A developer is preserving and incorporating a Native American burial mound into a neighborhood development project.
The Columbia Missourian reports Mike Tompkins bought property west of Columbia and discovered the 80-foot-long mound on the northeastern side of the property.
Tompkins says the burial was discovered after city officials started questioning what the mound was as he planned the 91-acre subdivision.
Anthropology professor and former College of Arts and Sciences dean Michael O'Brien surveyed the site. O'Brien said the site dates back to sometime between 450 A.D. and 750 A.D. According to O'Brien, the tribal affiliation can't be determined.
Tompkins wants to preserve the site and has decided to incorporate it into a planned green space in the neighborhood he's developing. Plans also call for a trail system to run near the mound.
