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| Mound | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mound |
| Settlement type | Earthen structure |
Mound
A mound is an artificial or natural raised accumulation of earth, stone, or debris that appears in landscapes worldwide. Mounds have been created or modified by peoples associated with Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Mississippian culture, and Pre-Columbian societies, and appear in geological contexts such as kame, esker, tumulus, and tell. Mounds intersect disciplines including Archaeology, Geomorphology, Paleoecology, Anthropology, and Landscape archaeology.
The English term derives from Old English mund and Middle English mounde, related to words in Old Norse and Old High German used for a raised place. Scholarly definitions appear in publications by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, National Park Service, and UNESCO; these definitions distinguish funerary tumuli, habitation tells, agricultural barrows, ritual platform mounds of the Cahokia and Hopewell tradition, and modern spoil heaps from industrial contexts like slag heaps and tailings from Industrial Revolution sites. Legal and conservation frameworks for mounds reference legislation such as the National Historic Preservation Act and directives from bodies like Historic England and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Mound typologies include funerary tumuli (e.g., Bronze Age Britain barrows), habitation tells (e.g., Tell Brak, Çatalhöyük), platform mounds (e.g., Poverty Point, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site), conical burial mounds (e.g., Kurgans of the Pontic–Caspian steppe), and industrial spoil mounds (e.g., Valley of the Kings spoil piles; modern examples include slag heaps from South Wales Coalfield). Formation processes span deliberate human construction, sedimentary accretion in fluvial or aeolian environments like Loess Plateau, bioturbation by species such as Macrotermes and Formicidae that create mound-like structures, and periglacial or glacial deposition forming features like moraines and kettle mounds. Mound evolution is studied using methods from stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, optically stimulated luminescence dating, ground-penetrating radar, and remote sensing.
Mounds serve roles as monumental centers, funerary monuments, habitation cores, and ritual theaters in cultures including Adena culture, Hopewell tradition, Mississippian culture, Ancient Egypt, Neolithic Britain, Jomon period, Kofun period, and Scythian societies. Archaeologists working at sites like Newgrange, Silbury Hill, Stonehenge environs, Moundville Archaeological Park, Chaco Canyon, and Monte Albán have uncovered artifacts linked to trade networks involving Sumer, Elam, Shang dynasty, Olmec, Maya civilization, and Inca Empire. Interpretations of mounds draw on theoretical frameworks from scholars associated with V. Gordon Childe, Lewis Binford, Marija Gimbutas, and Ian Hodder and engage with debates seen in journals like Antiquity, American Antiquity, and Journal of Archaeological Science.
Mounds influence microtopography, hydrology, and biodiversity in landscapes such as the Everglades, Pantanal, Great Plains, and Sahara fringe. Earthworks can create refugia for flora and fauna documented by researchers at institutions including Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Conversely, mound construction and destruction have impacted soils, erosion regimes, and sediment budgets in watersheds like the Mississippi River and Yangtze River. Studies by organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Union for Conservation of Nature examine how anthropogenic mounds interact with climate-change-driven processes like sea-level rise and desertification.
Techniques range from basket-load deposition and sod-cutting documented at Silbury Hill and Newgrange to earthmoving using tools found in Neolithic sites such as antler picks, stone hoes, and wooden shovels recovered from Star Carr and Ötzi the Iceman contexts. Later societies used draft animals and wheeled vehicles evidenced in Bronze Age and Iron Age finds from Mycenae and Hallstatt culture, while industrial-era mounds employed steam shovels and rail systems characteristic of the Industrial Revolution and companies like Carnegie Steel Company. Materials include mineral soils, loess, clay, stone revetments seen at Ephesus and Angkor structures, and organic fills found in peat mounds and shell middens like Shell Mound (Brazil).
Mounds appear globally: European examples such as Silbury Hill, Maeshowe, and Newgrange; Asian examples like Kofun keyhole mounds, Pazyryk tumuli, and Banpo middens; African examples including Nok Culture earthenworks and Great Zimbabwe stone terraces; American examples from Cahokia, Moundville, Serpent Mound, and Monte Albán; and Oceanian features like Polynesian marae and Australian Aboriginal mounded fish traps. Geologic analogues include drumlins and kame. Preservation and tourism at sites are managed by agencies such as English Heritage, ICOMOS, National Park Service, and local indigenous authorities including Choctaw Nation, Cherokee Nation, Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and Ngāi Tahu.
Conservation strategies integrate legislation and practice from UNESCO World Heritage Convention, National Historic Preservation Act, Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, and guidelines by ICOMOS. Management options include in situ protection, archaeological excavation led by universities like University of Cambridge, University of Chicago, University of Tokyo, and University of Leiden, community-based stewardship by indigenous organizations, and landscape-scale restoration involving The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. Threats include urban development near London, agricultural ploughing in Midwest United States, looting linked to antiquities markets like those in Iraq and Syria, and infrastructure projects such as dams on the Nile and Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Effective policy combines legal protection, public engagement through museums like the British Museum and Smithsonian Institution, and scientific monitoring using LiDAR, GIS, and multidisciplinary collaboration.
Category:Archaeological features