A monument is a structure that was created to honor a person, group of people, or an event. A monument is relevant to a group of people based on their cultural heritage or a historic period of time. Monuments can have artistic, architectural, political, and historical importance.
An earthwork is a human construction made from stone and soil. Earthworks can be artificial changes in land level like mounds of earth or stone cairns. Earthwork monuments include altered and arranged stones known as petroforms.
Examples:
- Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Illinois
- Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point in Louisiana
- Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, see video here
- Serpent Mound in Ohio
- Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Montana
- Petroforms in Death Valley
Modern earthworks are commonly divided into two categories:
- earth altered as an engineering feat for a practical purpose, and
- earth modified for artistic intent.
The ancient earthworks in North America exhibit elements of art, science, and mathematics. The ones that are recognized are often considered spiritual or religious in nature. Many are designated cultural heritage sites. A cultural heritage sites “… show a masterpiece of human creativity or an important exchange of human values over a long period of time.”
Conical burial mounds are the oldest kind of mound. Conical mounds are dome shaped. Linear mounds are raised areas that were constructed in long, straight lines. Effigy Mounds were shaped like animals, such as bears, birds, or The orientation of linear and effigy mounds was significant. Mound building continued up until about 1,000 years ago through the Effigy Mound Building period.