Where Did the Mound Builders Come From and Where Did they Go?

At this point in time we don't know exactly where they came from, but we can speculate. Earthworks similar to those found in Ohio have been discovered in the forests that have recently been cleared in southwestern Brazil. This has been a surprisingly development in our understanding about the North American Mound Builders.

So far at this writing, there have been almost 500 circle, square and octagon shaped earthworks, many of which were connected with road ways that also had sections where parallel walls lined both sides of the roadways very similar to earthworks found in central and southern Ohio. These earthworks, like our earthworks, show a people that not only inhabited an area in great numbers, but they also manipulated their topography.

When Europeans first began arriving in North American they found small Native American clusters living along streams. They only cleared small areas as needed to build huts and provide firewood. The Mound Builders cleared many square miles of land to construct their massive earthworks. The same is being found in South America where indigenous people living along the streams when European explorers came upon them had only cleared small areas sufficient to allow for their small clusters of people. Both groups of indigenous peoples had no history of clearing wilderness areas or constructing earthworks. These people were aware of the earthworks, but could not identify who had built them. The same is true of the South American earthworks.

Both the North and South American earthworks have given up carbon-dated materials dating back 3000 years. Even though they are more than 3,500 miles apart, they are strikingly similar in their type of construction, location of the structures, and of course their various but similar shapes.

The Ancient Civilized Connection

Today, archeological studies being conducted on the Yucatan Peninsula is providing a possible glimpse at a direct connection between their culture and the Mound Builder culture here in Ohio and certain areas of South America.

The Mayan Culture that existed on the Yucatan dates back 1000s of years ago. They are best known for their extravagant pyramids. What is now being discovered is that these large pyramids were built over the top of large earthen and stone mounds that were originally used as burial mounds. We also know that they were extensive traders using both canoes and roads even though there was no evidence that they had developed the wheel.

Canoe travel was wide spread. We don't know if they had developed sea travel, but we do know they had a great interest in the stars which was critical to navigating the seas. We also know that they developed trading communities about 20 miles apart by canoe, the distance a multi-manned canoe could navigate in one day. The evidence suggests Mayans or their ancestors could have set up trading outposts all around the Gulf of Mexico without ever losing sight of land. From the Yucatan to the Mississippi River it is just 1600 miles that could easily be covered in less than 80 days, or less than 30 days if they canoed directly across the Gulf and from there it is only 2 months depending on the weather, to the mouth of the Scioto River. We know from archeological evidence that the Mound Builders were great traders involving trade with distant North American areas covering 1000s of miles.

For some reason the last of the Mound Builders disappeared some time between 1100 to 1200 AD in both North and South America. This was about the same time that the Mayan culture disappeared as well. It was suspected that a great drought decimated the Mayan culture on the Yucatan and the Anasazi Indians. Whether that unusual climate change also effected Ohio's Mound Builders and by extension perhaps if not all, many parts of the Western Hemisphere, is not known. What we do know is that they were not in Ohio when the early Native Americans arrived here from the east.

ABOVE: 1836 Survey map titled "Fortified Hill, Butler County, 3 miles S.W. of the Town of Hamilton" was created by James McBride, a resident of Butler County and a life-long student of the ancient earthworks found along the Miami River. This particular site located on west side of Miami River is an example of a piled stone enclosure with distinctive entry points.

Southwest Ohio's Rock Enclosures

Another element in the historic record were the numerous stone wall enclosures found especially along the Miami River. Most of these enclosures were are elevated pieces of land where stone walls were constructed around the relatively flat top of the land. The structures were clearly president in the 1830s when they were surveyed and described. The stacked stone walls varied in height, but on the inside they averaged around 5 feet in height, but the base might be 30 feet below the top of the hill. There was no surviving evidence of burial practices associated with these sites. Nor have any artifacts been recorded having coming from these sites.

With the lack of any organic matter associated with the time of these walled rock enclosures, there is no way of dating when they were constructed. The Mound Builders of Ohio have always been associated with earthen structures, both walls and mounds. Some of their burial mounds have flat stones placed over the body, that was then typically mounded over with soil.

The 1830s surveyors described these enclosures as fortifications because of their elevated positions. This theory was further enhanced by the fact there were several convoluted entry points meant to slow down entry or exit into the enclosures. Whether this is a reason to classify the enclosures and defensive positions or not is open for interpretation. It is possible these enclosures were simply livestock pens created sometime in the past.

Defensive Enclosures

Most of the massive earthworks built in Ohio were constructed along a strong geometric pattern that had striking similarities. Other earthworks, primarily along rivers, have 3 sides arranged either in a rectangular or a slightly curving enclosure. They bear no resemblance to the larger geometric monuments. Few of these sites have survived from when they were initially surveyed in the early 1800s. They appear to be defensive enclosures, but perhaps not from other humans.

Hundreds of years after these structures were abandoned and during the time that Native Americans were scattered across the Ohio Country, it was known that their were large herds of buffalo, deer, and elk roaming the prairies much like they did in the west. Along with those were the hunters, the big cats and bears that stalked these large herds. Could it be that these enclosures were to protect the inhabitants from the wildlife that roamed the state?

Consider this postulation

When the Mound Builders first arrived in Ohio they most likely arrived by some type of boat coming up the Ohio River from the Mississippi. One of the first major rivers they came to was the Miami River (or as the early French explorers called it Riviere a la Roche, the River of Rocks. It was in this valley that the 100s of rock enclosures were found when early settlers arrive here. Unfortunately, most all of these stone enclosures have been destroyed through human development.