Where is serpent mound

The Shawnee, for example, have a tradition of a female creator with many of the characteristics of First Woman; and still have amongst their traditional, religious community a Snake Clan, which speaks powerfully to the importance and durability of the serpent in at least one modern-era Shawnee traditional community. Serpent Mound may have a cosmic connection like many of the Hopewell earthworks, such as the Octagon Earthworks at Newark.

The head and oval are aligned to the setting sun on the Summer Solstice. Two Late Precontact stone serpent effigies in the valley below the Fort Ancient Earthworks also have alignments to the sun, which supports a Late Precontact age for the sun-aligned Serpent Mound. The problem with this idea is that the sight lines are very short, which means there is a lot of wiggle room in the proposed alignment. The extent of this wiggle room is indicated by the fact that other investigators think the same three curves are aligned to some of the key risings of the Moon in its When you visit Serpent Mound, regardless of when you come or what you might think about when the ancestors of American Indians built it, what the oval earthwork at the head of the mound represents, or whether it was built to align to the setting sun on the Summer Solstice, recognize that American Indians consider it to be a sacred site and we ask you to treat this remarkable place as you would any cathedral, synagogue, or mosque.

Thousands of years ago, Native Ohioans populated the landscape with mounds and massive earthworks. In the late 19th century, Harvard University archaeologist Frederic Ward Putnam excavated Serpent Mound, but he found no artifacts in the Serpent that might allow archaeologists to assign it to a particular culture.

Based largely on the nearby presence of Adena burial mounds, later archaeologists attributed the effigy to the Adena culture that flourished from B. This would suggest that the builders of the Serpent belonged to the Fort Ancient culture A. In , another team of archaeologists presented new radiocarbon dates for the Serpent suggesting that it was built by the Adena culture at around B.

More work is needed to clarify the age of Serpent Mound. The significance of Serpent Mound and other ancient Ohio earthworks has garnered international attention. World Heritage status has the potential to elevate local and international awareness about the site's value, further encourage communities to protect and invest in its preservation and increase potentially beneficial tourism to the site.

Pets are welcome at Serpent Mound, but must remain leashed at all times while on site. Serpent Mound See the world's most spectacular effigy mound Share this page:. On one side: a group that thinks the Fort Ancient culture built the mound in about A. And on the other: a group, including Burks, that believes it was constructed much earlier, by the Adena, in about B.

Those tests suggest the snake was built more than 2, years ago. He believes that continued advances in science will provide a definitive answer. Ohio History Connection. No matter who built it, he said, the site should be viewed as a tremendous human achievement, a sophisticated creation that is the U. A map of the Serpent Mound park shows the location of three burial mounds nearby.

If you go: Serpent Mound. When: The park is open daily, 9 a. Information: arcofappalachia. Read more. Murphin Ridge Inn, a place to do nothing and enjoy it, in rural Southwest Ohio.

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