case include Thomas Jefferson, who excavated a mound and from the artifacts and burial practices, noted similarities between mound-builder funeral practices and those of Native Americans in his time. Walam Olum The Walam Olum hoax had considerable influence on perceptions of the Mound Builders. In 1836, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque published his translation of a text he claimed had been written in pictographs on wooden tablets. This text explained that the Lenape Indians originated in Asia, told of their passage over the Bering Strait, and narrated their subsequent migration across the North American continent. This "Walam Olum" tells of battles with native peoples already in America before the Lenape arrived. People hearing of the account believed that the "original people" were the Mound Builders, and that the Lenape overthrew them and destroyed their culture. David Oestreicher later asserted that Rafinesque's account was a hoax. He argued that the Walam Olum glyphs derived from Chinese, Egyptian, and Mayan alphabets. Meanwhile, the belief that the Native Americans destroyed the mound-builder culture had gained widespread acceptance. See also List of burial mounds in the United States Petroform Prehistory of Ohio Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Southwestern Moundbuilders, athletic teams of Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas Tumulus, mounds (or barrows) of Europe and Asia Tumulus culture References Further reading Thomas, Cyrus. Report on the mound explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology. pp. 3–730. Twelfth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890–91, by J. W. Powell, Director. XLVIII+742 pp., 42 pls., 344 figs. 1894. Mark Jarzombek, Architecture of First Societies: A Global Perspective, (New York: Wiley & Sons, August 2013) Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. External links Lost Race Myth LenaweeHistory.com | Mound Builders section, The Western Historical Society 1909, reprint. Artist Hideout, Art of the Ancients Ancient Monuments Placemarks With Climate Swing, a Culture Bloomed in Americas (mound builders in Peru) Science 19 September 1997 (a mound complex in Louisiana at 5400u–5000 years ago) Bruce Smith video on the 1880s Smithsonian explorations to determine who built the ancient earthen mounds in eastern North America can be viewed as part of the series 19th Century Explorers and Anthropologists: Developing the Earliest Smithsonian Anthropology Collections Pre-Columbian architecture Archaic period in North America Formative period in the Americas Archaeological cultures of North America Pre-Columbian cultures Woodland period Native