Serpent Mound Facts To Know Before Your First Visit To The Place

The world's largest serpent effigy mound is found at the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County in rural southwest Ohio.

This famous effigy mound has bagged its place in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. The Ohio History Connection, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving historical sites throughout Ohio, looks after the mound.

Many mounds were destroyed as farms grew throughout this area during the modern era. Still, many were created by the ancient Native American societies that flourished along the rich valleys of the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri rivers thousands of years ago.

They encourage us to reflect on the elaborate spiritual practices of the Native American cultures that gave rise to them.

The Great Serpent Mound is around 1,300 ft (396 m) long and has a height range of 1-3 ft (0.03-0.1 m), representing the shape of a snake with a curled tail and winding coils between its east and west end. The complex mound was built by sedentary people who farmed maize, beans, and squash.

They established a stratified society, including a disciplined workforce, but left no written records. It is both architecturally and sculpturally significant.

History Of The Serpent Mound

The site's dating has been challenging to determine because, although it was initially identified as belonging to the Native American Adena culture (800 BCE–100 CE), later excavations strongly indicated that it was constructed by people of the Fort Ancient culture (1000–1750 CE), most likely around 1070 CE.

The mound's builders are still under question, but the most accurate conclusion is that it was begun by one civilization and finished by another. This is especially likely given that the Fort Ancient civilization is generally considered merely a development of the Hopewell culture (100 BCE–500 CE), which some researchers assert is the Adena culture's direct descendant.

When European and American researchers learned about the Native American mound sites spread around the eastern United States, the mound was first documented and mapped in the early 19th century. The archaeologists Edwin Hamilton Davis and EG Squier conducted a survey of the Serpent Mound and published it in 1848.

Native Americans constructed numerous sites across North America around 5000 BCE and 1450 CE, including Serpent Mound. Before deciding to establish roots in a particular region and build their mounds, at least some of the Native Americans who built the mounds were hunter-gatherer civilizations that were semi-nomadic or nomadic and practiced, at best, a primitive type of agriculture.

Although it is unknown what inspired the first building of mounds, how many were constructed, and in some instances, what role they served, it is believed that they were in the thousands before Europeans arrived on the continent. The mounds, some of which are over 100 ft (30 m) tall, were all created by societies without wheeled vehicles.

Instead, individuals carried bundles of soil in animal skins or baskets, dumping them at a central location, and then others shaped this soil.

The artifacts found at these mound sites have shown archaeologists that the cultures that built them significantly differed. These cultures are named either after the lands the locations were discovered on (such as Poverty Point in Louisiana, named after the enclosing 19th-century plantation), local tribes (such as at Cahokia), or simply as descriptive words (such as Moundville).

The Adena civilization, regarded as among the most excellent mound builders, was one of the most important of the several cultures that formerly called the Mississippi Valley their home.

The Thomas Worthington estate, which was where the mound known as Adena Mound was found, was owned by Ohio's governor in the 19th century and is where the Adena civilization got its name from.

Significance Of Serpent Mound

On Saturday, June 22, thousands will assemble in a rural spot 80 mi (129 km) east of Cincinnati to watch the sunset over Serpent Mound, a massive ancient earthwork.

The oval-to-head region of this serpent is aligned with the sunset on the summer solstice, according to research by Clark and Marjorie Hardman published in 1987.

William F. Romain has proposed a variety of lunar alignments based on the body's curvature of the effigy.

The coils of the Serpent Mound should indeed be aligned to the two solstices and two equinoxes each year, Fletcher and Cameron argued persuasively. The Serpent Mound would be noteworthy as the fusion of astronomical data into a single symbol if it were built to view both solar and lunar arrays.

The equinox sunrise and the winter solstice morning are possible points of reference for the serpent's coils, whose head is aligned with the summer solstice sunset.

Many archaeologists think that the construction of the mound, which took place around 1070 CE, may have been affected by two different astronomical occurrences: the lighting from the supernova that created the Crab Nebula in 1054 CE. and the sight of Halley's Comet.

After the supernova first reached the Earth, its light would have been observable for two weeks, and it could even be seen during the day.

Archaeologists' secondary hypothesis was that the mound's shape might have been affected by Halley's Comet's tail.

Even though it is not identical to the curves of the Serpent Mound, the comet's tail has always appeared like a long, straight line. Although there could have been many more supernovas over the centuries between the effigy's possible construction dates, these two impacts continue to be the most well-known.

The pattern of stars that make up the constellation Draco may have inspired the architecture of the Serpent Mound. With Thuban (Draconis), the former Pole Star, located in its geographic center in the first of seven coils from the head, the constellation Draco's star pattern reasonably conforms to the Serpent Mound.

Numerous hypotheses may be supported by the fact that Serpent Mound's body conforms to Draco's pattern.

Cultures Associated With Serpent Mound

While mentioning the mystery cultures associated with the Serpent Mound or who helped in the development of this mound, the two native cultures, which are Adena culture and Fort Ancient culture, come into view.

Adena Culture: The ancient American Indian culture known as the Adena culture flourished in the midwest states of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, and most notably, Ohio. The Scioto River, Hocking Valleys in southern Ohio, and the Kanawha Valley close to Charleston, West Virginia, were home to most of these civilizations.

From 800 BCE-1 CE, the time period is known as The Early Woodland Period.

Instead of referring to a specific group or tribe, Adena refers to the civilization that formerly occupied this territory. Although they are unaware of the particular civilizations that lived there, archaeologists believe that Adena culture is responsible for these civilizations' development.

Like many of the cultures during the time of this period, they were a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer culture that later learned to plant crops such as barley, pumpkin, maygrass, and knotweed while building permanent homes next to their fields and mounds.

Some of these were used for the reburial of members of the upper class, members of the nobility, and priests.

Other sites have been identified as being utilized for ceremonies.

The Adena people were well recognized for their elaborate funeral rituals, and they buried their deceased in well-known mounds all over the Midwest. Many archaeologists think that the Adena people used these buildings as territory markers.

Small circular earthen structures that frequently accompany the mounds themselves are thought by many archaeologists to have originally been utilized for ceremonies. The biggest Adena burial mound in Ohio is located at the Miamisburg Mound in Montgomery County.

Fort Ancient Culture: The Native American culture known as the Fort Ancient culture flourished from 1000-1750 CE, primarily residing in areas close to the Ohio River basin. These societies were prosperous in the areas that are now southern Ohio, southeast Indiana, northern Kentucky, and western West Virginia.

The Mississippian culture and the Fort Ancient cultures are frequently referred to as sister cultures.

Yet, they can be identified by the historical period in which they flourished and their significant cultural distinctions.

Evidence indicates that Fort Ancient culture was not a direct descendent of the Hopewellian culture, along with their relationship to the Mississippian culture. Contrary to popular belief, those of the Fort Ancient culture did not build the Great Serpent Mound, though they did contribute to it.

The culture gets its name from the Fort Ancient archeological site in Ohio. Fort Ancient Site, however, is assumed to have been created by Ohio Hopewellian people and then occupied by the following Fort Ancient culture.

The site lies near Lebanon, Ohio, on a hill just above the Little Miami River. Despite its name, many archaeologists believe that neither the Ohio Hopewell civilization nor the Fort Ancient Culture used Fort Ancient primarily as a stronghold.

Archaeologists believe it was more likely utilized for ceremonial purposes.

Fort Ancient people helped to preserve and restore the Great Serpent Mound, but they were not responsible for its construction. The rattlesnake is an essential emblem in Mississippian society, and it helps us grasp the significance of the mound's design.

The mystery of this famous Serpent Mound of Adams County will continue inviting several debates. We may never know with clarity if this remarkable structure was used to mark time, document a celestial occurrence, work as a compass, guide astrological patterns, or give a site of worship to a mythical snake god or goddess.

According to one expert, the mound served as a platform or foundation for totems or other architectural features that are no longer present, possibly dismantled by subsequent cultures.

To summarize, scholarly discussion is based on ongoing archeological finds and geological research. But, without a doubt, the mound is unique and noteworthy in its potential to provide tangible insights into the ancient Americas' cosmology and ceremonies.

FAQs

Are there bodies buried in the Serpent Mound?
No, there are no bodies buried in the Serpent Mound.

What was found beneath the Great Serpent Mound?
There are folded bedrock beneath the Great Serpent Mound.

Who owns the Serpent Mound?
There is no single person who owns this effigy mound. It is under the government of Ohio.

What is the Great Serpent Mound?
The Great Serpent Mound is a tall and long prehistoric effigy mound found in Ohio.

What do Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty and the Great Serpent Mound have in common?Earthworks can be found at Spiral Jetty and the Serpent Mound. The Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake was erected in 1970.

Basalt rocks, mud, and salt crystals make up the structure. The Great Serpent Mound, on the other hand, is a National Historic Landmark according to the US Department of Interior found in Ohio.

Who built the Serpent Mound?
It is speculated that the ancient people from Adena culture and Fort Ancient culture made this giant snake mound in Adams County, Ohio Valley.

How old is Serpent Mound of Ohio?
This mound is approximately 950 years old.

What was the Serpent Mound used for?
In ancient times, it was presumably a site of astronomical occurrences. It is now a very famous tourist site and a public park.