orm ~ O - S J O U N I T E D ~ T A T E S DEPARTMENT OF T H E INTERIOR 'Ju iy 19691 N A T I O N A L PARK SERVICE i ""'"

I . ir y m 1'47

'.!cl:,t Vir;:~,-,la

I N A T I O N A L 2 E G l S T E R O F HISTORIC P L A C E S , K ~ r . a w i ; a j INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM I --

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E N T R Y NUMC(F,+ S A - C 1 ( T y p c .ill cnlrics - complete applicable sections) I

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- -- - : Q O U M O h

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South Char les ton Hound I

~ A N O / O R HISTORIC:

i C r i e l o r Cree l Mound --- - - I I ? . ,JCATICN 1

1 S T R E E T 4 N C N U M B E R :

i I

ii S , Route 60 , in t r i a n g l e formed by Oakes, MacCorkle, and 7 t h Ave. 1 ' C I T Y O R TOWN: I 1 South Char l e s ton I I S T A T E

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' u. i

I i -

u C i t y o f South Char l e s ton

S T R E E T A N D N U M B E R : 1

CODE I

I

C O U N T Y .

I i n p rog ress / L No

I " I

i Kanawha County Courthouse , el S T R E E T A N D N U M B E R :

z :

U I I I ! P R E s E N T U S E (Check One o r hrore a s Appropriate)

3

I

7 ; - Agr~cu l tu ra l 3 Government rZ] Park 0 Transportation C Comments

e 1 -

I

ir Conmercsal 0 Industr ial 0 Private Residence 1

D Other (SpecifVl

!- i a ~ o u c a t i o n o l 0 Mi l i t a ry a R e l i g ~ o u s i

m 1 / 2 Entcr to~nmcnt Museum 0 S ~ ~ e n t ~ i i c I

F4. O V ~ N E R OF PROPERTY 4

- / O W N E R ' S NAME. I I

LJ 1 319 Fourth Avenue fA C I T Y O R TOWN. S T A T E .

West V i r g i n i a I

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400 Q u a r r i e r S t r e e t i , CITY O R TOWN: i S T A T E / Q O S E

I

-- - -- ( C O U H T H O U S L H C G I S T R Y O F O C E D S . C T C : I

1 - - i

I nound Explora t ions of t h e Bureau of Ethnology :I 8 I *

, D A T E O F S U R V E Y : 1883-1885 Q Federal 0 State County C i o c o l <';; 8 D E P O S I T O R Y F O R S U R V E Y R E C O R D S : If/:!

- 1 - , I Smithsonian I n s t i t u t i o n 3 ,"

T I - 1 ISTREET AND NUMBER: -. L

I -12,

I [Jest Virus 4 7

I i

3

C I T Y OR TOWN: isT Z '

I C O D E - r '

Washington I o I D i s t r i c t of Columbia 1 * I

7 , ' T I

j C O D E I i i i)?9

13- CLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY

Dist r tc t a ~ ~ i l d i ~ ~

s i te Q Structure I

I Oblect

I

I OWNERSHIP

I ACCESSaSiZ '

1 I T G : ~ E P U S L I C , I

Qj Pub l i c

Pr ivate

0 Bath

Publ ic Acquisit ion: 10 Occupied 8 Yes. I

' _ 0 l o Process 12 Unoccupied

- Rcs:r~cted

3 Being Considered j dn res t r~c tea i 0 preservataon work, - I

- I (Chock One)

rhe original Criel Mound, located in a municipal park in downtown South Char leston, was 40 feet high and 525 feet in circumference, the base being almost a perrect Lircle.

0 Good 0 Fair Dotoriorotod 0 R u i n s 3 Unoxpoaod CONDITION

Some time prior to 1883, when The Smithsonian Institution began excavation, the top of the mound was leveled to accommodate a small bandstand on a 40- foot diameter flat top. At the time Colonel Morris began excavations, the sound had thus been reduced to 33 feet in height. A. R. Sines, one of the excavators, in 1961 recalled that the mound was probably eight to ten feet higher than the present approximately 25 feet. He said that the original shape of the mound is thought to have been conical, while the present mound retains the flattening created by the original band stand, no longer extant. Inother band stand lined with stone, accompanied by a small basketball court mtside the circumference of the mound, was cut into the west side of the nound, as indicated in Figure 3, but without doing any known damage to the nound ' s contents.

(Chock 0.0)

Altered 0 Unaltorod

Che environment of the mound is suitable -- a well-kept triangular park of xbout two acres immediately south of U. S. Route 60 in the downtown business section of South Charleston.

(Chock Ono)

n Moved a Origir.01 Sito

The mound many years ago was covered with trees, which were denuded by a tremendous explosion at a nearby chemical plant. At one time a ditch was dug across a small portion of the mound's base to accommodate a utility, at which time some sherds of limestone-tempered pottery were found. Ar- cheologists believe that the mound may eventually yield more treasures of a past c ivi 1 ization .

D E S C R I O E T H E PRESENT AND O R I G I N A L (If known) P H Y S I C A L A P P E A R A N C E

P E R I O O (Chcck Onc or Moro u s Appropriatci

a Pre-Columb~an a 16th Century L, 18th Century J 20th Century -

- 0 15th Ccntury 17th Century - .

, 19th Century - SPEC1 FI C DATE(SJ (If Applicable a n d Known)

&REAS OF SIGN[ FICANCE (Check One or Afore ns Appropriate)

Abor iginol

a Prehistoric

3 Historic

0 Agriculture

Architecture

0 Art

0 Commerce

0 Communications

Conservation

C Education

0 Engtneering

0 industry

0 Invention

Landscape

Architecture

0 Literature

Mi l i tary

Music

- 3 ?olit icol Urban Planning

3 Religion/Phi- 2 Other (Specify)

losophy

Cj Science

0 Sculpture

0 Soctnl/Humon-

itarion

Theoter

0 Transportation

TATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The South Charleston Nound, originally known as the Criel Mound, is the second largest in the State.

Most modern archeologists who have studied the naterial taken from this mound believe it reTresents some mi3gling of Adena and Hopewell traits and therefore stands as a monument to both of these cultures so important in ' the Ohio River drainage. !

The mound was the tallest in an elaborate system of 2ar~hworks originally occupying a large portion of the bottom lands on bock sides of the Kanawha / River in wha: L s now rhe area of Charleston acd Souzh Charleston. The Smithsonian Tnsticution t'r-oaght che co~piex irn2orta:~ enough to justify investigations 2xtending over zhe period of 1853 ro 1885: with special at- tention to :he Criel Mound, iaco which a large cezrral shaft was opened clear to the boczom of che moud mder the supervision of P. W. Norris-of the Smithsonia~ Institution, and former superintexdenr of Yellowstone National Park.

The findings were described by Cyrus Thomas in the 5th and 12th annual I reports of the 3xeau of American Ethnology, published in 1887 and 1894. he results of :he excavation are thus summarized by McMichaeis and Mairs 'in their 1969 p~blication on Kanawha River Archeology:

I l l I . . . Norris (Mocris) sunk a shaft into this mound and found, at 3 feet I down, :he remains of a skeieton. At 4 feet, two skeletons were encountered 'vith 2 celts, 2 stone hoes, i lance head, and 2 disks nearby. These are I probably Late Prehistoric intrusive burials.

"Nothing nore was encountered until near the base, wnere a?parently a large 'log tomb wcs focna containing 11 skeletons. One ce.;tral Surial was cov- ered by bark a-d tad some folded sheet cc2per near its kead, 6 shell beads and 1 lance head. Tzn bodies surrouncied z L i s central one. Each of the .

I four to the easr had one 'fine lancehead1, while the one to the northeast / had one ' fishdert, chree arrowheads, and decsyed inussel shells ' . The 5 I skeletons to the wes ; had no~ting with them. A possible clay vault was

I found, whick Thomas compares to some in North Carolina. Wnat sounds like a inumber of paired postmolds were also found.

/"In the U. S. Sarional Museum at present there are a few fragmentary skel-

1 eta1 remains, a folded copper object with adhering Leather or cloth, one - - .- -- --- - - . -. --- -- ___-__-._ .. -__-____. ' . - cant I d

small copper fragment with adhering bone, 10 Olivella shell beads, and 19 heavy circular disk shell beads made from the central whorl of the conch. Also, according to the Museum catalogue a number of 'lanceheads and arrowheads are recorded for the mound, but since these were lumped with those from many other sites and the senior author had little time to separate them, they were not checked in detail."

'arm 10-SO00 U N l T i b S T A T E S DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (Julv 1969) N A T I O N A L PARK SERVICE

rlATlONAL Z E G I S T E R O F : i ! S T O 2 I C P L A C E S

INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM

(Continuation Sheet)

A. R. Sines of Charleston, who assisted in the excavations in 1961, stated that one of the skeletons measured 6'8-314" from head to heel, but the extreme height indicated might have been an exaggeration created by earth pressing down on the burial.

Some thirty or forty years ago, a pipeline was laid across the corner of the mound. At that time Deitz Ernst of Wheeling, an amateur archeologist, recov- ered a number of sherds of limestone-tempered pottery. The mound is still standing and probably contains more archeological material of value to the scientist.

(Number aJ1 8. Significance, South Charleston Mound

S T A T E

West Virginia

Kanawha FOR NPS USE ONLY

The mound was for many years owned by Union Carbide Corporation, which deeded it to the City of South Charleston on condition that it be used for a park-- otherwise to revert to the corporation.

E N T R Y NUMBER D A T E

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- - -- 4 . :,!A;>? 31E L:r;?.:?EIC.\L . - ? ? F E ~ E N C Z S

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I 3iward V. l\!c?iick.ael and ( % c a r L. Y z i r s , " E x c a v a t i o n o f :he Wurzc Nouzd, i Ranawna C o u n t v , West V i r g i n i a , and. An A n a l y s i s o f Kanawha V a i i e y Nounds ,"I

-3e?ort ~f - ' lrcheo?o%ical I n v e s t i g a t i o n s , No. 1, West V i r g i n i a G e o l o g i c a l j - ! a n d Zconomic S u r v z y , Morgantown, W. V a . ! I .

-

r i a r ry L. F l o u r c o y . h i s a r t i c l e r e p r i n t e d i n Gazetxe-Mai l S t a t e Nag. 6/18/61. Z a l s , 2 . S o w L o c a i Archeo logy . C h a r l e s t o n , W . V a . , 1898. - --

I Xebb , W. S. and 5. S. Baby. The Adena P a o p l e No. 2 . Columbus, 1957. 1 ! I T k o n a s , Cyrus . R e p o r t on t h e o u n d x p l b r a t i o n s o f t h e Bureau o f Eth- I

I I i n o l o g y , 1 2 t h Annual R e p o r t , Bureau o f Amer ican E t h n o l o g y , pp . 3 5 , 741. I I W a s h i n g t o n , D. C., 1894. ',

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: L I S T A L L S T A T E S A N D C O U N T I E S FOR P R O P E R T I E S O V E R L A P P I ~ G S T A T E O R C O U N T Y B O U N D A R I E S 8

S T A T E : C O D E C O U N T Y

j 10. SEOG?.4"?. ' ;CAL D A T A t -- L A T I T U D E A N D L O N G I T U D E C O O R D I N A T E S - -1 L A T I T U ~ E A N D L O N G I T U D E C O O R D I N A T E S

S T A T E : C O D E / C O U N T Y : 1

S T A T E : C O D E C O U N T Y : i C O D E - I

S T A T E :

1

C O D E I C O U N T Y : l - l

R CORNER

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C l i f f o r d M. Lewis , S. J. O R G A N I Z A T I O N ( D A T E

i W . Va. A n t i q u i t i e s Commiss i o n I J u l v 9. 1970 ; S T R E E T A N D N U M B E R :

L A T I T U D E

Degrees Minutes Seconds

O F L E S S T H A N T E N A C R E S

39 O l d M o u n t a i n l a i r , West V i r g i n i a U n i v e r s i t y , Morgantown, W . Va. C I T Y O R T O W N : S T A T E ! C 0 3 E

L O N G I T U D E

Degrees Mmures Seconds

L A T I T U D E

( Morgantown 7

i West V i r g i n i a 1 4 7 [12. STATE LIAISON O F F I C E R CERTIFICA I I O N 11 N A T I O N A L REGISTER V E R I F I C A T I O ~ Y

I I I

0

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0 i B L O N G 1 T U D E

I A s t h e d e s i g n a t e d S t a t e L i a i s o n O f f i c e r f o r the X r - /I I h e r e b y c e r t i f y that t h i s p r o p e r t y is i n c l u d e d in the / t i o n a l H i s t o n c P r e s e r v a t ~ o n A c t o f 1966 ( P u b l i c L a w

1 89-665), I h e r e b y n o m i n a t e t h i s p r o p e r t y f o r ~ n c l u s i o n

1 i n the N a t i o n a l R e g i s t e r and c e r t i f y t h a t it ha s been

1 e v a i u a t e d a c c o r d m g t o t h e c r i t e r i a and p r o c e d u r e s set /I

i

1 f o r t h by the N a t i o n a l P a r k S e r v i c e . The r e c o m m e n d e d '1 Chief, O f f i c e of A r c h e o l o g y and H i s t o r i c Preservation

/ level o f s i g n i f i c a n c e o f th i s n o m m a t l o n is: /I

Degrees Minutes Seconds

3 8 O 22 '07 .78 '

9 Local N a t i o n a l State - /I

Degrees Minutes Seconds

8 1 O 4 1 '4876 '

! /I G a t e

j N a m e 1 , A T T E S T :

I ! 11 i I / Title A c t i n g f o r S t a t e L i a i s o n O f f i c e r / 1

i Keeper o f The National R e g i s t e r

I

I Date J u l y 9 , 1970 Late