The Nettle Lake Mound Group consists of four low mounds overlooking a stream that runs into Nettle Lake. The mounds range from one to three feet high and from eighteen to thirty feet in diameter. They are composed primarily of reddish-brown sand forming a secondary mound over a layer of darker sand and loam forming a primary mound. Past partial excavations by pot hunters seeking relics left vague and incomplete records, but pottery fragments, burials, and flint artifacts found in the mounds indicate that the Hopewell Indians constructed them. The prehistoric Hopewell Indians inhabited Ohio two thousand years ago and were known for large ceremonial earthworks, burial mounds, and artistic skill. Many artifacts they made, especially from exotic materials such as copper, mica, obsidian, and marine shell, were evidently connected with their social organization and burial rites. They lived in small river valley communities where they hunted, fished, gathered food, and farmed, and they periodically traveled to large ceremonial centers for religious and political activities. Although the Hopewell lived primarily in southern Ohio and in Illinois, their influence spread over much of the eastern United States.