Ohio History Journal

THE INDIAN MOUND, MIAMISBURG, OHIO. This mound is located on the upland about a mile south- east of town, and is the largest of its kind in the world. It was originally about eighty-five feet in height, but was reduced to sixty-five feet by digging of exploring parties. It measures about

three hundred feet in diameter at the base. In 1869 a number of citizens sunk a shaft from the top to two feet below its base. So far as startling revelations are concerned, the exploration was not a success. About eight feet below the summit a human skeleton was discovered in a sitting posture. A cover of clay several feet in thickness and a deposit of ashes and charcoal seemed to be the burial. At a depth of twenty-four feet was found a number of flat stones, set at an angle of forty-five de- grees, and overlapping like shingles on a roof, which may have been the top at one time. Several theories have been advanced (446)

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The Indian Mound, Miamisburg, Ohio.         447 regarding the object of its builders. It is thought to have been a place for sacrifice, or a burial mound. The failure to discover a large number of human bones within it seems to disprove these theories. It was in all probability used as a place of sig- naling, as it is one of a chain of similar earthen structures through this part of Ohio. Fires on its summit, which rises above the top of the surrounding forests, could be seen at a great distance. The trees which now cover it have grown since the settlement of the country by the whites.

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