Ohio History Journal

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THE INDIAN MOUND, MIAMISBURG, OHIO

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

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