Mound

As Mound artificially created hills are referred to primarily in the southeastern United States, which were built by various Indian cultures to cultural and burial purposes. The forerunner of the temple and palace pyramids of Mesoamerica are known by the research as mounds.

Occurrence

North America

Very often Mounds found in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the entire course of the Ohio River and the lower reaches of the Missouri River, in the neighboring area of the Susquehanna River and the Wyoming River, located in the west of the Alleghany Mountains, Virginia and Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River along. Furthermore, they extend northward through Wisconsin and the Rainy River to the north of the Canadian Ontario and south to the plains of Georgia.

The main center of this hill lay in what is now Ohio, where one counts more than 10,000 such mounds and more than 1,500 ringwalls. Even the southeastern part of the state of Missouri is rich in Mounds, as the border between Iowa and Illinois, where one counts on an area of 128 km ² over 2,500 Mounds. The Southern Wisconsin is characterized by the special shape of the Effigy Mounds, with figurative (English effigy ) forms representing mammals, birds, reptiles and occasionally human figures here.

Even further south, in the territory of Mississippi Yazoo River tributaries, the Arkansas River and RedRiver found numerous mounds. The Mounds in South Carolina and Georgia and in Texas have a slightly different shape and are of recent origin, as the Cuecillos (Cu ) in Mexico. One of the most well-known of these plants earlier Indian cultures is the Great Serpent Mound. The builders of about 100,000 preserved earthworks in the southeastern United States were initially called simply " Moundbuilders " before researching their buildings and artifacts enabled a distinction in a variety of individual phases and cultures.

Sometimes, in the early days of parallel built shell middens from huge pile of shells and snail shells from the vicinity of the Ohio River to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic coast are also called Mounds or Shell Mounds. Their origin is even less clear than that of the earth mounds and it is considered possible that their system has not begun planned manner, but they originated from the accumulation of residues of food preparation, before they were systematically increased. Therefore, they should also not be linguistically connected to the Mounds laid-out plan.

Central America

In Mesoamerica, especially the early pyramids of the Olmecs (La Venta, Tres Zapotes, San Lorenzo ) and the Mokaya culture in the territory of the former province of Soconusco are called mounds. From about 100 BC, the mound became more and more replaced by stone buildings, with - some of the original mounds have been preserved as part of the substructure - because of the tradition of superstructures.

Development

Mounds emerged for the first time in the middle Archaic period 3500-3000 BC in the area of the lower Mississippi River. Systems of individual mounds and composite with several were built in this period of hunters, collectors and fishing cultures, almost all year were staying at convenient locations. The mounds were built almost exclusively on river terraces. More complex localities are Watson Brake and Frenchman's Bend, both in the present location Monroe, Louisiana. After the middle Archaic Mounds broke the tradition to some 1300 years later lead without re precursor to the most complex earthwork of the archaic period: Poverty Point, also in northern Louisiana.

The reasons for the emergence of the burrows are the subject of professional debate. The climate history refers to favorable conditions towards the end of the Atlantic, what the basic food of the people could have improved. May thus established a population growth that led to competition for territory and resources. Mounds were then projects should strengthen the community inward and present to the outside.

Poverty Point, dated to the 18th to 10th century BC at the end of the Archaic period consists of six mounds and six concentric, semi-circular earthen walls on a slope termination, aligned east to the sunrise. The plant was built by a culture that imported rare, especially high-quality stones from a distance of up to 2000 km and covered a cultural area of around 1,800 km ². She radiated far beyond out to Florida. Again, the tradition initially broke off again.

The first were small round grave mound in today's state of Ohio: In the early Woodland period from 800 BC a new form of Mounds was born. You can named after a finding place Adena culture ( 800 BC - 100 AD ) are assigned. The hills were bigger and with the Hopewell culture, continued the construction about 200 BC - 700 AD on. It emerged not only hills, but large-scale earthworks and complex earthworks of linear and circular structures. In the late Woodland stage from 600 originated in southern Wisconsin and the immediate neighboring regions, the figurative Effigy Mounds. They disappeared from about 1200 again, round shapes were applied sporadically here until 1700. Around the same time was on the lower reaches of the Mississippi, the Mississippian culture (presumably to 1700 AD ). Whose largest settlement Cahokia was and whose emerged from the grave hills Tempelhügelbau as that of Monk representing 's Mound by volume and cultural phenomena of the climax of the Moundbuilders.

Even in the 18th century Mounds were applied sporadically. Of the Choctaw from Georgia is a report after the impetus for the construction of their sacred mounds Nanih Waiya emanated from a chief who his people submitted a proposal and it reminded them of their responsibility to the ancestors. In the Mound they could then during construction recently put the bones of deceased relatives who had been kept in the time to build a dignified burial place in leather cases. The Mound had not only a protective function for the bones, but also played a role in their creation myths.

Memorials

Many mounds and areas with high concentration of Mounds are under the protection of the monument laws of the Federation or of the respective states. The most important protected areas under federal law are Effigy Mounds National Monument, and Ocmulgee National Monument. Cahokia is a World Heritage Site.