In North American archaeology, name given to those people who built mounds in a large area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mts.

The greatest concentrations of mounds are found in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.

Although the name mound builders implies homogeneity, most archaeologists hold that they were not connected politically.

Economically, however, they were similarsedentary farmers who lived in permanent villages.

It is also believed that they were the ancestors of the Native Americans found inhabiting the regions of the mounds by the first European explorers.

Due to locality and tribal customs there is much variation in the shape, size, and purpose of mounds. Shapes include conical tumuli, elongated or wall-like mounds, pyramidal mounds, and effigy mounds (bird, animal, or serpentine forms).

In size they vary from less than one acre (.4 hectares) in area to more than 100 acres (40 hectares).

The Cahokia Mound in Illinois is the largest; it is about 1,000 ft (300 m) from north to south, 700 ft (210 m) from east to west, and 100 ft (30 m) high.

The mounds were used chiefly as burial places but also as foundations for buildings (Temples), as fortresses, Fort Ancient in Ohio, and as Totemic representations  Serpent Mound in Ohio and Elephant Mound in Wisconsin.

Mounds also vary in age; some date back as far as the early part of the 6th cent., while others (particularly in the southeastern area) were built in historic times.

Stone, Copper, Mica, Obsidian, and Meteoric Iron were widely used by the prehistoric mound builders.

Obsidian coming from the Rocky Mts., Mica from the South Appalachian Mts., and Copper from Wisconsin indicate widespread trade.

The people practiced weaving and pottery making. Their stone carvings of animal and human figures and especially of pipes are excellent.

The mounds at Hopewell, Mound City, and Newark in Ohio, as well as many in Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, have been extensively studied.

Nacoochee Indian Mound was the center of the ancient Cherokee town of Gauxule, visited by DeSoto in 1540 in his search for gold, according to the legend.