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Who were the Mound Builders?
The Moundbuilder culture began to decline after European contact due to disease and warfare with neighboring peoples. Some of the modern tribes who are descendants of the Moundbuilders include the Cherokee, Creek, Fox, Osage, Seminole, and Shawnee. Moundbuilder culture can be divided into three periods.
The Mound Builders had four different social classes called the Suns, the Nobles, the Honored Men and Honored Women and the lower class. The chiefs were called the ‘Suns’.
What did Mound Builders create?
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 life style of the mound builders?
The Mound Builders had a structured life style that revolved around the elders, and more important, the elders with wisdom in the group. The leaders of the group were no longer the strongest, fastest, and the most skilled hunters. The reason we know this is that in the burial mounds, they were primarily adult males.
What is the oldest mound in the United States?
Mound Builders Monks Mound, built circa 950–1100 CE and located at the Cahokia Mounds UNESCO World Heritage Site near Collinsville, Illinois, is the largest pre-Columbian earthwork in America north of Mesoamerica.
What types of earthworks did the mound builders use?
During these early investigations it was found that there are basically two types of earthworks used by the Mound Builders. First, are the burial mounds. Studies indicate these may have been the first earthen structures to be built here.
How many mound builder sites are there in Ohio?
In just Ohio alone there were more than 1000 Mound Builder sites documented throughout the state. Most of those archeological important sites were just curiosities to the new settlers. They were avoided for many years, but as more people came to the land and the land itself became more valuable, those sites were eventually destroyed.