Ancient Mounds of Ohio 
Over the Back Fence Magazine | Summer 2004
In silence they have witnessed time passing for thousands of years.
They have stretched for miles upon miles, as connecting roadways
and earthen embankments. Ohio's mounds are one of the greatest wonders
of the ancient world. Long before Roman gladiators battled; the
Adena natives were building earthen monuments to their dead in Ohio.
More than 200,000 mounds once dotted eastern North America. Some believe
that the timeworn earthworks were on such a grand scale that they exceeded
the ancient works and pyramids of Egypt.
Before horses and the wheel were brought to America the Adena and
Hopewell toiled, moving tons upon tons of earth creating vast centers
of temporal monuments. "Sadly, 80 to 85% have long been destroyed
by farming, looting, expansion of highways and cities." Jennifer
Pederson, Archeologist for the National Parks Services states. "When
the settlers came, the land was forested and they started clearing
the land for agriculture and began leveling mounds. We are fortunate
that in the 1800's there were different people who mapped the mounds.
Caleb Atwater was a resident of Circleville who made preliminary maps
of the  mounds. Also in the 1840's two Chillicothe residents, Edwin
Davis and Ephraim Squire wrote a famous book for archeologists, which
is entitled Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (1851).
They mapped all the earth works in the eastern United States. That
was about the time that most of the mounds were being leveled." The
significant mapping and diligent works by Davis and Squire have enabled
modern day historians to rediscover lost mounds leading to a glint
of knowledge of who these people were.
Archaeologists distinguish two principal mound-building cultures
in the Ohio valley— "the Adena and the Hopewell. It is important to realize that these
different names don't truly signify different races," informs Keith Bengtson,
Site Manager of Fort Hill and Serpent Mound for the Ohio Historical Society, "it's
the same group of people, just turned into diverse cultures with
time."
The earliest were known as the Adena, living as early as 2,800 years
ago and building conical burial mounds that where enclosed by simple
circular earthworks. The Hopewell emerged around 2,200 years ago.
One might be surprised to learn that their very names, which have
the appropriate ring to them, are not the names of the people at
all. With no written language their true names will never be known.
William C. Mills, an archaeologist from the 20th century, named the
Adena due to a large burial mound located on Governor Thomas Worthington's
estate, which was prominently known at the time as Adena. The term
Adena is a Hebrew word meaning, "places remarkable for the delightfulness of their situations."
Hopewell was named for the Hopewell family who owned the excavation
site in the 1890s near Paint Creek Valley west of Chillicothe where
archaeologist, Warren K. Moorehead conducted his research.
"There are thousands and thousands of mounds in southern Ohio. This area
for the Hopewell people became a major trade route with its abundance of waterways," continues
Bengtson. "These ancients were dedicated people," He smiles. "They
labored, digging with wood sticks, shell and bone, transporting basket
after basket of earth to create the mounds."
At Serpent Mound they used several different soils. When they dumped
soil down into the clay base they actually left impressions in the
dirt from their baskets. From these impressions scientists were able
to reconstruct baskets and extrapolate how much capacity they held.
Serpent Mound is located upon the edge of an ancient crater-like depression
covering 12 square miles. It is thought that a meteor struck 15
miles southeast of Hillsboro. The impact leveled trees as far north
as present day Marion and as far south as Lexington, KY.
 Fort Hill and Fort Ancient are remarkable in size. Fort Hill took generations
of Hopewell Indians and nearly 500 years to build. The 1.5-mile hilltop
enclosure with earthen embankments ranges from 6 to 15 feet. There are
three major Mound Group sites. The most elaborate of the Hopewell was
found in Newark, Ohio, and spread over 4 square miles in a series of geometric
earthworks. The Pyramid of Cheops of Egypt could set inside the Great
Circle; while the octa-eon embankment is laree enoueh to
hold four of the ancient Roman Coliseums. These earthworks are the largest
of their kind. Sadly most of it is totally gone. Only small portions remain
and are now protected by the Ohio Historical Society.
Portsmouth was the home of the second most significant mound works;
parallel embankments extending eight miles from a series of crescents
and circles. It crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. A large
mound was at the center of a series of concentric circles. The total
length of the embankments stretched 20 miles. Today, only one small
crescent mound remains of the massive earthworks at Horseshoe Mound
Park.
Thirdly, Chillicothe was a hub of trade that was filled with ancient
mounds. "We
have managed to reconstruct Mound City, from a combination of early historical
maps. Archeological investigations from the 1920's and 60's (included excavation)
determined where to place them. The mounds mark the locations of ceremonial
buildings that were burned down or dismantled after they were full or nc longer
of use." Jennifer Pederson, archeologist, elaborates. "Today
we don't dig mounds at all because they are burials. We just leave
them alone. Most of the mounds in Ohio, especially the large earthen
works, had been excavated in the 1900's. We even have records from
the 1840's of excavations."
Summer is a great time to visit the earthworks. Walking beside these mysterious
mounds gives visitors a sense of the immense undertaking and a respect for the
cultures that created them.
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