The Observatory Mound

The Observatory Mound. . The form of this mound is unique among all the known Hopewellian mounds. Some 19th century archaeologists thought that the builders had planned to extend a set of parallel walls from the circle, bu thene changed their minds and blocked off the stubs with a mound. Since the mid-19th century, this mound 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 the observatory. In excavations on the soutwest and northeast portions of the mound, they found a layer of stone underlying the mound and a stone wall between the observatory and the wall of the circle. Although the records of this investigation are sketchy, they do suggest that the Hopewell people many have used stones either to mark the outline of their earthworks prior to building them or to form the core of the walls.