﻿Report on Mound Exploration in Greene Co., 0. 



231 



Meeting of November^, 1885. 

 President Harper in the chair and nineteen members present. 

 The following- papers were read and referred to the Publishing 

 Committee : 



REPORT ON MOUND EXPLORATION IN GREENE 

 COUNTY, OHIO. 



By Walter A. Dun, M. D. 



About the middle of August, 1876, in company with Mr. T. J. 

 Brown, now editor of the Waynesville Chronicle, T aided in exploring a 

 mound in the Miami Valley, in Greene county, just north of the Warren 

 county line. This mound was situated in a cleared stubble field which 

 had been under cultivation for more than forty years. Between the con- 

 stant plowing and rain the height of the mound had been considerably 

 reduced, and the line of demarcation between the base and the original 

 soil of the field in which it was situated was rendered very indistinct. 

 By the best measurements we were able to make, the dimensions were as 

 follows: Height five and one-half feet; diameter at the base sixty feet. 

 We excavated a hole from the summit, ten feet long in a north and 

 south direction, and four feet wide. On the very surface we found a 

 barbed arrow point, similar to those which were found in the Deercreek 

 mound.* Twenty inches below the surface an unfinished flat slate instru- 

 ment was found, about five inches long by one inch wide with a wide 

 rounded middle, and rounded edges. This instrument was not polished 

 smoothly, but showed the long scratches of the material used to shape it. 

 Charcoal and ashes in quantity surrounded with burnt clay, denoting a 

 fire at that point, were found at the depth of four and one-half feet. A 

 beautifully shaped arrow point was found at the depth of five feet resting 

 upon the soil on which the mound was originally built. In the course of 

 excavation one or two thin layers of sand were passed through. On one 

 side of the hole were found undoubted traces of a previous opening. Mr. 

 Brown assured me that the former owner of the place died a few years 

 ago at an advanced age, and -that he had told him that it had never been 

 opened. The excavation which was made previous to ours was made a 

 long time back because the earth which had been thrown back was packed 

 as hard as any of the mound earth. 



!;: See Journal of the Cincinnati Society Natural History, Vol. VII, No. 4, Page 194. 



