Editing Cairn (section)

===The Americas===
Throughout what today are the [[continental United States]] and Canada, some [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] have built structures similar to cairns. In some cases, these are general trail markers, and in other cases they mark game-driving "lanes", such as those leading to [[buffalo jump]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=World Heritage List: Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/158/ |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref>

==== Religious Practices (North America)   ====

* Stacked rock features have been noted to have religious significance to the [[Klamath people|Klamath]] and [[Modoc people|Modoc]] Tribes of indigenous people of the [[Western United States]], the respective tribes prohibiting photography of or touching the stone formations. These cairn-like structures are noted to be constructed for ritual and prayer purposes. Indigenous tribes practiced piling rocks (forming a rock cairn) as a step in a series of physically demanding tasks in part of a ritual to receive what they call spirit dreams. This practice is part of the [[vision quest]] ritual within the [[Rite of passage|puberty rite]] the boys of the tribe undergo.<ref name="Haynal 2000 170–185">{{Cite journal |last=Haynal |first=Patrick M. |date=2000 |title=The Influence of Sacred Rock Cairns and Prayer Seats on Modern Klamath and Modoc Religion and World View |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27825729 |journal=Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=170–185 |jstor=27825729 |issn=0191-3557}}</ref>
* Cairns were often used to mark the cremation sites for burial practices. When the [[Klamath people|Klamath]] tribe traveled within their territory, a person may pass away during this period. If the death occurs away from their village, the passed person would be buried near where they passed and a cairn would be constructed to mark this site. Burial cairns constructed by indigenous people, taking the shape of stone mounds, have been found throughout the Midwest and South of the United States. These mounds are typically made in large piles and mark the burial site, also protecting it from wildlife.<ref name="Haynal 2000 170–185"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muller |first=Norman |date=2003 |title=The Cairns in our Midst: Historic or Prehistoric |url=https://neara.org/pdf/cairns.pdf |journal=NEARA Journal |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=5–12 |via=NEARA}}</ref>

Peoples from some of the Indigenous cultures of arctic North America (i.e. northern Canada, [[Alaska]] and [[Greenland]]) have built carefully constructed stone sculptures called [[Inuksuk|{{lang|iu|inuksuit|nocat=yes}} and {{lang|iu|inunnguat|nocat=yes}}]], which serve as landmarks and directional markers. The oldest of these structures are very old and pre-date [[European colonization of the Americas|contact with Europeans]]. They are iconic of the region (an {{lang|iu|inuksuk}} even features on the flag of the Canadian far-northeastern territory, [[Nunavut]]).<ref name=BBCNHSC>{{cite web
 | title = British Block Cairn National Historic Site of Canada
 | url = https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=14944
 | website = Canada's Historic Places
 | date = December 23, 2009 | access-date = November 14, 2019}}</ref>

Cairns have been used throughout what is now [[Latin America]], since [[pre-Columbian]] times, to mark trails. Even today, in the [[Andes]] of [[South America]], the [[Quechuan]] peoples build cairns as part of their spiritual and religious traditions.<ref name=APC>{{cite web
 | title = Apachetas of Chivay
 | url = https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/apachetas-of-alto-de-chivay
 | website = Atlas Obscura
 | date = 2019
 | access-date = November 14, 2019}}</ref>