The mound was originally conical in shape. Residents of the area leveled the top in 1840 to erect a judges' stand, as they ran horse races around the base of the mound at the time.
The Criel Mound was excavated in 1883–84 under the auspices of the US Bureau of Ethnology and the supervision of Col. P.W. Norris. The excavation was performed by Professor Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian Institution. Inside the mound, Professor Thomas found thirteen skeletons: two near the top of the mound, and eleven at the base. The skeletons at the base consisted of a single very large but badly decayed skeleton at the center, a "once most powerful man" which according to A.R. Sines who assisted Col. Norris in the excavation, measured "Six feet, 8 3–4 inches" (205cm) from head to heel (the Smithsonian nomination form added "but the extreme height indicated might have been an exaggeration created by earth pressing down on the burial").[3][4] This skeleton was surrounded by ten other skeletons arranged in a spoke-like pattern, with their feet pointing toward the central skeleton. The skeletons at the base had been wrapped in elm bark and were lying on a floor of white ash and bark. Several artifacts were found buried with the skeletons, including arrowheads, lanceheads, and shell and pottery fragments. The central skeleton was accompanied by a fish-dart, a lance-head, and a sheet of hammered native copper near the head. Holes found at the base of the mound suggest that the bodies at the base had been enclosed in a wooden vault.[5]
Kanawha Valley Mounds
The Criel Mound is part of the second-largest known concentration of Adena mounds and circular enclosures which Cyrus Thomas called the "Kanawha Valley Mounds". This area extends for eight miles (13km) along the upper terraces of the Kanawha Riverfloodplain, in the vicinity of present-day Charleston. In 1894, Cyrus Thomas reported 50 mounds in this area, ranging from 3’ to 35’ in height and from 35’ to 200’ in diameter. He also reported finding eight to ten circular earthworks, enclosing from 1 to 30 acres (120,000m2). Stone mounds dotted the bluffs above the floodplain.[citation needed]
While many of the original Adena mounds were destroyed during later development of the area,[citation needed] a few remain. The Wilson Mound is in a private cemetery in South Charleston. A recreation of the original Shawnee Reservation Mound exists in Institute, West Virginia.
Staunton Park
Today, the Criel Mound is the centerpiece of Staunton Park, a small municipal park maintained by the city of South Charleston. It is a gathering place for community activities, such as arts and crafts fairs, revivals, memorial services, sunrise services, and town carnivals.
↑ Charleston Gazette, Charleston West Virginia. "Capital City of Indian Kingdom Once Stood on Site of What Is Now Charleston, Capitol of Independent State. Sunday, November 14, 1926 Pg 29".
Webb, Willam S., and Snow, Charles E. The Adena People. 369 pages. The University of Tennessee Press: 1974. ISBN0-87049-568-2.
Woodward, Susan L., and McDonald, Jerry N. Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley. 130 pages. McDonald and Woodward Publishing Co.: 1986. ISBN0-939923-00-9.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Criel Mound.
South Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States. It is located to the west of the state capital of Charleston. The population was 13,639 at the 2020 census. It was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1917. The Criel Mound built circa 0 B.C. by the Adena culture is adjacent to the city's downtown business district.
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