"Oakwood Mound - Joliet, IL" Waymark

Long Description:
The Oakwood Mound is situated south of the main entrance of Oakwood Cemetery (coordinates listed below). Visitors can drive right to the site. Unfortunately, the interpretive signs for the site are missing and it is not fenced. Please respect this site as any other burial site you would find a cemetery.

The Woodland period mound (approximately 1,000 years old) currently stands approximately 4 feet high, however earlier records state it was 8 feet high. Archeological excavations could be the cause of this reduction in height.

The excavations conducted by the University of Chicago in 1928 yielded, in addition to weapons, ornaments and implements, the scattered skeletal remains of over 300 persons.

The lack of uniformity of the burials, which were characterized by both flexed and full length positions (and some with mother and child in an embrace), indicate a great number of sudden deaths, and a hurried disposal of the bodies, which were probably gathered in a heap and covered with earth.

Trailhead: N 41° 31.739 W 88° 3.184 Type: Burial Mounds How did you find this "Ancient Evidence": Deliberately Searching Terrain Rating:

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