Grave Creek Mound
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Grave Creek Mound
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Grave Creek Mound in 2006
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| Location: | Tomlinson and 9th Streets, Moundsville, West Virginia |
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| Coordinates: | 39°55′00.86″N 80°44′40.49″W / 39.9169056°N 80.7445806°WCoordinates: 39°55′00.86″N 80°44′40.49″W / 39.9169056°N 80.7445806°W |
| Governing body: | State |
| NRHP Reference#: | 66000751[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL: | July 19, 1964[2] |
At 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter, the Grave Creek Mound is one of the largest conical type burial mounds in the United States. The builders of the site, men of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about 250-150 BCE. It is located in present-day Moundsville, West Virginia, near the banks of the Ohio River.
The first recorded excavation of the 2,000-year-old mound took place in 1838, and was conducted by local amateurs. The largest mound among those built by the Adena, it has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
In 1978 the state opened the Delf Norona Museum at the site. It displays numerous artifacts and interprets the ancient Adena Culture. In 2010, under an agreement with the state, the US Army Corps of Engineers gave nearly 450,000 artifacts to the museum for archival. They represent 10,000 years of habitation at the nearby site of the Marment Lock, and will expand understanding of indigenous cultures in the Kanawha Valley.
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[edit] Description
Grave Creek Mound is the largest conical type of any of the mound builder structures. Construction of the mound took place in successive stages from about 250-150 B.C., as indicated by the multiple burials at different levels within the structures. In 1838, road engineers measured its height at 69 feet (21 m) and its base as 295 feet (90 m). Originally a moat of about 40 feet (12 m) in width and five feet in depth, with one causeway across it, encircled the mound. Inside the mound, archeological researchers discovered Adena Hopewell remains and ornaments, along with a small sandstone tablet. The authenticity of the tablet and the meaning of its inscription have become quite controversial.
[edit] History
Grave Creek mound was created during the Woodland time period (late Adena Period around 1000 B.C. to about 1 A.D.) The people who lived in West Virginia during this time are among those groups classified as Mound Builders. This particular mound was built in successive stages over a period of a hundred years.
The Grave Creek Mound was believed first seen by a European American when Joseph Tomlinson and his brother built a log cabin at Grave Creek Flats in 1770. Two years later, Joseph built a cabin 300 feet (91 m) from the mound for his family.[3] This was 33 years before Lewis & Clark wrote about the mound in their journals; they saw it on their way to St. Louis to prepare for their expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase.[4][5]
In the nineteenth century, amateurs dug into the mound, finding burial vaults. They took many of the artifacts. The mound was saved from demolition for development in 1908 by local women of the Wheeling Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who raised funds to acquire an option on the property. In 1909 the state of West Virginia purchased the site for preservation.[6] It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[2][7][8]
[edit] Delf Norona Museum
The Delf Norona Museum displays many artifacts found at the site, and is operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Opened in 1978, the museum's exhibits interpret the culture of the Adena people and theories about the mound's construction.
In the 21st century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers transferred nearly 450,000 artifacts to the Delf Norona Museum for curation and archival. They were uncovered during the 1990s in an extended archeological excavation for the replacement site of the Marment Lock on the Ohio River. The artifacts, representing 10,000 years of habitation by varying cultures at one site in the Kanawha Valley, include stone projectile knives, a 3,000-year-old sandstone cooking bowl carved before the people started making pottery, and stone jewelry from a Fort Ancient village.[9]
In April 2010, the state mounted two exhibits of artifacts from the site at the rotunda of the state capitol. It included historic items dating from the John Reynolds plantation, including pendants made by slaves from 1790s Spanish coins, and material related to colonial salt production. The major part of the exhibit is made up of prehistoric artifacts of American Indian peoples, whose occupancy of the valley was thousands of years longer.[10] Additional exhibits will be mounted as the state's Office of Culture and History has an opportunity to assess them. The American Indian artifacts will be kept at the Delf Norona Museum.[10] \
The museum is open year round and admission is free. A gift shop sells books related to indigenous cultures, as well as Native American crafts, trinkets, and other souvenirs.
[edit] See also
- Criel Mound
- Grave Creek Stone
- List of National Historic Landmarks
- List of Registered Historic Places in West Virginia
- List of burial mounds in the United States
- Prehistory of West Virginia
[edit] References
- ^ a b "National Register of Historical Places - West Virginia (WV), Marshall County". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-02-08. http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/WV/Marshall/state.html.
- ^ a b "Grave Creek Mound". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=561&ResourceType=Structure. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
- ^ Henry R Schoolcraft, "Observations respecting the Grave Creek Mound," in Transactions of the American Ethnological Society Vol. 1, 1843, p. 278
- ^ Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, edited by Thomas W. Dunlay, Gary E. Moulton, p. 77
- ^ Lewis, Meriwether (September 10, 1803). "The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition". http://libxml1a.unl.edu/lewisandclark/read/?_xmlsrc=1803-09-10&_xslsrc=LCstyles.xsl. Retrieved 2009-05-06. "This remarkable mound of earth stands on the east bank of the Ohio 12 miles below Wheeling and about 700 paces from the river, as the land is not cleard the mound is not visible from the river—this mound gives name to two small creeks called little and big grave creek."
- ^ Schramm, Robert W, Moundsville, Moundsville, West Virginia: Arcadia Publishing, 2004
- ^ Denise L. Grantz (October 15, 1985). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Grave Creek Mound. National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000751.pdf and Accompanying 1 photo, aerial view, from 1967.PDF (780 KB)
- ^ Denise L. Grantz (October 15, 1985). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Grave Creek Mound (Accessed via West Virginia Department of Culture and History. National Park Service. http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/marshall/66000751.pdf
- ^ 1 , Gazette Mail, 22 September 2010
- ^ a b Rick Steelhammer (AP), "West Virginia lock and dam construction unearths finds", News from Indian Country, April 2010, accessed 23 January 2012
[edit] External links
- Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex, West Virginia Culture
- Terry A. Barnhart, "In search of the Mound-Builders", Ohio History, Vol 107
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- Adena culture
- Mounds of West Virginia
- Archaeological sites in West Virginia
- National Historic Landmarks in West Virginia
- Archaeology museums in the United States
- Native American museums in West Virginia
- Museums in Marshall County, West Virginia
- Protected areas of Marshall County, West Virginia
- Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
