5b.4 Excavation of Seip Earthworks

The three connected mounds were excavated between 1906 and 1908. The large oval one was investigated between 1925 and 1928 and then was rebuilt to its original dimensions. All four mounds covered burials and the sites of charnel houses, special buildings for funerals. Nearly all of the deceased had been cremated. Their remains were placed in individual tombs on the charnel house floors and covered with low mounds of earth. After the charnel houses served their function, they were taken apart and more earth was mounded over the tombs and the house floors. Archaeologists do not know if all four houses were used at the same time or if they were built one after another.

Catalog Number: AV 17
Image Number: AL02740