Discover West Virginia’s ancient ancestry in Moundsville.
written by CHRISTY PERRY TUOHEY
photographed by CARLA WITT FORD
OCTOBER IS WEST VIRGINIA ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH, and if you didn’t already know, the Mountain State is home to one of the archaeological wonders of the world: Moundsville’s Grave Creek Mound.
“It’s the largest earthen burial mound in North America,” says retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Archaeologist Bob Maslowski, a noted expert on Ohio River region artifacts. “It’s one of the most significant Adena sites, basically.”
The native peoples we call Adena were prehistoric North American inhabitants who lived in the region that includes Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Adena burial rituals left us with more than 400 grave mounds in West Virginia alone. 19th century amateur explorers found human remains and other items in the soil, sand, and clay mound in Moundsville. However, archaeological excavations are illegal at Grave Creek Mound today.
“We know that there were at least three individuals with their personal belongings buried with them,” says Olivia Jones, the Grave Creek Mound Complex lead curator. “It wasn’t fully excavated, so we always operate under the assumption that there are still people buried there, and we do ask the public to be very respectful when they’re interacting with the mound.”
Visitors are welcome to the mound and adjoining museum and lab complex, and admission is free. Guests are also invited to the Archaeology Day Celebration, held on Saturday, October 11, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Moundsville. You can walk on the mound and enjoy a variety of events, including trying your hand at spear throwing with replicas of ancient weapons called atlatls. There are numerous fossil and reproduction animal skeletons on display, and visitors will be allowed to tour the research lab, which houses West Virginia’s archaeological artifact repository.
The theme of 2025’s Archaeology Day event is public archaeology. “We’ll talk about some projects around the state that have engaged with the public,” Jones says, adding that several universities, including Youngstown State and Marshall University, will have representatives at the Delf Norona Museum beside the mound to answer questions about their anthropology and archaeology programs.
801 Jefferson Avenue, Moundsville, wvculture.org/explore/grave-creek-mound, @gravecreekmound on FB
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S FALL 2025 ISSUE
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