For other uses, see Mound (disambiguation).

Look up mound in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation suchs as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Mound may refer to one of the following. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ... For the landform that extends above the surrounding terrain and that is smaller than a mountain, see the article on mountain. ... Mount Cook, a mountain in New Zealand A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. ... Surface of the Earth Topography, a term in geography, has come to refer to the lay of the land, or the physiogeographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation. ... Basic Definition In geography, the elevation of a geographic location is its height above mean sea level (or some other fixed point). ...

North American archaeology

In the archaeology of the United States and Canada, the term "mound" has specific and technical connotations. In this sense, a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or earthwork, intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word tumulus may be used as a synonym for artificial hills, particularly if they are related to particular burial customs. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... In civil engineering, earthworks are engineering works created through the moving of massive quantities of soil or unformed stone. ... Burial of Oleg of Novgorod in a tumulus in 912. ...

While the term "mound" may be applied to historic constructions, most mounds in the United States are prehistoric earthworks, built by Native American peoples. Native Americans built a variety of mounds, including flat-topped pyramids or cones known as platform mounds, 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 mounds. The term prehistory (Greek words προ = before and ιστορία = history) is usually used to describe the period before written history became available. ... A Hupa man, 1923 The term indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the inhabitants of the Americas before the European discovery of the Americas in the late 15th century, as well as many present-day ethnic groups who identify themselves with those historical peoples. ... A Platform Mound is any earthwork intended to support a structure or activity. ...

While these mounds are perhaps most famous as burial mounds, like their European analogs, Native American mounds also have a variety of other uses. While some prehistoric cultures, like the Adena culture, used mounds preferentially for burial, others used mounds for other ritual and sacred acts, as well as for secular functions. The platform mounds of the Mississippian culture, for example, may have supported temples, the houses of chiefs, council houses, and may have also acted as a platform for public speaking. The Hopewell culture used mounds as markers of complex astronomical alignments related to public ceremonialism. Underwater funeral in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea from an edition with drawings by Alphonse de Neuville and Edouard Riou. ... An Adena pipe excavated from the Criel Mound The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from c. ... A Platform Mound is any earthwork intended to support a structure or activity. ... The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 900 to 1500 CE, varying regionally. ... The Angkor Wat Hindu temple in Cambodia is the largest in the world. ... Chief can refer to : Paramount chief is the highest political leader in a region or country typically administered with a chief-based system. ... In small towns, the town hall may also incorporate other functions, such as a post office. ... Hopewell culture is the term used to describe common aspects of the Native American culture that flourish along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States from 200 BC to 400 A.D. At its greatest extent, Hopewell culture stretched from western New York to Missouri and from Wisconsin to...

Mounds and related earthworks are the only significant monumental construction in prehistoric Eastern North America. The Taj Mahal, commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, as a mausoleum for his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum. ...

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
  • Chambered cairn
• Effigy mound
• Kofun (Japanese mounds)
• Platform mound
• Tell (also includes multi-lingual synonyms for mounds in the Near East)
• Tumulus (Barrow)
  • Bank barrow
  • Bell barrow
  • Bowl barrow
  • Chambered long barrow
  • Kurgan
  • Long barrow
  • Oval barrow

One of many cairns marking British mass graves at the site of the Battle of Isandlwana. ... A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable (usually stone) chamber was constructed. ... Daisenryo Kofun,the tomb of Emperor Nintoku,Osaka,5th century. ... A Platform Mound is any earthwork intended to support a structure or activity. ... Tell Mar Elias, North Jordan in 2005 Tell or tall (Arabic: ‎, tall, and Hebrew: , tel), meaning hill or mound, is an archaeological site in the form of an earthen mound that results from the accumulation and subsequent erosion of material deposited by human occupation over long periods of time. ... Burial of Oleg of Novgorod in a tumulus in 912. ... A bank barrow, sometimes referred to as a barrow-bank, ridge barrow, or ridge mound, is a type of tumulus first identified by O.G.S. Crawford in 1938. ... 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. ... A bowl barrow, sometimes referred to as a cairn circle, cairn ring, howe, kerb cairn, turnp or rotunda grave is a type of tumulus first identified by John Thurman. ... Chambered long barrows are a type of megalithic burial monument found in the British Isles in the Neolithic. ... Kurgan is a Türkic word for tumulus, burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, or a kurgan cenotaph. ... A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the Neolithic period. ...

See also

• for North America, see especially Mound builders and related subjects:
  • Adena culture
  • Hopewell culture
  • Mississippian culture
• Kofun period
• Kurgan hypothesis
• Neolithic Europe
• Olmec
  • La Venta
  • San Jose Mogote
• Prehistoric Britain