Mounds of History

 If you have ever traveled the eastern side of the country from Alabama to Michigan, you might have seen large areas of fields or woods that have mounds of dirt covered with grass that stand over 15 feet high. Some are not that high, but smaller mounds in wooded areas.  If you have been lucky enough to find these cherished burial grounds of an ancient people, you should call yourself very blessed.

  There are some places on earth that are so sacred, you cannot take a picture of it nor tell others of your experience.  They don’t fully understand what you have felt and many times make fun of what they don’t understand. Our visit to the Nauvoo Ancient Mounds on Tuesday’s (August 5^th) excursion was a sacred one. It was life changing.

 

Walking along these burial grounds, one can feel a sacredness not matched in most places. Two thousand years ago the early ancestors of today’s Native Americans lived there along the banks of the Mississippi River. Roaming around these mounds, gives most people a feeling of serenity and peacefulness. It is believed that these mounds are a part of the Hopewell culture of 550 BC to 400 AD and are like “grave stone marker” that we would use today. Some believe this ancient mound area is the famous Hill Amnihu from The Book of Mormon’s Alma, Chapter 2.  I’m one of those believers.

 

When the care takers, Jennice and Wilson Curlee first started to clean up the area of the Nauvoo Ancient Mounds, it was discovered that some of the mounds had been looted and disrupted, leaving the mound partially open. There is a special ceremony to restore these mounds and the Curlees were able to organize enough people to replace these open mounds.

 

 First, the mound was cleaned for the dirt to be filled. A special material is laid in the spot for the soil. Then soil is brought by dump truck and piled close by to use for the fill. Then bucket by bucket in a bucket brigade, people placed the soil to recover the mound.

 

With much study and research, this special place along the Mississippi River was discovered to have many burial mounds. The early pioneer Saints of 1839, who settled there, leveled some of those mounds without knowing who was buried there before their arrival. There are many more mounds which have been discovered on the hill top of the Nauvoo Ancient Mounds since then and are kept safe with cemetery status from the State of Illinois.

Close to the Mississippi river where they laid Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s body along with their parents and Emma Smith, was discovered a Nephite burial ground. There are mound sights all along the Mississippi river on the Illinois side in Albany, East Dubuque at Granmercy Park and at the Little Maquoketa River Mounds State Preserve.

 

 There is one special burial mound which was discovered back in 1834. During the months of May and June of 1834 Joseph Smith led more than 200 men on a trek called Zion’s Camp from Kirtland, Ohio to Clay County, Missouri. It was an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were expelled by non-member settlers. It was on June 3^rd while passing through west-central Illinois

 near Griggsville, that some bones were uncovered from a mound.  Through personal revelation and inspiration, Joseph Smith identified these bones belonging to a white Lamanite and chieftain-warrior named Zelph. It was also told that he was a “thick set man of God”. There was a sharp arrowhead stuck in his side near his ribs. According to the story, one of his thigh bones was broken apparently by a stone flung from a sling while in battle years before his death. He was killed in the battle during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites.

There is so much history living in these mounds. Peoples’ lives were lived with families in times of peace and in war. There is so much we don’t know about those who lived so long ago, but we can revere these burial grounds. One day we will meet those who lived in this area and they will have wonderful stories to tell.

The Curlees continue to treat the mounds with reverence and hope to preserve the entire site of the hill for the future.  They believe that this ridge or hill outside of Nauvoo is the ancient Hill Amnihu as mentioned in Alma chapter 2, and that the mounds and ancient fortification are located on that hill. Visitors are welcome to walk through the land and see the mounds located about 2 miles north of Nauvoo on Sycamore Haven Drive and feel for yourself about this sacred place.

 Nauvoo Mounds