The Mound Builders of the Great Lakes

According to the sciences involved, the area of the Great Lakes had a climate change around 4,000 B.C. which caused the region’s weather to become much like it is today. From that point on people moved into the region and were basically nomadic wanderers, frequently moving according to weather and in need for game and harvesting.

The first mound building began in the Great Lakes region. These were earthen mounds that were built on top of a burial site. In southern Ohio, south of the Great Lakes region, the Hopewell culture built some impressive mounds. These
mounds were built in a variety of geometric shapes including squares, circles and crescents. The earthen walls, at the edge of the mounds, would be up to 12 feet high, while the mounds themselves would be as large as 10 meters. Today one of the largest concentrations of these mounds, in Ohio, has been turned into a national historic park.

Dr. Timmins, an expert in this area, believes that mound builders, in places like Hopewell, inspired people in the Great Lakes region to create their own mounds. For example the Norton Mound Group, in Michigan, was built somewhere between 1 and 200 AD. The largest of these mounds is 4.8 meters high, about half the size of the largest of the Hopewell mounds. However, these were trifling. “By Ohio Valley standards these are unremarkable if not picayune,” says Dr. Mason, an author and researcher in this area. “Nevertheless, they are the result of a lot of work.”

However, burial mounds are not unique to the Great Lakes or Ohio and Mississippi valleys. They were known all over the world. Often called tumulus, which is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn. Of the 24 listed sites of burial mounds in the world, none are found in the Middle East, the area of the Israelites or Jaredites, or even in Egypt—those background areas of the Nephite ancestors.

It is interesting that these Great Lake theorists like to take one passage or concept from the Book of Mormon and build an entire location theory around it at the expense of ignoring so many other scripture references regarding the Land of Promise. Because the hill Cumorah of Joseph Smith’s day was in upper New York State, these theorists claim the Book of Mormon land of promise must be in that same area. However, absolutely nothing of the entire Great Lakes area matches the scripture of the Book of Mormon geography without a great deal of changing, extravagant interpretation, or outright ignoring what else is written.

It is belittling to Nephi and the Lord to think that the best instruction the Lord could give and that Nephi could build was an earthen mound on top of a burial site.