VII.

What Happened to the Mound Builders?

The reasons for the decline of the various mound-building cultures are unknown; warfare, overpopulation, and drought or famine all could have played a role. Some scholars suggest that the Mound Builders were the ancestors of later Native Americans. For example, some of the Adena Indians were perhaps ancestral to Hopewell peoples. Hopewell Indians were possibly ancestors of the Algonquians who settled much of northeastern North America. Mississippian Indians are thought to be ancestral to later Southeast tribes, such as the Creek and Choctaw.

Mounds were still being built by various indigenous groups at the time of European contact with eastern North America. Early French settlers witnessed the use of mounds as platforms holding public buildings and as burial places by the Natchez. Mound building ceased shortly after European contact, as Native Americans suffered the impact of epidemics and cultural change.

See also Native Americans of North America: Early Peoples; Native American Architecture.