Copena Indians built this burial mound with baskets of dirt some 2000 years ago. Their name came from the copper and galena, or lead ore, found in their burials along with gorgets and celts. The mounds served as burial sites where the dead were encased in a plaster of clay and covered with layers of soil. Many burial mounds within a few miles indicate an extensive cultural center. Perennial springs and fertile lands encircled by West Flint Creek supported a large population, and the society flourished here for hundreds of years while raising a variety of domesticated crops. About 17 miles north, the Tennessee River provided an inexhaustible food supply of fresh water mussels. In the mid 1800's, settlers were buried on the mounds under false stone crypts. In 1924, Smithsonian archaeologists noted three other burial mounds in the area that were being leveled by farmers.