Excavated Building

Excavated traces of wooden posts (postholes) forming the walls of a large building

NPS photo/Mark J. Lynott

Just west of here archeologists discovered the traces of a large rectangular building, 24 feet wide and 30 feet long. American Indians built this structure sometime between 1,800 and 2,000 years ago. Archeologists found only the traces of wooden posts forming the walls of the building (postholes), and the remnants of a small hearth in the building's center. The cooking pits, storage facilities, and trash you'd expect to find in an everyday house are missing. Perhaps this building was used as temporary housing for earthwork builders, or even pilgrims from faraway places. Or, maybe this was a place where people prepared themselves for ceremonies inside the nearby earthworks.