The Oak Mounds is a large prehistoric
earthwork mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
, and a smaller mound to the west. They are located outside
Clarksburg, in
Harrison County, West Virginia
Harrison County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 65,921. Its county seat is Clarksburg.
Harrison County is part of the Clarksburg, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Indigenous ...
.
Mounds
These mounds have never been totally excavated but they were probably built between 1 and 1000 CE by the
Hopewell culture
The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from ...
mound builders, prehistoric indigenous peoples of eastern North America. The larger mound is about 12 feet high and 60 feet in diameter. A number of burials of important persons of the culture probably occurred in these mounds.
Site
An incorrectly worded historical marker sign is located on
West Virginia Route 98
West Virginia Route 98 is an east–west state highway located in the Clarksburg, West Virginia area. The western terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 50 west of Clarksburg. The eastern terminus is at West Virginia Route 20
West Virgi ...
near the Veterans Administration Hospital. The sign errounously states the direction the mounds are relative to the sign itself, however the mounds are actually to the west, on the far side of the West Fork River, and not "Directly to the east..." The sign's entire inscription reads: "Oak Mounds - Directly to the east are two earthen, domed burial mounds. The larger mound is some sixty feet in diameter and twelve feet high. Excavations in 1969 revealed flint tools, pottery shards and skeletal remains of two individuals. Site dates to about 100 BC, late
Woodland Period."
WV Historical sign list
/ref>
See also
* Mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
* Mound builder (people)
A number of pre-Columbian cultures are collectively termed "Mound Builders". The term does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks erected for an extended period of more than ...
* Effigy mound
An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. The Effigy Moundbuilder culture is primarily associated with the years 550-1200 CE during the Late Woodland Peri ...
* Earthwork (archaeology)
* Tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones bu ...
- ''burial mound''
* List of Hopewell sites
This is a list of Hopewell sites. The Hopewell tradition (also incorrectly called the "Hopewell culture") refers to the common aspects of the Native American culture that flourished along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern United States fr ...
References
{{Pre-Columbian North America
Hopewellian peoples
Woodland period
Native American history of West Virginia
Archaeological sites in West Virginia
Mounds in West Virginia
Geography of Harrison County, West Virginia