The Myth of the Mound Builders

The 19th century myth that continues to claim the heritage of pre-Columbian North Americans today.

The centuries following the renewed 1492 contact between the world's eastern and western hemispheres were devastating for the indigenous peoples of the Americas whose population was continually decimated by imported diseases for which they lacked immunity. By the early 19th century, so few indigenous people remained that European Americans doubted they could have ever built the massive number of earthworks that covered the North American landscape. Instead they created a myth that the mounds must have been built by a lost civilized race that was ultimately exterminated by the American Indians. The most successful telling of this myth is found in Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon. We will look at how the myth of the mound builders evolved and its continuing consequences.