Naples-Russell Mound 8: A Hopewell Culture Burial Site

Nestled three miles east of Griggsville, Illinois, alongside the banks of the Illinois River, stands Naples-Russell Mound 8 - a Havana Hopewell culture mound site. This site is part of the Napoleon Hollow Archeological District, which consists of twenty-six burial mounds and two possible burial knolls. Its history is tied to the Hopewell culture, a group with wide trade networks stretching across the eastern two-thirds of the United States or east of the Rocky Mountains.

It is the largest mound on the bluff-top in the lower Illinois Valley, earning its name Naples Mound #8 in 1882. Back in May and June of 1834, Joseph Smith and his Latter Day Saint followers traveled through Zion’s Camp from Kirtland, Ohio, to Jackson County, Missouri. As they journeyed through west-central Illinois, they discovered a large burial mound on the west side of the Illinois River, one mile south of present-day Valley City.

They observed remains of bones on the surface, and as they dug, they found a skeleton about a foot beneath the surface, with a stone arrow point in the ribs. This discovery was interpreted as a white Lamanite warrior named Zelph, who was killed during a battle with the Nephites. The group took the leg bones of 'Zelph' in Wilford Woodruff’s wagon, retaining the arrow point. The 'Zelph Mound incident' was recorded by six men of Zion’s Camp in their journals and formally recorded in church history by Willard Richards in 1842.

In 1974, archaeology graduate students from Northwestern University led by Professor Jane E. Buikstra mapped the river bluffs and located the large mound. James Bradley, a Mormon historian from Utah, visited and made the connection to the historical journals. Buikstra changed the archaeological name to Naples-Russell Mound 8 (RN8) because the mound was on private land owned by a Mr. Roy Russell. The State of Illinois purchased 280 acres of frontage land, including the mound, in 1988.

In 2001, the mound underwent an archaeological investigation. Radiometric dating determined that occupation in the area existed from 50 BC to 100 AD, with specific burials dating to 91 AD. The artifacts from the mound are now located in the Illinois State Museum. These items originated from many parts of the eastern two-thirds of the United States or east of the Rocky Mountains, illustrating the wide trade network of the Hopewell culture. Photographs of the artifacts from Naples-Russell Mound 8 have recently been published.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons