For my first historical
entry I am going to tell you about one of my favorite ancient Native American
sites, the Miamisburg Mound. For most of you this pile of dirt, wood and stone
is not exactly at the top of your must see list however, after you finish
reading this post it very well may be.
Located in
Southern Ohio within the region known as the Miami Valley there is a small town
of about 20,000 residents known as Miamisburg. Beautiful and inviting as the
small town atmosphere may be the one thing that separates this town from a
thousand others, is its connection with an ancient culture that has long
disappeared. Located near the edge of the city and nestled just out of view
from a major freeway is the awe -inspiring Miamisburg Mound. The reason I say
that the mound is awe-inspiring is because this mound is no ordinary hill in the yard.
This mound is 68 feet tall with a diameter of about 300 feet. For those of us
who like some kind of visual, the Miamisburg Mound is 2 feet taller than the
Great Sphinx of Giza and the Mound’s base is roughly 60 feet longer than the one
that supports the Sphinx. In other words, this thing is HUGE.[1]
Figure 1 Miamisburg Mound photo taken by
Sean Heights
The purpose and
origin of the Miamisburg Mound has never been universally agreed upon and for
the most part, the mound is often overlooked and forgotten by those who want to
explore the early cultures of the Americas. The mound is so overlooked that it
goes virtually unmentioned on the city’s own website.[2]
When viewing the signage posted by the mound, one can easily see another
example of just how forgotten this site has become. The signage put in place by
the Ohio Historical Society provides a brief history of the mound and explains
that the mound and the site in general have never been fully excavated. In fact
the most recent attempted exploration of the mound occurred in the late 1800’s.
Upon my first visit to the mound, that fact took me by surprise. After all the
Miamisburg Mound is one of the largest conical mounds in North America. One
would think that alone would garner some interest from the archaeological
community. The fact that the mound has never been fully excavated becomes even
stranger considering the conflicting opinions surrounding the mounds purpose.
Figure 2: The signage provided by the Ohio Historical
Society.
Officially it is
believed that the mound was constructed sometime between 1000 B.C. and 400 A.D., during which it served as a
burial site and a primitive man-made communication tower. One of the reasons
this is the accepted theory is because the geographic location of the mound
falls within a chain of high vantage points that were discovered to have been
used as ancient signaling posts during the time of the Adena culture. The
Miamisburg Mound as well as the other natural vantage points were found to have
had several layers of ash that had accumulated on or near the highest point of
each of the structures. The official explanation for geological oddity of an
ash layer is that the vantage points, including Miamisburg Mound; were used by
the native peoples to communicate with one another over great distances via
fire and / or smoke signal.[3] The
belief is that Miamisburg Mound was constructed because of a lack of high vantage
points within the area. This explanation does help to explain why there has
never been any great need to thoroughly explore the mound and it also helps to explain
why the mound was built so high.
If that was all
the evidence that the research could provide than the communication tower explanation
would be perfectly fine but like any good mystery, the official explanation is
not the only published explanation.
Another
explanation is that the mound may have been used as a communication tower by
later generations but the original purpose of the mound was more in line with
the mounds found scattered all over Ohio and Indiana. This explanation argues
that the mound was built to house the dead.
What is so unusual about this
assertion you ask?......Read on and you will see……
In the late 1950’s
the United States government funded an inquiry into the origins of the mound.
What was discovered by that inquiry was that the written accounts of the three partial
excavations that were done in the 1800’s revealed some disturbing if not controversial
findings. The inquiry found that the older records indicated that the mound and
the surrounding area may be the final resting place of giants…….Holy History
Channel!.........did he just say giants?..... Yes, you read that right. The
inquiry found reports that some of the bones and artifacts recovered in and
around the mound were proportionally equivalent to a race of humans who were somewhere
around 8 feet tall. Reportedly the artifacts were so unbelievable that the then
Governor and future President Rutherford B. Hayes traveled the nearly 80 miles
from the capital just to see them. Along with the unusually large artifacts, the
inquiry also revealed that earlier researchers believed there to be a large
void or hollow structure near the base of the mound. Inquiry researchers believed
the void to be most likely the remnants of a burial chamber. However, this burial
chamber would be much larger in size than any that had currently been discovered.[4] The entire inquiry was summed up with this conclusion. "The vicinity abounds with evidence of the existence of a mammoth race, skilled in the art of war
and much farther advanced in civilization than any other Indian tribe of which we have authentic knowledge."[5]
So why did the
story of the communication tower become the accepted theory?
The answer is
simple. Even though there are newspaper clippings and official inquiries describing
alternate theories about the mound, there is no supporting physical evidence. There
are only reports of very large bones, tools and weapons being unearthed. There
are no known surviving artifacts and there are no known photographs of the
giant bones or any other unusual artifact. All there really is, is this interesting
little story and the mystery of why no-one has bothered to fully excavate the
Miamisburg Mound, if for no other reason than to erase all doubt about what is
inside that magnificent mound of earth and wood.
[1] The Great
Sphinx of Giza is 66 ft tall, 63 ft wide and 238 ft long. Dirk Laukens, The
Great Sphinx of Giza, November 2015,
http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/the-great-sphinx.html.
[2] There is no
specific mention of the mound and it can only be found through a search of the
website. The City of Miamisburg, http://www.ci.miamisburg.oh.us/.
[3] For more on the
mound being used for communication see Howard Burba, "The
Day They Opened the Miamisburg Mound," Dayton Daily News, February
28, 1932: http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/miamisburgmound.html.
[5] Ibid., pg. 7.
