Looking for a place to visit in the winter is sometimes challenging. I'm not a skier or snowboarder and generally prefer staying inside when the weather is snowy or cold. So I was looking for an indoor place to visit when my eye landed on a program being presented by Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville, "Experimental Archaeology in Action." Since I grew up in West Virginia, I had heard of the historical importance of the burial mounds but had never visited one.

The culture of creating burial mounds dates back to around 500 B.C. in an area ranging from the western Appalachians to the Mississippi Valley and north into Wisconsin and Michigan. The best known of the early mound-builders are the Adena people of the central Ohio valley (800 BC to 100AD).

Although most of the burial sites have since been destroyed, around 300 still exist in the central Ohio valley and another 200 in Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. These burial mounds varied in size, with most generally 20 to 300 feet in diameter. The largest conical-shaped burial mound in the United States is the Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia.

Grave Creek Mound was constructed over a one hundred year period, in various stages, between 250 and150 B.C., and required the movement of more than 60,000 tons of earth. It stands at 69 feel high with a diameter of 295 feet. Unfortunately, in 1838, several non-archaeologists tunneled into the mound, destroying much of the archaeological evidence. There were artifacts recovered, however, and many are displayed at Grave Creek Mound's Delf Norona Museum, which contains several exhibits and displays illustrating the culture of this prehistoric people and the construction of Grave Creek Mound. It's interesting that almost any culture unearthed by modern science contains indicators that our ancestors not only created pottery but decorated it; not only carved weapons and other survival tools, but created jewelry.

Pottery is one of the artifacts often studied by archaeologists for insights into past cultures. Pottery is durable, survives for long periods and can provide clues into the organization of a people, their cultural development, their economic conditions, and religion. The earliest pottery was built by hand, often by layering coils of clay one after another onto a rounded base until the desired height was reached. It was fired using bonfires or pit fires.

The demonstration conducted by Andrea Keller, Cultural Program Coordinator for Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex, faithfully followed the process the Adena probably would have. There were no pottery wheels, no kilns. Starting with common clay, Andrea formed the clay into workable shapes, gradually picking out bits of rock and other debris, molding it over and over to remove excess water.

Clay itself results from the decomposition of rock, over millions of years, as water gradually erodes the rock and deposits the residue. The clay is then 'tempered' by the addition of sand, crushed shell, or crushed pottery. These coarse particles act to restrain shrinkage during cooling. Early Adena pottery all had rounded bottoms, probably to protect it from cracking.

Constantly pounding and packing the clay, Andrea also used cord wrapped around a wooden paddle to hammer out excess air and leave a pattern on the clay. Once the clay was packed tightly enough, she created the rounded bottom part of the pot. In a concession to modern convenience, rather than forming the clay over another pot, as the Adena probably did, Andrea used a huge plastic Easter egg. Once the bottom was prepared, she cut long strips that were wrapped around the bottom piece in coils, one by one, until she had the pot as tall as she wanted it. At that point, pots can then be decorated by using the edges of shells or sharp twigs to etch in designs.

Another difference between these and modern day pottery is that these clay pots have to be slowly fired and cannot withstand high-temperature kiln firing. I can't say I absorbed enough information in one afternoon to actually make a pot, but I have plenty of WV clay in my yard and I just might try it.

The Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex is operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History (www.wvculture.org/sites/gravecreek.html.)  Located at 801 Jefferson Avenue in Moundsville, the museum is free and open to the public Monday - Saturday from 10am to 4:30pm and Sunday from 1-5pm.

Thank you to: Andrea Keller, Cultural Program Director at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeology Complex; Jacqueline Proctor, Deputy Commissioner, WV Division of Culture and History; Mike Keller, Photographer, WV Division of Culture and History.

Janet Thompson Davis grew up in Buckhannon & graduated from WV Wesleyan years ago. She returned to Upshur County in 2005. Although retired from full-time work, she currently is a project management consultant for the federal government & a photographer in the Upshur County area.