Mounds State Park

Mounds State Park
	Mounds State Park entrance sign.
	Site of park in U.S. state of Indiana
Location	Anderson, Indiana, Madison County, Indiana, USA
Region	Madison County, Indiana
History
Founded	160 BCE
Cultures	Adena culture, Hopewell tradition
Site notes
Architecture
Architectural styles	earthworks
Architectural details	Number of monuments: 10
	Mounds State Park
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Area	251.8 acres (101.9 ha)
NRHP reference No.	73000022
Added to NRHP	January 18, 1973
	Responsible body: Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Mounds State Park is a state park in Anderson, Indiana (not to be confused with Mounds State Recreation Area (SRA) near Brookville, Indiana) featuring Native American heritage, and 10 ceremonial mounds built by the prehistoric Adena culture indigenous peoples of eastern North America, and also used centuries later by Hopewell culture inhabitants.

Mounds

The largest earthwork, the "Great Mound", is believed to have been constructed around 160 BC. The Great Mound is a circular earth enclosure with an internal ditch and south to southwest entrance. The earthworks measure 394 feet (120.1 m) across from bank to bank. The 9-foot-tall (3 m) embankment is 63 feet (19 m) wide at its base, and the ditch is 10.5 feet (3.2 m) deep and 60 feet (18.3 m) across at its top. The central platform is 138 feet (42 m) across and was occupied by a 4-foot-high (1.2 m) central mound 30 feet (9 m) in diameter. One particular mound at the Anderson Site has a sequence of clay platforms, each deliberately covered by a layer of ash.^[2]

Earthworks

The term Earthworks includes any structure made from the earth. In Native American studies, there are three primary types: mounds, circular enclosures, and complexes. All are found in Central Indiana and in the state park.^[3] 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.^[3]

Great Mound

The Great Mound is approximately 300 feet (91 m) across and consists of an outer embankment 9 feet (2.7 m) high and 63 feet (19 m) wide, surrounding a 60 feet (18 m) wide ditch that is 10.5 feet (3.2 m) deep. The central platform, 138 feet (42 m) is diameter with a central mound, 4 feet (1.2 m) high and 30 metres (98 ft) in diameter.^[3] The central mound was excavated in 1968/69 and found to have three clay layers, each with ashes, showing a succession of use periods.^[3]

The complex has been dated to 160 B.C.E through 50 C.E. These dates are obtained through radiocarbon dating and some artifacts.^[3] 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.^[3]

Popular culture

The late 19th century Bronnenberg House, built by one of the area's early residents and landowner of the mounds.

In 1900, a series of strange misshapen skeletons were unearthed from similar mounds in nearby Alexandria, Indiana. This brought thousands of tourists from around the Mid-West. In 1910, several locals admitted to stealing chimpanzee skeletons from the nearby Muncie Zoo's monkey house. In 1915 the skeletons were sold to a local museum which burned down in 1919.^[4]

What is now Mounds State Park was the location of an amusement park which 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 may have been plundered or otherwise destroyed. When the Great Depression hit, the property was sold to Madison County Historical Society, which transferred ownership to the State of Indiana, after which it became Mounds State Park.^[5]

Canoeing is also available in Mounds State Park, on the White River.

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ Dean R. Snow (2010). Archaeology of Native North America. New York: Prentice-Hall. p. 103.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ’’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
^ Werner, Nicholas (1937). Mysterious Circumstances Of Central Indiana. Clayton Books. p. 121.
^ "Mounds state Park Interpretive Master Plan 2011" (PDF). Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 5 July 2012.

External links

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[2] Dean R. Snow (2010). Archaeology of Native North America. New York: Prentice-Hall. p. 103.

[Cochran-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ’’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

[4] Werner, Nicholas (1937). Mysterious Circumstances Of Central Indiana. Clayton Books. p. 121.

[5] "Mounds state Park Interpretive Master Plan 2011" (PDF). Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 5 July 2012.

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v t e Adena Culture
List of Adena culture sites Woodland period Mound Builders List of archaeological periods (North America)
Ohio sites	Adena Austin Brown Arledge Beam Farm Clemmons Conrad Coon Hunters George Deffenbaugh Enon Fortner Great Mound Hartley Highbanks Metro Park Hillside Haven Hodgen's Cemetery Horn Hurley Jackson Karshner Kinzer Luthor List McDaniel Miamisburg Mound Cemetery Odd Fellows' Cemetery Old Maid's Orchard Orators Carl Potter Raleigh Reeves D.S. Rose Ross Trails Circle Short Woods Park Shrum Snead Spruce Run David Stitt Story (Cincinnati) Story (Chillicothe) Williamson Wolf Plains Wright-Patterson Zaleski
Kentucky sites	Biggs Gaitskill Jim King Mound Mound Hill Mount Horeb Ramey Round Hill
West Virginia sites	Camden Park Mound Cotiga Mound Cresap Mound Criel Goff Mound Grave Creek Lynden Reynolds Farm Mound Neibert Mound St. Albans Site St Mary's Mound Turkey Creek Mound
Indiana sites	Mounds State Park
Category

v t e Hopewellian peoples
Woodland period List of Hopewell sites Mound Builders List of archaeological periods (North America)
Ohio Hopewell	Beam Farm Benham Mound Cary Village Site Cedar-Bank Works Dunns Pond Mound Ellis Mounds Ety Enclosure Ety Habitation Site Everett Knoll Complex Fort Ancient Fortified Hill Works Great Hopewell Road High Banks Works Hopeton Earthworks Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Indian Mound Cemetery Keiter Mound Marietta Earthworks Moorehead Circle Mound of Pipes Nettle Lake Mound Group Newark Earthworks Oak Mounds Orators Perin Village Site Pollock Works Portsmouth Earthworks Rocky Fork Enclosures Rocky Fork Mounds Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District Shawnee Lookout Shriver Circle Earthworks Stubbs Earthworks Tremper Mound and Works Williamson Mound Archeological District
Crab Orchard culture	Carrier Mills Archaeological District Cleiman Mound Hubele site Mann site Mount Vernon Site O'byams Fort site Wilson site Yankeetown site
Goodall focus	Goodall site Norton Mound group
Havana Hopewell culture	Albany Mounds State Historic Site Dickson Mounds Duncan Farm Golden Eagle-Toppmeyer Site Kamp Mound Site Mound House site Naples Archeological District Naples Mound 8 Ogden-Fettie Site Rockwell Mound Sinnissippi Mounds Toolesboro Mound Group
Kansas City Hopewell	Cloverdale archaeological site Renner Village Archeological Site Trowbridge Archeological Site
Marksville culture	Crooks Mound Grand Gulf Mound Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site Mott Archaeological Preserve
Miller culture	Bynum Mound and Village Site Ingomar Mound Miller Site Pharr Mounds Pinson Mounds
Point Peninsula complex	Lewiston Mound Serpent Mounds Park LeVescounte Mounds
Swift Creek culture Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture	Crystal River Archaeological State Park Etowah Indian Mounds Leake Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Miner's Creek site Pierce Site Swift Creek mound site Third Gulf Breeze Yearwood site Yent Mound
Other Hopewellian peoples	Armstrong culture Copena culture Fourche Maline culture Laurel complex Saugeen complex Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)
Exotic trade items	Copper Galena Mica Fresh water pearls Obsidian Pipestone Sea shells
Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Black drink burial mound Ceremonial pipe Effigy mound Hopewell pottery Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Horned Serpent Eastern Agricultural Complex Underwater panther

v t e Pre-Columbian North America
Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic
Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Beringian Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Anishinaabe Avonlea Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek complex Caborn-Welborn Cades Pond Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Comondú Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites La Jolla Las Palmas Maritime Archaic Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Safety Harbor Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Suwannee Valley Tchefuncte Troyville Weeden Island
Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick site Bandelier National Monument Bastian Benson Blue Spring Shelter Bluefish Caves The Bluff Point Stoneworks Brewster Cahokia Candelaria Cave Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Cuarenta Casas Cueva de la Olla Cutler Eaker El Fin del Mundo El Vallecito Effigy Mounds Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Center Fort Juelson Four Mounds Gila Cliff Dwellings Glenwood Grimes Point Helen Blazes Holly Bluff Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Horr's Island Huápoca Key Marco Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Lake Jackson Mounds Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site L'Anse aux Meadows Lynch Quarry Site Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Morrison Mounds Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena site Ocmulgee Mounds Old Stone Fort Orwell site Paquime Painted Bluff Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Plum Bayou Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Rassawek Recapture Canyon River Styx Roberts Island Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Rosenstock Village Russell Cave Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Sierra de San Francisco Shell ring sites Spiro Mounds Stallings Island SunWatch Taos Pueblo Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River Velda Mound West Oak Forest Earthlodge Wickiup Hill Windover Winterville Wupatki
Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Melbourne Man Minnesota Woman Peñon woman Spirit Cave mummy Vero man
Miscellaneous	Aridoamerica Ballgame Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of North America Oasisamerica Piasa Projectile point Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Transoceanic contact Underwater panther Water glyphs
Related Genetic history Pre-Columbian era

v t e Protected areas of Indiana
National Park Service	George Rogers Clark National Historical Park Indiana Dunes National Park Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial
National Forest	Hoosier
National Wildlife Refuges	Big Oaks Muscatatuck Patoka River
National Natural Landmarks	Big Walnut Creek Cabin Creek Raised Bog Calvert and Porter Woods Nature Preserve Cowles Bog Donaldson Cave System and Woods Dunes Nature Preserve Fern Cliff Nature Preserve Hanging Rock and Wabash Reef Harrison Spring Hoosier Prairie Marengo Cave Meltzer Woods Ohio Coral Reef (Falls of the Ohio) Pine Hills Natural Area Pinhook Bog Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest Portland Arch Nature Preserve Rise at Orangeville Rocky Hollow-Falls Canyon Nature Preserve Tamarack Bog Nature Preserve Wesley Chapel Gulf Wesselman Park Woods Wyandotte Cave
State Parks	Brown County Chain O'Lakes Charlestown Clifty Falls Deam Lake Falls of the Ohio Fort Harrison Harmonie Indiana Dunes Lincoln McCormick's Creek Mounds O'Bannon Woods Ouabache Pokagon Potato Creek Prophetstown Shades Shakamak Spring Mill Starve Hollow Summit Lake Tippecanoe River Turkey Run Versailles White River Whitewater Memorial
State Forests	Clark Ferdinand Frances Slocum Greene–Sullivan Harrison–Crawford Jackson–Washington Martin Morgan–Monroe Owen–Putnam Pike Ravinia Salamonie River Selmier Yellowwood
State Fish and Wildlife Areas	Hovey Lake Jasper–Pulaski Kankakee Kingsbury LaSalle Pigeon River J. E. Roush Tri-County Willow Slough Winamac
Category Indianapolis Indiana Department of Natural Resources Commons

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Adams Allen Bartholomew Benton Blackford Boone Brown Carroll Cass Clark Clay Clinton Crawford Daviess Dearborn Decatur DeKalb Delaware Dubois Elkhart Fayette Floyd Fountain Franklin Fulton Gibson Grant Greene Hamilton Hancock Harrison Hendricks Henry Howard Huntington Jackson Jasper Jay Jefferson Jennings Johnson Knox Kosciusko LaGrange Lake LaPorte Lawrence Madison Marion: Center Township Marion: Other Marshall Martin Miami Monroe Montgomery Morgan Newton Noble Ohio Orange Owen Parke Perry Pike Porter Posey Pulaski Putnam Randolph Ripley Rush St. Joseph Scott Shelby Spencer Starke Steuben Sullivan Switzerland Tippecanoe Tipton Union Vanderburgh Vermillion Vigo Wabash Warren Warrick Washington Wayne Wells White Whitley
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Keeper of the Register History of the National Register of Historic Places Property types Historic district Contributing property