Your Daily Giant 8/6/2013
Today's Daily Giant comes from the Hawaiian Star February 13, 1902 page 6. The article talks about the well known Grave Creek mound of West Virginia. The article is quite blurry so I attached a photo of the mound instead. At 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter, the Grave Creek Mound is one of the largest conical type burial mounds in the United States. The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about in 250-150 BC. It is located in present-day Moundsville, West Virginia, near the banks of the Ohio River. The first recorded excavation of the 2,000-year-old mound took place in 1838. The article reports that the mound is being considered for demolition for a building project. Luckily that never happened. From the article,
"Originally the mound was 90 feet high and 240 feet in diameter at the base. It is composed of many varieties of earth, apparently carried there in baskets or small conveyances. Seventeen varieties of forest trees grow upon it. Some of the trees are quite large one being 19 feet in circumference. After the valley became thickly populated a shaft was sunk down from the top of the mound to the bottom and a tunnel dug out to the northern side, the apex leveled off and a three-story pagoda shaped building erected for dancing and a museum established at the bottom of the shaft. The enterprise did not pay and since then the place has been totally neglected, except that it is the Mecca of pilgrims from all parts of the country every day. When the excavations were made three skeletons were found directly in the center but raised a view feet from the level of the surrounding land. One of the skeletons had belonged to a male human being about eight feet high, one a female and one a child. There was also in the rude chamber a tablet of stone, upon one side of which were hieroglyphics, which is now in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington."
There are several accounts of the finding of the grave creek tablet and the skeletons. The female was reported to be seven foot four inches tall with a jawbone so large it could fit over the face of the finder. Another day another seven foot four female with a jawbone you can fit over your face. Ho hum.
Today's Daily Giant comes from the Hawaiian Star February 13, 1902 page 6. The article talks about the well known Grave Creek mound of West Virginia. The article is quite blurry so I attached a photo of the mound instead. At 62 feet (19 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) in diameter, the Grave Creek Mound is one of the largest conical type burial mounds in the United States. The builders of the site, members of the Adena culture, moved more than 60,000 tons of dirt to create it about in 250-150 BC. It is located in present-day Moundsville, West Virginia, near the banks of the Ohio River. The first recorded excavation of the 2,000-year-old mound took place in 1838. The article reports that the mound is being considered for demolition for a building project. Luckily that never happened. From the article,
"Originally the mound was 90 feet high and 240 feet in diameter at the base. It is composed of many varieties of earth, apparently carried there in baskets or small conveyances. Seventeen varieties of forest trees grow upon it. Some of the trees are quite large one being 19 feet in circumference. After the valley became thickly populated a shaft was sunk down from the top of the mound to the bottom and a tunnel dug out to the northern side, the apex leveled off and a three-story pagoda shaped building erected for dancing and a museum established at the bottom of the shaft. The enterprise did not pay and since then the place has been totally neglected, except that it is the Mecca of pilgrims from all parts of the country every day. When the excavations were made three skeletons were found directly in the center but raised a view feet from the level of the surrounding land. One of the skeletons had belonged to a male human being about eight feet high, one a female and one a child. There was also in the rude chamber a tablet of stone, upon one side of which were hieroglyphics, which is now in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington."
There are several accounts of the finding of the grave creek tablet and the skeletons. The female was reported to be seven foot four inches tall with a jawbone so large it could fit over the face of the finder. Another day another seven foot four female with a jawbone you can fit over your face. Ho hum.
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