Who Destroyed the Ancient Breckenridge Creek Indian Burial Mound in Fort Wayne, Indiana?

 Wonder who destroyed the Ancient Breckenridge Creek (Purdue Campus) Indian Burial Mound in Fort Wayne, Indiana?

On the left is my photo of the Breckinridge Creek Indian burial mound taken in 2010. I took the photo on the right in May 2025. Who excavated this burial mound? Purdue University, where the mound is located?  The burial mound is visible from end of the bike path on the Purdue campus.

History of Allen County, Indiana 1880

 "Still further down the river, on the east side, at the mouth of Breckenridge Creek, is a single mound, which has not been opened except a slight excavation in its side, which developed the customary lumps of charcoal. This point is about four miles north of Fort Wayne and is the most southerly point in the county at which mounds and earthworks are known to exist."

The Desecration of Oneota Sioux Burials by Indiana (IPFW) Fort Wayne Archaeologists

 The Desecration of Oneota Sioux Burials at Strawtown, Indiana by (IPFW) Fort Wayne Archaeologists

"I would say in general," Sutter said, "I don't think anybody who has knowingly violated NAGPRA regulations should be permitted to work as an archaeologist at a minimum.”

More on the evidence that the Strawtown site was of Oneota Sioux Hopewell origins  www.nephilimgiants.net : Strawtown Hopewell Earthwork Determined to be Oneota Sioux in Central Indiana

The archaeological dig at Strawtown, Indiana, was extensive, leaving a wake of destruction on this ancient Oneota Sioux burial and earthwork complex. Archaeologists found a copper headdress at the site with skeletal remains that are diagnostic of Middle Woodland Oneota Sioux Hopewell dating 300 B.C. - 500 A.D.   Oneota Sioux Hopewell have been recognized across Indiana from the Mann Site in Posey County to the Porter County in northwest Indiana. I know of no skeletal remains that have been returned to the Oneota Sioux. If archaeologists recognized the Dakota Sioux as the builders of burial mounds and earthworks in Indiana, they would be forced to empty their vast collections of artifacts and skeletal remains.  

    In Indiana, the greatest threat to the ancient burial mounds and earthworks is the presence of university archaeologists. When will the government finally defund the universities?

These are excerpts from just one of the articles that detail the university archaeologists' crimes at Strawtown, Indiana. 

How a Native American burial site was desecrated in Hamilton County
County, university officials aggressively excavated ancient burial site at Strawtown Park, trampling on rights of tribes to protect their dead
Chris Sikich

chris.sikich@indystar.com 11/5/16 Full story here 

Eternal unrest: How archaeologist, Hamilton County park officials defiled Native American graves (indystar.com)

"The first summer archaeologists began excavating a Native American burial ground at Strawtown Koteewi Park, they found a human jawbone.

The law was clear. They should have notified Native American tribes to allow them the opportunity to rebury their ancestor.

Instead, they studied, cataloged and boxed up the bone fragments. And for the next 10 years, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne's archaeological team and the Hamilton County Parks & Recreation Department continued digging aggressively — never notifying tribal leaders.

"What happened is awful," Richard Sutter, the head of IPFW's anthropology department, told IndyStar. "It's inexcusable."

"Andrew Smith and Craig Arnold, two of McCullough’s assistant archaeologists, said they excavated entire structures, in many cases leaving nothing untouched. They dug so extensively that future archaeologists who might have new technology will not be able to reinvestigate certain sites. Procedure calls for no more than half of structures to be excavated and they took so many artifacts from the ground, it left little money for analysis."

"Karin Maloney, an archaeologist who worked as a history interpreter for the park from 2006 to 2012, said she told McCullough and Patterson the excavations were violating NAGRPA within a year of being hired."

They did not stop until they uncovered a skull. They found a copper plate beneath the skull, indicating a person of status.

"I would say in general," Sutter said, "I don't think anybody who has knowingly violated NAGPRA regulations should be permitted to work as an archaeologist at a minimum.”

Arnold and Smith began working with the tribes, a collaboration that ultimately led to a list of 90,000 items that were found in graves, near human remains or within sacred sites.

Each new revelation over the next several years — from the fact human bones and grave offerings had been excavated, to the discovery that thousands of children had participated in digs at grave sites — heightened the outrage of Strack and other tribal representatives.

"The idea that uninformed, untrained children were participating in the excavations, pushing dirt through screens, was unthinkable," Strack said. "That could be the decomposed remains of our ancestors."

By November 2012, three tribes had filed federal complaints.

Even then, they did not file a report with the NAGPRA office.

Instead, McCullough removed the pottery, which is now thought to be a burial vessel. A significant find, it was the first artifact to link an early Great Lakes culture called the Oneota to Central Indiana.

The Kansas Burial Pit Exhibition of Giants Leads to NAGPRA

The Kansas Burial Pit  Exhibition of Giants Leads to NAGPRA

The Salina Journal, June 11, 1972

Cemetery Draws Tourists, Protests

  " John Price and his brother Howard, 73 have operated the graveyard as a public attraction since 1936, when the first graves on their hog ranch five miles east of Salina were discovered.

   Exhibited are the remains of giant Indians believed to have lived in Kansas 800 years ago. “I can recall only two or three people in the last 37 years who didn't think it was worth 50 cents.”

The hog farmer admitted, however, that he has had complaints in recent months. “that bunch raisin hell in Wounded Knee stopped by here last fall,” said Price. “They claimed we're violating the rights of Indians by displaying the bones.”

“They said the skeletons were only 150 years old. They asked how'd we like it if our relatives were dug up and Indians charges admission for people to see them.”

   The Price brothers said they presented the Indians with documents from the Smithsonian Institution showing that carbon 14 tests taken of the skeletons indicated the burials took place about 1200 A.D.

Dr. W. R. Wedel, Assistant Curator of Archaeology of the Smithsonian Institution, is convinced these burials are real Indians of unknown origin, but with resemblances to others previously found in Kansas and Nebraska."

   The Hopewellian artifacts and burial types would cause me to dispute the Smithsonian's date of 1200 A.D. The Hopewell era ended around 500 B.C. The Pawnee are believed to have traveled north from their original homeland in Mexico to the Plains, when they arrived it was inhabited by the Sioux. This was the importance of the Pawnee's claim that the remains were only 150 years old. The fact that Pawnee were not mound builders, the skull types, pottery, burial types, religion were all completely different, became irrelevant.

In the end, when it comes to NAPGRA, science, and history, doesn't matter.