Burial Practices (Mounds)

Native Americans saw the death of a loved one as a time to show their love and respect in the form of not only a proper ceremony when possible, but also by building elaborate and labor-intensive burial mounds made of stone or earthen materials such as dirt or rocks. They created vast areas known as “burial grounds” that not only included these burial mounds but also featured ceremonial elements, such as serpent walls, ceremonial circles, platform structures, rock art images, ground serpent effigies, and niche or split stones, on many occasions. These burial grounds could be pretty complex, and may also have solstice marker stones or fertility symbols. The same group of people used some burial grounds for hundreds of years.