Cyrus Thomas, an archaeologist employed by the Smithsonian Institution, demonstrated in the 1890s that the effigy mounds, burial mounds, and temple mounds of the Northeast and Southeast United States were built by Native Americans, not by a separate 'Mound Builder' civilization.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by multiple independent academic, journalistic, and institutional sources including the Smithsonian's own repository, corroborating all key details of the claim.
Sources
- Native American - Prehistory, Tribes, Culture | Britannica (britannica.com)
- https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/anthropology/mounds-and-mound-builders (ebsco.com)
- https://www.americanheritage.com/mound-country (americanheritage.com)
- https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/contributors/cyrus-thomas (laphamsquarterly.org)
- https://academic.oup.com/whq/article-abstract/52/4/459/6335895 (academic.oup.com)
- https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/91661 (repository.si.edu)