Giants of the Kanawha: The Smithsonian’s Forgotten Discoveries
It begins in the archives of the Smithsonian’s Fifth Annual Report (1883–1884), where Dr. Cyrus Thomas documented the excavation of a remarkable burial mound on Col. B. H. Smith’s farm, just outside Charleston. The dig, led by Col. P. W. Norris of the Bureau of Ethnology, revealed a monument that dwarfed most others in the region—175 feet across and 35 feet high, composed of earth and rock hauled from distant ridges. Evidence showed it was constructed in layers over generations, each phase marking a new wave of ritual burial and mound rebuilding.