Burial Mounds May Still Be Intact

FRANKLIN, TENNESSEE—The Tennessee Division of Archaeology is working with students from Middle Tennessee State University and the Native History Association to preserve two 1,800-year-old burial mounds. The small-scale excavations could show that the two man-made hills, known as the Glass Mounds, are intact and therefore eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Scientists are concerned that farming, mining, and nineteenth-century excavations may have caused too much damage, but so far, archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf thinks that the mound still holds undisturbed burials. “For the Native American community, whether (the site) gets on the National Register or not, it’s still a sacred place. Our feelings about it won’t change,” commented Toye Heape, vice president of the Native History Association.