 
Serpent Mound
The
Serpent Mound
is one of North America's most spectacular effigy mounds, and the first
privately funded archaeological preserve in the United States. It is located
in Adams County.
The Mound is the largest serpent effigy known and stretches about a quarter of a
mile long. Effigy mound are earthworks that resemble animals such as reptiles
and birds. Similar effigy mounds can be found in Scotland and Ontario, Canada.
 Coincidentally
Serpent Mound is near the center of a unique geological
structure that was
created when a cataclysmic explosion occurred sometime after the Mississippian
Period ended, 325 million years ago. Scientists believe a meteor struck the area. The
force of the explosion must have been immense. Immediately after impact, the
center rebounded, lifting Ordovician rocks 950 feet above their normal
positions. In contrast, an outer ring of younger Mississippian sandstone and
shale was depressed nearly 400 feet. As these sandstones are harder than the
surrounding rocks, erosion has resulted in a circle of hills clearly visible
from the air. Since land use depends on the different types of exposed rocks,
the terrain here has a great impact on area agriculture. The high center of
limestone and shale is mostly given over to pasture, while a surrounding inner
ring on Silurian dolomite supports crops. The hilly outer rim of sandstone and
shale is forested.
 Serpent
Mound effigy was originally surveyed by Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis in 1846.
They eventually published a map to the spot, and brought wider attention to
mounds that can be found throughout the United States. Several decades later in
1886, Harvard University archaeologist, Frederic Ward Putnam, excavated Serpent
Mound. Even more recently excavations have surfaced wood charcoal
that was carbon-dated to
the
Fort Ancient Culture, about 1000-1550 AD.
Like many effigies, the head of the serpent lines up with the sunset of summer
solstice. In 1900, Harvard University turned Serpent Mound over to the
Ohio
Historical Society, which has maintained it as a state memorial ever since.
The Serpent Mound is open to the public for viewing at the Serpent Mound museum,
which opened in 1967.
Find out more...
|
