Grave Creek Mound - Delf Norona Museum

Delf Norona Museum

The Delf Norona Museum displays many artifacts found at the site, and is operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. Opened in 1978, the museum's exhibits interpret the culture of the Adena people and theories about the mound's construction.

In the 21st century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers transferred nearly 450,000 artifacts to the Delf Norona Museum for curation and archival. They were uncovered during the 1990s in an extended archeological excavation for the replacement site of the Marment Lock on the Ohio River. The artifacts, representing 10,000 years of habitation by varying cultures at one site in the Kanawha Valley, include stone projectile knives, a 3,000-year-old sandstone cooking bowl carved before the people started making pottery, and stone jewelry from a Fort Ancient village.

In April 2010, the state mounted two exhibits of artifacts from the site at the rotunda of the state capitol. It included historic items dating from the John Reynolds plantation, including pendants made by slaves from 1790s Spanish coins, and material related to colonial salt production. The major part of the exhibit is made up of prehistoric artifacts of American Indian peoples, whose occupancy of the valley was thousands of years longer. Additional exhibits will be mounted as the state's Office of Culture and History has an opportunity to assess them. The American Indian artifacts will be kept at the Delf Norona Museum.

The museum is open year round and admission is free. A gift shop sells books related to indigenous cultures, as well as Native American crafts, trinkets, and other souvenirs.