Adena Mound Builders in Miami County, Ohio
Thousands of years ago, long before those of European descent and the American Indian tribes we are familiar with came to Miami County Ohio, Adena Mound Builders ruled this area.
Adena Mound Builders are known for their agricultural practices, pottery, and artistic works. They were also known to have a trade network that gave them access to Great Lakes copper.
In 1823, Major S.H. Long was heading an expedition from Philadelphia to the Mississippi River. He passed through Piqua and stopped long enough to make a detailed description and sketch of five circular earthworks that were near the area bordering Water Street, the B&O Railway, and Wood Street. Most of the mounds were about 150 feet in diameter and about three feet high. Long also described a semi-circular mound across the river on the edge of the high bank that measured 123 feet across and was plainly discernible, especially on the top of the river bank.
Rayner's History of Piqua states that there were at many "mounds in the confines of modern Piqua, Ohio, and that several of their earthworks were destroyed when the Miami-Erie Canal was built".
Rayner wrote that "a mound existed near the intersection of Downing and Water streets, and a small one at the end of Mound St. There were also two mounds in the north part of Piqua, just south of Forest Hill Cemetery, and two mounds on Cedar Hill, northeast of town".
A Piqua resident, Charles Wiltheiss, described a mound at Upper Piqua. "It was two hundred fifty feet in circumference and nine feet high. Excavations showed this to contain a sacrificial alter made of clay burned red and covered with ashes, charcoal, and burned bone three inches thick. On this was a layer of burned bone pressed solid covered with clay, then five alternate layers of clay and charcoal five feet thick. The whole mass was covered with gravel mixed with clay two feet in thickness. Human remains and broken pieces of pottery were taken from this mound. The mound contained an alter with human remains found nearby... a skeleton with a skull that had been crushed by a blunt instrument.
Historian and biographer Henry Howe said of Wiltheiss that "Mr. Wiltheiss has for thirty years been in the habit of opening mounds and making explorations. His collection of prehistoric artifacts was, for a long time, the largest and most complete of any in the state."
In 1908, John Rayner, explored the mound southeast of Forest Hill Cemetery (which was also known as the Keifer Mound) and found a skeleton and relics. This mound was located on North Broadway Ave.
In 1923, Charles Wiltheiss, John Rayner, and a local druggist named George Keifer made a second exploration into this mound (which was also known as the Keifer Mound) and found several stone relics. It was located on North Broadway Ave.
John Keyt also explored a mound, southeast of the Keifer Mound between the canal and the river. Keyt found an ancient burial ground. Ten skeletons were exhumed. Keyt stated they were buried in a circle with their feet toward the center. The center was occupied by a beautifully ornamented piece of pottery. Ten feet away from this these skeletons, Keyt is reported to have found a single skeleton with a piece of pottery near him. These graves were all lined and covered with limestone.
Concerning other mounds in Miami County, Piqua Historian Leonard Hill states that Dr Daniel Drake, in his book A View of Cincinnati and the Miami Valley, and "Mills's Archaeological Atlas of Ohio" identified a total of 22 mounds within the confines of Miami County. Hill goes on to say that one or the most interesting and accessible mounds was a quarter of a mile west of the north edge of the roadside park on State Route 202.
"Originally it was ten feet high and about fifty feet in diameter. At the turn of the century, its height was reduces about four feet by its being opened by a transverse ditch being dug across it. Three skeletons and the usual stone and copper articles were reported found. "
Local citizens also recorded that there was a mound a few yards east on what is now Experiment Farm Rd, around a half mile north of Eldean Rd.
On section 29 (the east part of the former Statler farms) There was a stone mound containing many bodies. Near the canal in the same section, there was a large mound 400 feet in circumference and from fifteen to eighteen feet high. Skeletons were removed between 1913 and 1916 under the observance of Rayner.
A small mound at the Johnston Farm and Indian Agency was preserved by Colonel Johnston. It still exists today and this undisturbed earthwork is well cared for by the site.
Obviously, many mounds were removed by settlement, weather or plow... but Rayner goes on to write that the most baffling remains of the Adena culture was not the mounds, but a Stone Wall at Upper Piqua. Click here to read more about the Stone Wall.