
Bank barrow

A bank barrow, sometimes referred to as a barrow-bank, ridge barrow, or ridge mound, is a type of tumulus first identified by O....
Bell barrow
Bell barrow

A bell barrow, sometimes referred to as a Wessex type barrow, campanulate form barrow, or a bermed barrow is a type of tumulus identified as such by both John Aubrey and William Stukeley....
Bowl barrow
Bowl barrow

A bowl barrow, sometimes referred to as a cairn circle, cairn ring, howe, kerb cairn, tump or rotunda grave is a type of tumulus first identified by John Thurnam....
Chambered long barrow
Chambered long barrow

Chambered long barrows are a type of megalithic burial monument found in the British Isles in the Neolithic.Long barrows either contained wooden or stone burial structures beneath the tumulus and the surviving megalithic stone in the latter means that they are the ones referred to by archaeologists as chambered....
Kurgan
Kurgan

Kurgan is the Russian language word for a tumulus, a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood.The distribution of such tumuli in Eastern Europe corresponds closely to the area of the Pit Grave or Kurgan culture in South-Eastern Europe....
Long barrow
Long barrow

A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or trapezoidal earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs....
Oval barrow
Oval barrow

An oval barrow is the name given by archaeologists to a type of prehistoric burial tumulus.In the British late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, oval barrows may indicate a transition between earlier long barrows with multiple burials and the later, more individual round barrows....

Mound

North American archaeology

Archaeology elsewhere

Mound types

See also