There are several types of mounds and earthworks that were constructed by "Mound Builders." These are catagorized and defined below.

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All images are from the Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology by Cyrus Thomas 1894

Effigy Mounds

This effigy mound is found in Adams County Ohio and is known as "Serpent Mound." It was probably built around 1050 A.D.		This effigy mound was in the shape of a mamoth. It has been shown that early Amerindians hunted these and other ice-age creatures like sabertooth cats and the giant ground sloth.
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Geometric Earth Works and Enclosures

This is a non-geometric enclosure that surounds a mound group, probably a town or center of political/economic activity. The area is placed so that a lake protects the back side while the enclosure protects the front. Enclosures of this type were probably defensive.		Geometric round. This enclosure's use is uncertain. It may have been defensive, but it is more likely that it was a ceramonial area of some kind. The mound is located near Madison, Wis.
Another example of a Geometric round enclosure located at Newark, Ohio.		Geometric square. This earthwork was probably another form of ceramonial area although we just do not know for certain. It is located near Newark, Ohio.
Geometric octagon. The octagon shaped earth works are perhaps some of the more interesting of the geometric forms. They demonstrate a working knowledge of geometry and mathmatics that led early anthropologists to attribute them to Welsh and other groups. They could not accept the fact that Amerindians were capable of such accomplishments. This work is found near Newark, Ohio.		This plate shows an entire site containing geometric mounds. The site is the Newark site in Ohio.
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Burials: Burials are found in many forms and may or may not be directly part of a mound.

Stone Coffin. This burial contained three bodies and was part of a mound that contained other similar burials. The mound was part of the Hale site in Jackson, Ill.		This stone tomb, enclosed in a mound, was located in Dunleith, Ill. It contained several bodies aranged in a sitting position around a hearth.
This is an arched vault burial within a mound wherein the body was buried in a sitting position. The burial was in Alamakee county, Iowa.		These arched stone burials were in Brown county Ohio and were not in mounds.
This burial is common in the West Virginia area. It is a pitched vault within a mound.		This burial is a domed stone construct that was not in a mound. The burial was located in Fayet West Virginia.
This is a conical mound containing scattered burials. The mound was part of the Lenoir group in Tennessee.		R4C3	R4C4

Platform Mounds: These usually do not contain burials, but were instead used as building sites where temples, carnal houses and/or leaders houses occupied the flat area's at the top of the mound.

Ramped Platform. This sample is a part of the Etowa group in Georgia.		Tiered Platform, rectangular. This type of mound is considered a hallmark of the Mississippian period and is the same form as the great Monks Mound at the Cahokia site. This sample is from Jefferson county Arkansas.
Tiered Platform, circular. This sample is from Phillips county Arkansas.		R2C3	R2C4
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