The Mound Builders

Author:   Robert Silverberg
Publisher:   Ohio University Press
Edition:   2nd Revised edition
ISBN:  

9780821408391


Pages:   276
Publication Date:   01 May 1986
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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The Mound Builders


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Overview

In Illinois, the one-hundred-foot Cahokia Mound spreads impressively across sixteen acres, and as many as ten thousand more mounds dot the Ohio River Valley alone. The Mound Builders traces the speculation surrounding these monuments and the scientific excavations which uncovered the history and culture of the ancient Americans who built them. The mounds were constructed for religious and secular purposes some time between 1000 B.C. and 1000 A.D., and they have prompted curiosity and speculation from very early times. European settlers found them evidence of some ancient and glorious people. Even as eminent an American as Thomas Jefferson joined the controversy, though his conclusions-that the mounds were actually cemeteries of ancient Indians-remained unpopular for nearly a century. Only in the late 19th century, as Smithsonian Institution investigators developed careful methodologies and reliable records, did the period of scientific investigation of the mounds and their builders begin. Silverberg follows these excavations and then recounts the story they revealed of the origins, development, and demise of the mound builder culture.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert Silverberg
Publisher:   Ohio University Press
Imprint:   Ohio University Press
Edition:   2nd Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 12.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 20.30cm
Weight:   0.331kg
ISBN:  

9780821408391


ISBN 10:   0821408399
Pages:   276
Publication Date:   01 May 1986
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

Our forebears, finding large, incomprehensible earthworks scattered down the Mississippi Valley, refused to believe they were built by the aborigines who still cluttered up the place and impeded settlement. Mr. Silverberg describes, with gleeful and copious quotation, the nineteenth-century literature of speculation which attributed these monuments to Phoenicians, stray Vikings, the lost tribes of Israel, refugees from Atlantis, an extinct race of giants, and Welshmen. The book, which is charmingly written, ends with a history of the archaeological work which gave the mounds back to the Indians.


“Our forebears, finding large, incomprehensible earthworks scattered down the Mississippi Valley, refused to believe they were built by the aborigines who still cluttered up the place and impeded settlement. Mr. Silverberg describes, with gleeful and copious quotation, the nineteenth-century literature of speculation which attributed these monuments to Phoenicians, stray Vikings, the lost tribes of Israel, refugees from Atlantis, an extinct race of giants, and Welshmen. The book, which is charmingly written, ends with a history of the archaeological work which gave the mounds back to the Indians.” * Atlantic Monthly *


The incredibly active Mr. Silverberg, author of many books for adults and children dealing with archaeological matters, again illuminates some stunningly comprehensive research with his own vigorous style and considerable joy in the telling. Although now sometimes hemmed in by city streets, sometimes almost leveled by erosion, the ancient piles of earth which appear in the Mississippi Valley and southeastern United States at one time provided a basis for myths that sparked the imaginations and fancies of Americans to such an extent that a book purporting to tell the truth about the mysterious Builders of the Mounds sold 22,000 copies in thirty months in 1833. The myth of lost tribes nurtured the theology of a religion (Mormonism); echoes of the belief that the ancient peoples had come from Atlantis, Israel, Denmark, and (remembering advanced civilizations) Mexico, sounded in prose and poetry. Yet in the early enchantment with the magic of a new homeland was a scientific experiment. Amateur archeologists, including two Presidents (Jefferson and Harrison) began poking around the earthworks; conservative and radical branches contering on the identity of the Mound Builders researched, lectured, wrote, and researched again. With scraps of contemporary writings from the violent invasions of Spanish explorers, the author begins a study of a developing body of scientific observations and romantic fancy which persisted through the nineteenth century. Unsung heroes of an infant American archaeology; the founding and growth of the Smithsonian Institution; modern surveys of the nature of the Indian cultures that produced the Mounds; a few of the fuzzier theorists-are given their just due. With illustrations, a distinguished book. (Kirkus Reviews)


Author Information

Robert Silverberg, a renowned science fiction author and recipient of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, also writes books reflecting his special interest in myth, history, archaeology, and anthropology.

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