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{{short description|Artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris}}
{{Other uses}}
{{more refs|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Grave Creek Mound.jpg|thumb|230px|[[Grave Creek Mound]], in [[Moundsville, West Virginia]]]]
[[File:Krakow 2006 195.jpg|thumb|230px|[[Kościuszko Mound]], [[Kraków]], [[Poland]]]]
A '''mound''' is a [[wikt:heaped|heaped]] pile of [[soil|earth]], [[gravel]], [[sand]], [[rock (geology)|rocks]], or [[debris]]. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as [[hills]] and [[mountains]], particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of [[topography|topographically]] higher [[elevation]] on any surface.   Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation (see [[Tell (archaeology)|Tell]] and [[Terp]]), ceremonial ([[platform mound]]), burial ([[tumulus]]), and commemorative purposes (e.g. [[Kościuszko Mound]]).
==Archaeology==
===North American archaeology===
{{Main article|Mound Builders}}
In the [[archaeology]] of the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], a mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen structure or [[earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]], intended for a range of potential uses. In European and Asian archaeology, the word "[[tumulus]]" may be used as a synonym for an artificial hill, particularly if the hill is related to particular [[burial]] customs.
While the term "mound" may be applied to historic constructions, most mounds in the United States are pre-Columbian earthworks, built by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] peoples.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}} Native Americans built a variety of mounds, including [[Frustum|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 mound]]s.<ref>{{cite web |author=National Park Service|author-link=National Park Service |url=http://www.nps.gov/efmo/learn/historyculture/effigy-moundbuilders.htm |date=August 30, 2015 |title=Effigy Moundbuilders |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=August 30, 2015}}</ref>  Some mounds, such as a few in [[Wisconsin]], have rock formations, or [[petroforms]] within them, on them, or near them.
While these mounds are perhaps not as 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,<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=C. R. |url=http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/adena.html |date=March 9, 2000 |title=An Introduction to North America's Native People: Adena |publisher=[[Cabrillo College]] |access-date=August 30, 2015}}</ref> 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 [[temple]]s, the houses of [[Tribal chief|chief]]s, [[city hall|council house]]s, and may have also acted as a platform for public speaking.  Other mounds would have been part of defensive walls to protect a certain area. The [[Hopewell culture]] used mounds as markers of complex astronomical alignments related to ceremonies.
Mounds and related earthworks are the only significant [[monument]]al construction in pre-Columbian Eastern and Central North America. peoples.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
Mounds are given different names depending on which culture they strive from. They can be located all across the world in spots such as Asia, Europe and the Americas. "Mound builders" have more commonly been associated with the mounds in the Americas. They all have different meanings and sometimes are constructed as animals and can be clearly seen from aerial views.
=== India ===
====Kankali Tila====
{{Main article|Kankali Tila}}
[[File:General view of the excavations at Kankali Tila, Mathura.webp|thumb|General view of the excavations at Kankali Tila, Mathura, c. 1895]]
[[Kankali Tila]] is a famous mound located at [[Mathura]] in the Indian state of [[Uttar Pradesh]]. A [[Jain]] [[stupa]] was excavated here in 1890-91 by Dr. Fuhrer.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Vincent Arthur |title=The Jain stupa and other antiquities of Mathura |year=1901 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924012251140 |access-date=14 November 2015}}</ref>
===Archaeology elsewhere===
[[File:Estructura 101 de Yarumela.jpg|thumb|Mound known as Structure 101 located at the [[Yarumela]] archeological site in Honduras.]]
Mound, as a technical term in archaeology, is not generally in favor in the rest of the world.{{cn|date=June 2017}} 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]]
* [[Subglacial mound]]
* [[Tell (archaeology)|Tell]] (also includes multi-lingual synonyms for mounds in the Near East)
* [[Terp]] (European dwelling mounds located in wetlands like flood plains and salt marshes)
* [[Tumulus]] (barrow)
** [[Bank barrow]]
** [[Bell barrow]]
** [[Bowl barrow]]
** [[Chambered long barrow]]
** [[Kurgan]]
** [[Long barrow]]
** [[Oval barrow]]
==See also==
* [[List of burial mounds in the United States]]
* [[Fort Ancient]]
* [[Kofun period]]
* [[Kurgan hypothesis]]
* [[Mississippian (geology)|Mississippian Period]]
* [[Neolithic Europe]]
* [[Olmec]]
** [[La Venta]]
** [[San José Mogote]]
* [[Petroform]]
* [[Pyramid]]
* [[Prehistoric Britain]]
* [[Stupa]]
* [[Woodland Period]]
** [[Crystal River Archaeological State Park]]
* [[Ziggurat]]
;Animals
*[[Mound-building termites]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|mound}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Mound |volume=18 |short=x}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Mounds| ]]
[[Category:Mound Builders]]
[[Category:Pre-Columbian cultures]]
[[Category:Archaeology of the United States]]