Myth of the moundbuilders

what are mounds?

• type of earthwork or archaeological feature

  • usually, these are artificial/manmade hills

• mounds were used for a variety of purposes

  • burial tombs

  • raised platforms/stage

  • astronomy/astrology

• cave creek mound

• Etowah mound B

• monk’s mound

• serpents mound

• mounds can be found all over the world from many prehistoric societies

  • in Europe, mounds that have burials inside are called Tumulus

  • mounds that are in certain shapes, especially those of animals, are called Effigy Mounds

• North American mounds are almost all pre-columbian

  • meaning they pre-date the arrival of Columbus

Cahokia

• Largest pre-Columbia settlement north of Mexico, which contains many mounds

  • Area of Cahokia was occupied at least since ~1200 BCE

  • Cahokia Settlement began ~600 CE

    • Occupied until ~1350

• Cahokia is part of Mississippian culture

  • site covers ~3.4 sq miles

  • includes 80 mounds

  • monk’s mound is the largest mound and is centrally located in the settlement

• Population may have been as large as 40,000 at its peak

  • Peaked ~1100 CE

• Decline and abandonment of Cahokia was likely related to diminishing resources from the large population as well as political instability

• Cahokia mound example

Mississippian culture

• native American society that spanned much of the eastern half of North America from ~800-1600 CE

  • named after the Mississippian valley where society originated

  • known for its earthen mounds

• characteristics of a Mississippian site:

  • earthen mounds

  • maize agriculture

  • shell-tempered pottery

    • shell used to help strengthen potter clay

  • social inequality (i.e., non-egalitarian)

• 

myth of the moundbuilders

• By the 1700s Native American earthworks represented very old features on the landscape which were mostly no longer used by contemporary Native peoples

  • Leading to much speculation about who built them and why

• Between 1790-1840 people began to believe that earthworks in the Americas were not created by Native Americans but by some previous more advanced “mound builder” race

  • Occasionally, these ideas resurface

Newark holy stones

• found by David Wyrick in 1860 in Newark, OH

  • found within a cluster of burial mounds

• stones were used to support the “lost tribes“ theory of an ancient Israelite presence in both America

  • the idea is that there were Jewish settlers in NA before Columbus, who built ancient earthworks

• stones were almost immediately considered to be fraudulent

  • 1860 article in the New York Times described them as “the bungling work of an unskilled stone mason and the strangeness of some letters as well as the many mistakes and transpositions was his fault. The letters are not antique. This is not a relic of hoary antiquity”

the myth continues

• “Smithsonian Institute’s ANcient American Coverup“

• Alleges that mounds were created by a migration of Middle Eastern peoples thousands of years ago

  • Based on The Lost Civilizations of North America DVD

• The argument suggests there are mathematical similarities between Hopewell earthworks and the pyramids of Giza

  • Also references the Newark Holy Stones as evidence of Hebrew connection to prehistoric Americans

• 18 August 2010 Glenn Beck on Fox News referenced this DVD and argued that this represents a “collusion of power” between science, government, commerce, and religion to erase history

• Beck invokes Manifest Destiny

  • Argues the founding fathers were on a mission from God but that the evidence of ancient Hebrew connections to the New World didn’t support that, so scientists ignored/erased it

• Beck invoked Manifest Destiny

  • “The history that has been erased in our nation and, in particular, with the Native Americans, happened because it didn’t fit the story they created – manifest destiny. It only works if the Indians were savages. And they had to have savages for commerce and government to expand. The ancient artifacts prove otherwise. Why aren’t we looking into those?”

why the myth of the moundbuilders

• Since a study by Cyrus Thomas in 1894 we have understood much of the history of these mounds

  • Most of the myth of an ancient advanced moundbuilder race is based on a lack of investigation of existing information, rather than hoaxes

• Rising nationalism in the United States combined with racism against Native Americans and romanticism for the ancient world

• White American and Biblical exceptionalism used to deny Native American accomplishments, significance, and place within American history