The Zaleski Mound Group is a collection of three

burial mounds A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

in the village of

Zaleski Zaleski (feminine: Zaleska; plural: Zalescy) is a Polish surname. At the beginning of the 1990s there were approximately 4322 people in Poland with this surname. The germanizewd form is Saleski Notable people with the surname include: * Alan Zale ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Built by people of the prehistoric

Adena culture The Adena culture was a pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharin ...

, these earthworks are valuable

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

Mound 1, Ranger Station

The largest of the three Zaleski mounds, the Ranger Station Mound is a conical structure located within the bounds of

Zaleski State Forest Zaleski State Forest is a state forest in the U.S. state of Ohio, located primarily in Vinton County, with areas in Athens County as well. The 28,000 acre (110 km²) forest surrounds Lake Hope State Park in Vinton County, and borders ...

. Located in a community park by the entrance to the forest, the mound is tree-covered with few changes from its original state. At a height of , it is the largest mound in the Zaleski Mound Group. In the 1850s, local residents dug into the mound and placed a cold cellar on its northern side; in the process, they uncovered a skeleton that was given into the possession of a local doctor. The changing needs of the state forest led the

Ohio Department of Natural Resources The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is the Ohio government agency charged with ensuring "a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all." Functions ODNR regulates Ohio's oil and gas indus ...

to remove the cellar in 1959; after the intrusion was taken out of its place, the mound was restored to its original shape. In spite of the digging needed to create the cellar, the Ranger Station Mound is the best-preserved of the mounds in the Zaleski Group. No

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

has ever been carried out at Mound No. 3, the Methodist Church Mound, but it has possibly been damaged by the construction of a fence line. Due to its size and location, the Ranger Station Mound may contain more valuable artifacts than either of the other two mounds.

Mound 2, Markham

The Markham Mound is a privately owned structure. Despite its proximity to the other two mounds, no evidence is present of any ancient village site near the mound.

Mound 3, Methodist Church

The Zaleski Methodist Church Mound is a wide, low mound in the shape of an

ellipse In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special ty ...

. Measuring long and wide, it is only slightly more than tall. At the time of white settlement, it may have been taller; the presence of evidence of a fence across the top suggests that the activity of settlers may have reduced it. Located immediately behind the Zaleski

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

, it may be the most valuable of the six mounds that originally composed the Zaleski Mound Group. Three of the six have been destroyed, while both the Ranger Station Mound and the Markham Mound have been disturbed since the time of white settlement. As the Zaleski Methodist Church Mound shows little evidence of damage, it presumably contains the

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...

that were originally buried within.

Recognition

In 1974, the three mounds were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

: Mound 2 on May 3, and the others on July 15. All three received this designation because they were seen as important archaeological sites for understanding the Adena people that built them. The three mounds that have been destroyed were not listed, because archaeological sites that have been greatly disturbed are not eligible for inclusion on the Register.How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, 1997, 21. Accessed 2010-07-15. The Register also includes one other archaeological site in Vinton County and one building in Zaleski: a mound near Londonderry known as the " Ratcliffe Mound," and the Masonic Lodge No. 472 respectively.

Notes

References

External links

Zaleski State Forest
{{National Register of Historic Places Adena culture Archaeological sites in Ohio Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Vinton County, Ohio Mounds in Ohio