The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America (Ancient Peoples and Places)

Between 3000 BC and the 16th century Native Americans built thousands of mounds, of all shapes and sizes and for a multitude of reasons, in the Eastern Woodlands. One of these, Cahokia by the Mississippi, is the largest prehistoric site in the United States. This interesting well-illustrated study looks back over a century of fascination with these mounds, many of which have now disappeared but have been preserved in old photographs. The focus, however, is on the cultures that built the mounds as burial mounds for thousands of bodies, often sacrificial victims, as platforms or as mounds of refuse built up over millennia, such as the large mound of nothing but shell that was discovered in Florida. Milner looks at how the changing environment and landscape affected populations as well as the movement towards sedentary life and the growth of villages. He also considers the many beautiful objects that have been found in the mounds, from fragile shell carvings to copper animals. Throughout, the study draws on recent archaeological evidence.