Anatomy of a Mound

Anatomy of a Mound. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. , Seip-Pricer Mound, the second largest known Hopewell mound, evolved through a sequence of events starting with the building of an oblong, multi-room mortuary building nearly 2,000 years ago. Ceremonial leaders cremated bodies elsewhere and interred them here in the mortuary building. They built earthen platforms, where ashes were laid, and, to a lesser extent, they placed extended corpses in log crypts. Some 122 men, women, and children were buried here, with unusual objects surrounding the remains. , The mortuary building was then burned down and the layering of the mound began. The large photo (right) shows a log crypt where the burials were mounded twice. The primary mound was built over the crypt, but over time the crypt's logs rotted away, causing the middle to sag. The secondary mound layer represents the Hopewell's restoration of the mound. , [Caption:] , Archaeologist Henry Shetrone excavate ! Seip-Pricer Mound between 1926 and 1928. He found several large effigy pipes, including one of a dog eating a human head. ,

There were thousands of pearls.... Implements and ornaments of copper, mica, tortoise-shell, and silver were found in profusion. , Henry C. Shetrone, 1928