Extraordinary Monuments from North America

Moundbuilders: Ancient Architects of North America opened on June 24, 2017 at the Penn Museum. This exhibition tells the story of the 5,000-year-old practice of mound construction in Native North America. Using photographs, archival records, and artifacts excavated at mound sites throughout the eastern United States, Moundbuilders demonstrates that you do not need a passport to see extraordinary and ancient monuments. Some older than the pyramids in Egypt and others towering ten stories above the floodplain of the Mississippi River, these marvels of engineering have played important roles in the religious and ceremonial lives of Native people for millennia. This exhibition explores these monuments, the people that made them, and the archaeological projects that have helped us understand the long history of the practice.