Mounds State Park is a state park near

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

Madison County, Indiana Madison County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 census states the population is standing at 130,129. The county seat since 1836 has been Anderson,Harden (1874), p. 23 one of three incorporated cities within the county. Madiso ...

featuring Native American heritage, and ten ceremonial

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, 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 topographically higher ...

s built by the prehistoric

Adena culture The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing ...

indigenous peoples of eastern North America, and also used centuries later by

Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...

inhabitants. It is separate from (and about 79 miles northwest of) the similarly named Mounds State Recreation Area (near Brookville,

Franklin County, Indiana Franklin County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Indiana. In the 2020 United States Census, the county population was 22,785. The county seat is the town of Brookville. Franklin County is part of the Cincinnati, OH–KY� ...

). The park receives about 400,000 visitors annually. The park is 1 of 14 Indiana State Parks that are in the path of totality for the 2024 solar eclipse, with the park having 3 minutes and 45 seconds of totality.

Mounds

The largest earthwork, the "Great Mound", is believed to have been constructed around 160 BCE. The Great Mound is a circular earth enclosure with an internal ditch and south to southwest entrance. The earthworks measure across from bank to bank. The embankment is wide at its base, and the ditch is deep and across at its top. The central platform is across and was occupied by a central mound in diameter. One particular mound at the Anderson Site has a sequence of clay platforms, each deliberately covered by a layer of ash.

Earthworks

The term ''earthworks'' includes any structure made from the earth. In Native American studies, there are three primary types:

mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * ...

, circular enclosures, and complexes. All are found in

Central Indiana The geography of Indiana comprises the physical features of the land and relative location of U.S. State of Indiana. Indiana is in the north-central United States and borders on Lake Michigan. Surrounding states are Michigan to the north and no ...

and in the state park."Adena and Hopewell Cosmology: New Evidence from East Central Indiana; Donald R. Cochran; Native American Cultures in Indiana, ‘’Proceedings of the First Minnestrista Council for Great Lakes Native American Studies"; Ronald Hicks (ed.); Minnestrista Cultural Center; Muncie, Indiana; 1992; pgs 26-42 Mounds State Park has a complex of enclosures, both circular and rectangular. There are seven enclosures and four additional earthworks, which have been divided into two groups, the northern complex and the southern complex. The "Great Mound" enclosure is the dominant structure in the park and the southern group.

Great Mound

The Great Mound is approximately across and consists of an outer embankment high and wide, surrounding a wide ditch that is deep. The central platform, is diameter with a central mound, high and in diameter. The central mound was excavated in 1968/69 and found to have three clay layers, each with ashes, showing a succession of use periods. The complex has been dated to 160 BCE through 50 CE These dates are obtained through radiocarbon dating and some artifacts. A nearby log tomb was found with a platform pipe typical of Hopewell styles from 50 C.E. Post hole remnants were dated to 60 BCE and 230 CE. Radiocarbon dates from excavated material of the Great Mound established 160 BCE +/- 90 for the embankment. The neighboring ‘’Fiddleback" Mound was dated to 120 BCE +/- 70.

Notable features

In 1900, a series of strange misshapen skeletons were unearthed from similar mounds in nearby

Alexandria, Indiana Alexandria is a city in Monroe Township, Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is about northeast of Indianapolis. According to the 2010 census, its population was 5,145, a decrease of 17.8% from 6,260 in 2000. History Alexandria was pl ...

. This brought thousands of tourists from around the Mid-West. In 1910, several locals admitted to stealing chimpanzee skeletons from the nearby

Muncie Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located in ...

Zoo's monkey house. In 1915 the skeletons were sold to a local museum which burned down in 1919. What is now Mounds State Park was the location of an amusement park that operated from 1897 until 1929. While the amusement park exploited the native-made mounds, it also helped to protect them by making them a "point of regional pride and a destination"; otherwise they might have been plundered or otherwise destroyed. When the Great Depression hit, the property was sold to the Madison County Historical Society, which transferred ownership to the State of Indiana, after which it became Mounds State Park. Canoeing is also available in Mounds State Park, on the White River.

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