The Observatory Mound

This mound has a form unique among known Hopewellian mounds. Some 19th century archaeologists believed its builders had planned to extend a set of parallel walls from the circle, then changed their minds and blocked off the stubs with a mound. Since the mid-19th century, it has been called the observatory because it overlooks the rest of the circle and octagon. On July 4, 1836, members of the Calliopean Society of the Granville Literary and Theological Institution, now Denison University, investigated it. In excavations on the southwest and northeast portions of the mound, they found a layer of stone underlying the mound and a stone wall between it and the wall of the circle. Although the records of this investigation are sketchy, they suggest that the Hopewell people may have used stones either to mark the outline of their earthworks before building them or to form the core of the walls.

Newark, Ohio · United States