Great Serpent Mound, 3850 State Route 73, Peebles

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS OH-9. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Great Serpent Mound is an internationally known National Historic Landmark built by the ancient cultures of Ohio. It is the largest serpent effigy in the world. In it was selected by the United States Department of the Interior for consideration of inscription to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. The mound represents a snake with a curled tail. There were no burials within the effigy and it is believed to have been created for ceremonial purposes. Nearby are three burial mounds two created by the Adena culture A.D. and one by the Fort Ancient culture (A.D.

Description: The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot long, five feet high and twenty feet wide prehistoric animal effigy mound constructed of earth on the point of a high plateau of the eroded Appalachian peneplain in Adams County, Ohio, believed to have been created about AD, but it may be from years old. The effigy overlooks Ohio Brush Creek Valley, which is an unusual geological feature known as Serpent Mound Disturbance, or cryptoexplosion structure. The circular valley is nearly five miles in diameter and uncommonly faulted and folded for the typically flat-layered regional bedrock. The undulating effigy sinuously follows the narrow ridge-top promontory high above a fork of the Ohio Brush Creek. It clearly resembles a serpent and has been associated to astronomical phenomena.

The head faces northwest from the edge of the bluff toward summer equinox sunset and the constellation Perseus, the point from which the prolific August Perseid meteor shower appears to originate, called the radiant, associated with the comet Swift Tuttle. The serpent body winds back and forth seven graceful coils and ends at the edge of the bluff in a triple-coiled tail as if uncoiling itself silently and stealthily along the crest of the hill. A 120 foot long hollow oval mound lays at the open mouth of the serpent head that some say represents an egg, or symbolizes the sun, the body of a frog, the comet Swift Tuttle, an alter or perhaps the fixed location from where GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO.

OH-9 PAGE 2 may be observed astrological movements in the sky that touch upon the distant range of hills to inform the of life and ceremony. A triangular mound at the extreme western end points to the northwest across a grand view across the valley and to peaks in the range of hills beyond. Is this where tribal people sat for celestial observations to the west where departing spirits pass through a notch on the horizon where the sun sets at the time of the highest concentration of the Perseid meteor showers?

Is this conjecture not much more than coincidental that similar accounts of indigenous cultural landscapes offered by Native Americans are recorded in National Register nominations?1 Exploration has shown us that this serpent was made many centuries ago, and it is evident that a structure of such magnitude, so carefully planned and executed, was intended for some great purpose deeply affecting the people who made it.2 The ancients buried their dead beneath the small mounds nearby, but never inside the Serpent Effigy itself. History: The origin of the mound is sheathed in mystery and controversy. Researchers have attributed construction to three different prehistoric indigenous cultures.

Once thought to be Adena culture in origin, now based on radiocarbon dating from scholars believe the mound was built by the Fort Ancient culture around CE. The Serpent Mound was reported from the surveys by Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis in their book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published in as the first scholarly work by the Smithsonian Museum. Frederick Ward Putnam of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University visited this serpent effigy mound in the mid-1880s. Recognizing that the effigy was being destroyed by plowing for agriculture, he and women of Boston raised funds and purchased the property in the university's name, as the first privately funded archaeological preserve and the first law for protection of archeologic monuments in the United States.

Putnam worked three years excavating the effigy and nearby burial mounds, and then restored them to original form. Harvard University turned the site over to the Ohio Historical Society (now named the Ohio Historical Connection) as a state memorial park in through an act of the Ohio legislature with stipulations that the 54 acre park shall remain open for public visitation, which it has since then under protection of the laws of the State. The petition was prepared by an acting committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 1 This refers to the National Register of Historic Places Landscape Initiative series of webinars. 2 Putnam, The Serpent Mound of Ohio. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November - April Volume 39. GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO.

OH-9 PAGE 3 In the Ohio Historical Society had the observation tower built overlooking the effigy. During the Great Depression in the the Works Progress Administration built seven structures including the barn, museum and concessions building, overlook, two comfort stations, caretaker house, and a garage. These are excellent examples of New Deal era rustic type of architecture. The Serpent Mound museum was opened in with exhibits illustrating various interpretations of the effigy, the processes of constructing it, the culture of the ancient Adena people, and the geological history of the area. In the non-profit Arc of Appalachia partnered with the Ohio History Connection to serve as the on-site manager for the Serpent Mound park.

Serpent Mound is a designated National Historic Landmark and draws visitors from around the world. A unit Management Plan approved for the site in guides development, use, interpretation, study, and preservation of the ancient effigy and related resources meeting World Heritage Committee standards for preserving the attributes which give the site its Outstanding Universal Value.

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS OH-9. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

CERHAS. EarthWorks, Virtual Explorations of the Ancient Ohio Valley. The Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites (CERHAS). Cincinnati, OH, Lepper, Bradley. Ohio Archaeology: An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures. Wilmington, Ohio, Orange Frazer Press, Ohio History Connection, Gray & Pape, and Matts Heritage Consulting. Historic Site Management Plan For Serpent Mound. Putnam, The Serpent Mound of Ohio. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November - April Volume 39. Serpent Mound (Great Serpent Mound State Memorial) National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form (NRIS prepared by Francine D.

Weiss, Staff Archeologist, Landmark Review Project, Historic Sites Survey, National Park Service, Squier, Ephraim G. and Edwin H. Davis. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (Classics in Smithsonian Anthropology) originally published Warriner, Gray, producer. Legacy of the Mound Builders. Seattle, WA: Camera One for the National Park Service and the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO. OH-9 PAGE 4 Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People. Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Press,

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS OH-9. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

David Driapsa, FASLA Historical Landscape Architect David J Driapsa Landscape Architect Naples, Florida March 30, HALS Challenge Entry: Documenting National Register Listed Landscapes GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO. OH-9 PAGE 5 Sunrise view of the Serpent Mound. F. W. Putnam. The Serpent Mound of Ohio. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November - April Volume 39. GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO. OH-9 PAGE 6 Sketch Map of Serpent Mound Park F. W. Putnam. The Serpent Mound of Ohio. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November - April Volume 39. GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO. OH-9 PAGE 7 Serpent Mound State Memorial Park, The Serpent Mound Photographer: David Driapsa GREAT SERPENT MOUND HALS NO. OH-9 PAGE 8 Serpent Mound State Memorial Park, New Deal Era Building.

Photographer: David Driapsa