The Criel Mound in South Charleston is the second largest Native American mound in West Virginia. Together with its surrounding earthworks and previously existing mounds, many of which have been destroyed by industrialization, it provides splendid further proof that mounds and earthworks in Native America were landmarks for tracks viz. trails oriented by astronomy. We call all these mounds "the Criel Mounds" as a shortened form of notation.
As written at the West Virginia Cyclopedia under the entry Criel Mound:
The logic of previous postings would place the large Criel Mound in Cepheus as a matter of its stellar (star) location. Indeed, analysis of all of these mounds shows without doubt that they marked selected stars of Cepheus, particularly the stars in that part of Cepheus that are in the "horn" of the Milky Way at this sky location. The horn is the light blue underlying color in the graphic image below. A special earthwork symbol points directly to the North Celestial Pole in ca. 300 B.C., thus confirming our previous analysis. Here is our decipherment.
Note particularly the superb confluence of the stars of the "platform mound" in the lower right hand corner with the actual bright stars there of Cepheus. We set the limit of magnitude at 7.5 to obtain the above stellar map.
Below is a graphic image showing the triangulation line to the North Celestial Pole, showing an angular separation of ca. 30° to the stars HIP110715, HIP110610 and HIP110588 and also a significant ca. 24° position angle. It is quite clear that the "hand mirror-shaped" mound symbol pictured there was intended to show the corresponding stars and point to the North Celestial Pole:
The ca. 300 B.C. date for this marking of the North Celestial Pole corresponds well with the current dating of the Criel Mound, which is placed at ca. 250 B.C.
The Wikipedia description of what was found in the Criel Mound would seem to suggest some kind of a geometric/astronomic significance when it writes that:
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
At the Center of the Ancient Land Navigation System in Native America: Criel Mound Dunbar South Charleston West Virginia Earthworks Mark Stars of Cepheus and Point to North Celestial Pole in ca. 300 BC
As written at the West Virginia Cyclopedia under the entry Criel Mound:
"The Criel Mound was originally one of 50 mounds of the Adena culture that once extended from present-day Charleston to Institute, WV. All but three of these were destroyed during the industrialization of the Kanawha Valley, which occurred after the completion of the C&O Railway in 1872. One of the three remaining mounds was plowed-under in the 1960s to build a new high school. Like the Criel Mound, the nearby Sunset Mound and the Dunbar Mound at Shawnee Park in Dunbar, WV, also survive."The Council for West Virginia Archaeology has a map online which shows the ca. "50 mounds" that were mapped in Dunbar and South Charleston by the Bureau of American Ethnology in the year 1884. We interpret that map below, showing that those 50 mounds and earthworks correspond to stars of Cepheus.
The logic of previous postings would place the large Criel Mound in Cepheus as a matter of its stellar (star) location. Indeed, analysis of all of these mounds shows without doubt that they marked selected stars of Cepheus, particularly the stars in that part of Cepheus that are in the "horn" of the Milky Way at this sky location. The horn is the light blue underlying color in the graphic image below. A special earthwork symbol points directly to the North Celestial Pole in ca. 300 B.C., thus confirming our previous analysis. Here is our decipherment.
Note particularly the superb confluence of the stars of the "platform mound" in the lower right hand corner with the actual bright stars there of Cepheus. We set the limit of magnitude at 7.5 to obtain the above stellar map.
Below is a graphic image showing the triangulation line to the North Celestial Pole, showing an angular separation of ca. 30° to the stars HIP110715, HIP110610 and HIP110588 and also a significant ca. 24° position angle. It is quite clear that the "hand mirror-shaped" mound symbol pictured there was intended to show the corresponding stars and point to the North Celestial Pole:
The ca. 300 B.C. date for this marking of the North Celestial Pole corresponds well with the current dating of the Criel Mound, which is placed at ca. 250 B.C.
The Wikipedia description of what was found in the Criel Mound would seem to suggest some kind of a geometric/astronomic significance when it writes that:
"The Criel Mound was excavated in 1883-84 under the auspices of the US Bureau of Ethnology and the supervision of Col. P.W. Norris. The excavation was performed by Professor Cyrus Thomas of the Smithsonian Institution. Inside the mound, Professor Thomas found thirteen skeletons: two near the top of the mound, and eleven at the base. The skeletons at the base consisted of a single very large but badly decayed skeleton at the center, a "once most powerful man" which according to A.R. Sines who assisted Col. Norris in the excavation, measured "Six feet, 8 3-4 inches" (205 cm) from head to heel with broad shoulders, massive teeth and a very thick low and flat skull encased in a large copper headband. This skeleton was surrounded by ten other skeletons arranged in a spoke-like pattern, with their feet pointing toward the central skeleton."THIS POSTING IS Posting Number 7 of
The Great Mound, Petroglyph and Painted Rock Art Journey of Native America
At the Center of the Ancient Land Navigation System in Native America: Criel Mound Dunbar South Charleston West Virginia Earthworks Mark Stars of Cepheus and Point to North Celestial Pole in ca. 300 BC
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