Like many children who grew up in the McKees Rocks bottoms, Sandy Saban remembers playing on the Indian mound, but she said no one really knew or cared about its cultural and historical significance.

Now, those perceptions are beginning to change as the McKees Rocks Historical Society and a newly formed group called the Society for the McKees Rocks Mound, are working to focus attention on the mound -- a manmade structure estimated to be at least 5,000 years old.

To honor the mound and its Native American builders, an autumnal solstice ceremony will be held at the top of the mound from sunrise Sunday to sunrise Monday.

Organizers said the ceremony will consist of playing drums, lighting a fire, erecting prayer flags and praying for the good of the mound and the spirits.

The mound was part of the landscape in Western Pennsylvania when the pyramids were under construction in Egypt, according to Ms. Saban, a historical society member.

The tree-covered mound, which abuts Ranger Field and Ruth Street, is identified with a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker.

But, Eugene Strong, a member of The Society for the McKees Rocks Mound, believes the marker doesn't go far enough in extolling the mound's significance.

"The marker says the mound is 85 feet wide and 16 feet high, but it doesn't take into account the length of the mound -- which extends for a quarter of a mile," said Mr. Strong during a recent walking tour.

While walking along the top the mound, Mr. Strong pointed to a shaft filled with loose soil that he believes is one spot where a team of workers, commissioned by Andrew Carnegie in 1896, dug into the mound.

"They hauled off 31 skeletons, most of them found in clay-lined burial chambers, with one skeleton unearthed from a ceramic-lined chamber," he said.

The bones, along with hundreds of artifacts made of stone, copper and shells also removed in 1896, are now in boxes in a Carnegie Museum storage facility on Baum Boulevard in Oakland, which he believes is an injustice to the mound and to the human remains found there.

"The people buried here were as important to their culture, as the people buried in Arlington Cemetery are to our culture," he said.

Mr. Strong, who is part Native American, said he would like to preserve the mound and eventually see the human remains returned to their original resting place to give them the honor they deserve.

He said the museum is willing to consider the idea as long as it can return the remains to direct descendants, which is difficult to determine since the remains are so old. Nevertheless, he hopes one day to establish a link with descendants from current Native American tribes.

Mr. Strong, who is among the organizers of the solstice ceremony, said everyone is invited to participate.

He asked visitors to show respect to the mound and those buried there by not bringing any alcohol or drugs.

"There are some places that by definition are more sacred than others, and I believe the mound is one of those sacred places. The mound may be even more significant than we even know, and there is much waiting to be discovered," said Ms. Saban.

"It is mind-boggling to think that McKees Rocks was the site of one of the oldest human settlements in North America," she said.