The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Mound, designated 33GR31,
is a
Native American mound near the city of
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
in
Greene County,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Named for its location on an
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
facility,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wr ...
, the mound is an
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
.
The mound lies on a bluff sitting above generally flat terrain; it measures in diameter and slightly more than tall.
[Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. ]St. Clair Shores
St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...
: Somerset, 1999, 548. Located about south of the memorial to the
Wright brothers on
Huffman Prairie,
it is believed to have been built by people of the prehistoric
Adena culture
The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing ...
, who inhabited southwestern Ohio approximately between 500 BC and AD 400. Pieces of
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
are present near the mound's surface; this may indicate that the builders covered it with limestone and that natural forces such as wind have since covered the stone with the soil that now forms the mound's surface.
In 1972, the mound was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
because of its archaeological importance; it was the fourth Greene County location to be added to the Register, following Huffman Prairie and the two
earthworks sites at
Indian Mound Reserve near Cedarville.
While it has never been
excavated,
it was subjected to a range of
geophysical
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' some ...
survey methods in mid-1996. Hoping to discover the locations of buried bodies and to learn about the soil within the mound, the surveyors used techniques such as
ground-penetrating radar
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is a Geophysics, geophysical method that uses radar pulses to Geophysical imaging, image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying the sub-surface to investigate underground utilities such as concrete, ...
and found evidence of the mound's
stratigraphy, as well as revealing evidence of unidentified
features in and around it.
Future excavations, if conducted, are expected to increase knowledge of Adena
death customs
This article is about death in the different cultures around the world as well as ethical issues relating to death, such as martyrdom, suicide and euthanasia. Death refers to the permanent termination of life-sustaining processes in an organism, i ...
and daily life.
References
{{Authority control
Adena culture
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Buildings and structures in Greene County, Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Ohio
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Mounds in Ohio