America's Top 10 Mound Sites

# 10 Coastal Shell Mounds
America's shell mound culture is thought to be the oldest and least understood of all the mound builders. The earliest Mound Builders constructed huge mounds of shells arranged into complex oval and geometric formations along the southern coastal areas as long ago as 6000 years, but older shell mounds are probably to be found in now sumberged areas along the coast. They are found in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and some were once located in Mississippi. Many of them are now badly eroded and not easily visited, but they come in at #10 because of their size, age, and the mystery associated with them.
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# 9 Effigy Mounds Natl Mounment, IA
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa • Effigy, Linear, & Burial Mound Complex • Hopewell
National Park & Museum—located 3-miles north of Marquette, IA off Hwy. 76.
At one time, over 10,000 mounds once existed in northeast Iowa alone. At least 54 different Iowa mound groups were located along the Mississippi River once containing at least 1,438 separate effigy mounds. Nine different animal types are represented in the mounds including bears, panthers, and birds. Effigy Mounds National Monument contains some of the finest examples of the Hopewell effigy mounds known to exist today. Within the 2526-acre park are just over 200 mounds. The site was inhabited as early as 3000 B.C. but the mounds are generally dated to 500 BC to ad 1000. They come in at number 9 because of their preservation, mystery, and vast numbers.
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