List of burial mounds in the United States


This is a list of notable burial mounds in the United States built by Native Americans. Burial mounds were built by many different cultural groups over a span of many thousands of years, beginning in the Late Archaic period and continuing through the Woodland period up to the time of European contact.

Adena and Hopewell culture burial mounds

Mississippian culture burial mounds

MoundLocationDateCultureNotes
Cahokia Mound 72Mound 72, Cahokia
Collinsville, Illinois		650 to 1400 CEMiddle Mississippian cultureA ridge-top burial mound south of Monk's Mound, during excavations archaeologists found the remains of a man in his 40s who was probably an important Cahokian ruler. Archaeologists recovered more than 250 other skeletons from Mound 72. Scholars believe almost 62 percent of these were sacrificial victims, based on signs of ritual execution, method of burial, and other factors.
Castalian Springs Mound 2Castalian Springs Mound Site in Sumner County, Tennessee1100 to 1450 CEMiddle Mississippian cultureLocated on the eastern edge of a plaza, a in diameter tall mound which was found to contain over a hundred burials when excavated by William E. Myer in the early 1890s.
Craig MoundSpiro Mounds, Le Flore County, Oklahoma800-1200 CECaddoan Mississippian cultureAlso called the "Great Mortuary", it is the second-largest mound on the site and the only burial mound. A hollow chamber that began as a burial structure for Spiro's rulers became a cavity within the mound, about high and wide, and allowed for almost perfect preservation of fragile artifacts made of wood, conch shell, and copper. The conditions in this hollow space were so favorable that objects made of perishable materials such as basketry, woven fabric, lace, fur, and feathers were preserved inside it. Craig Mound has been called "an American King Tut's Tomb."
George C. Davis Mound CCaddoan Mounds State Historic Site, Cherokee County, Texas800-1200 CECaddoan Mississippian cultureMound C, the northernmost mound of the three at the site, it was used as a ceremonial burial mound, not for elite residences or temples like the other two. The site was the southwestern most ceremonial mound center of all the mound building cultures of North America.
Etowah Mound CEtowah Indian Mounds, Cartersville, Georgia1000-1550 CESouth Appalachian MississippianCyrus Thomas and John P. Rogan tested the site for the Smithsonian Institution in 1883, where they discovered the "Rogan plates". But, the first well-documented archaeological inquiry at the site did not begin until the winter of 1925, conducted by Warren K. Moorehead. His excavations into Mound C at the site revealed a rich array of burial goods. These artifacts, along with the collections from Cahokia, Moundville, Lake Jackson, and Spiro Mounds, would comprise the majority of the materials which archeologists used to define the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.
Fatherland Site Mound CGrand Village of the Natchez, Natchez, Mississippi1400-1732 CEPlaquemine Mississippian cultureMound C was used as the Sun Temple and charnel house for the Natchez elite.
Gahagan Mound BGahagan Mounds Site, Red River Parish, Louisiana1100-1450 CECaddoan Mississippian cultureThe burial mound at the site was excavated twice, in 1912 by Clarence Bloomfield Moore and then in 1939 by Clarence H. Webb. Between the 2 excavations, three burial shafts with a total of fourteen burials and more than five hundred grave goods were discovered. The first shaft, found by Moore, was 11 feet in depth and 13 by 8 feet in width and height. The other two, found in the 1939 excavations, were by and by feet in dimensions. Grave goods found included flaked flint knives known as Gahagan blades, a matched pair of Long-nosed god maskette earrings of copper, Missouri flint clay statues, greenstone celts and spuds, and caches of beads and arrow heads. Many of the grave goods were exotic imports from such distant places from across the continent.
Mangum MoundMangum Mound Site, Claiborne County, Mississippi1350 to 1500 CEPlaquemine Mississippian cultureLocated at milepost 45.7 on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Various pottery fragments belonging to the Plaquemine culture, chunkey stones and several Mississippian copper plates, one with an avian design similar to other plates found Etowah in Georgia and Lake Jackson Mounds in Florida. These portray the Birdman motif important to the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.
Nacoochee MoundNacoochee Mound, White County, Georgia1350-1600 CESouth Appalachian Mississippian cultureNacoochee Mound, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in White County, in the northeast part of the U.S. state of Georgia, at the junction of Georgia Georgia State Route 17 and Georgia State Route 75. First occupied as early as 100-500 CE, the site was later developed and occupied more intensively by peoples of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture from 1350 to 1600 CE. One of their characteristic platform mounds is located at the site. A professional archeological excavation revealed a total of 75 human burials, with artifacts that support dating of the site.
Nodena Site Mound CNodena Site, Mississippi County, Arkansas1400–1650 CEMiddle Mississippian cultureA circular mound, designated as "Mound C", was located at the other end of the chunkey field. It was roughly in diameter and high. A large number of male graves, 314 of 316, were found buried under it.
Pope County Mound 2Kincaid Site, Pope County, Illinois1050-1400 CEMiddle Mississippian cultureAdjacent to the Ohio River, the site straddles the modern-day counties of Massac County and Pope County in deep southern Illinois, an area colloquially known as Little Egypt. On the eastern edge of the site is a low circular mound which was used as a burial mound, as opposed to all other mounds at the site which were substructure platform mounds. The mound contained a number of stone box graves and log lined tombs similar to those frequently found to the south in the Middle Cumberland Valley of Tennessee.
Shiloh Mound CShiloh Indian Mounds, Hardin County, Tennessee1000-1450 CEMiddle Mississippian cultureAdjacent to the Tennessee River, the site has 6 or 7 substructure platform mounds and one burial mound, Mound C. This mound was excavated in 1899 by Cornelius Cadle, chairman of the Shiloh Park Commission. Amongst the discoveries was a large stone effigy pipe in the shape of a kneeling man. It has since become the site’s most famous artifact and is on display in the Tennessee River Museum in Savannah. The pipe is from a distinctive red stone in the same style as several statuettes from the Cahokia site in Collinsville, Illinois.