A chance to add Fort Ancient and the Great Serpent Mound (and other Ohio earthworks) to the World Heritage List

If you've read my blog in the past, you know I love hanging out at Fort Ancient, which is just 15 minutes north of my home. I also love Serpent Mound, and Matty and I visited it this summer when we volunteered at Shawnee State Park. Both of these ancient earthworks are on the U.S. Tentative List for the World Heritage List. The Ohio Archaeology Blog is asking for help and would like Ohioans to submit a letter to the National Park Service and send a copy to Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen.-elect Rob Portman, and your congressperson. From the Ohio Archaeology Blog:

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to list these Ohio sites alongside other cultural sites of outstanding universal value, including Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza and Cahokia Mounds. We need you to submit your comments to the National Park Service and copy your letter to Sen. Sherrod Brown, Sen.-elect Rob Portman, and your congressperson.

Comments are due by January 12, 2011. Direct your comments to Jonathan Putnam at Office of International Affairs, National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street NW, (0050), Washington, DC 20005, by e-mail to jonathan_putnam@nps.gov, by phone at 202-354-1809 or by fax to 202-371-1446. Please also send a copy of your comments to George Kane at the Ohio Historical Society at gkane@ohiohistory.org or at 1982 Velma Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211."

For more information, and for a link to a sample letter and contact information go to the Ohio Archeology Blog. Look at the end of the post for the link.

Great Serpent Mound is an ancient 3-foot high and 1,330 foot (nearly a quarter-mile) long serpent earthwork effigy constructed on a ridgetop overlooking Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. Here you can see the part of the mound leading to the serpent's head. The grass-covered effigy is 20-25 feet wide.

Even though we visited in July, I've not posted on Serpent Mound because there is so much information and speculation about it, and I never know where to start. I've read three books on it, and continue to read more. Most recently, the mound effigy has been attributed to the Fort Ancient culture, which lived in the area and had a village below the mound from A.D. 1000 to 1550, but Native Americans sometimes reworked older sacred earthworks, so the mound could be older than the current carbon dating of 1070 A.D.

Serpent Mound is built on the edge of a five-mile wide crater caused by a meteorite 200-300 million years ago. The meteorite theory and resulting cryptoexplosion are the most popular explanations and account for the land in the crater being tossed and flipped and turned upside down. The function of Serpent Mound remains a mystery, but just as at Fort Ancient, astronomy plays a huge part in its mystique and the sun's and moon's movements can be scientifically tracked and calculated when measured against the earthwork's structure. The serpent effigy's head is aligned with the summer solstice sunset, and the coils with the winter solstice sunrise.

A memorial plaque with a brief description of the Great Serpent Mound effigy earthwork.

Matty and I were dripping with sweat when this pretty Eastern Bluebird kept a wary eye on us as we walked the trail around the Serpent Mound. I don't know if our imaginations were at work, but we felt a sacredness attached to the land and an unexpected energy. We feel the same thing at Fort Ancient. On our way out, we stopped into the small museum, and a park curator told us some of Serpent Mound's history. He mentioned many believe the mound is a spiritual place and power center, and he's talked to a lot of people who travel to the mound to feel the special energy.

...the reason Mama and Papa Bluebird were so vigilant...babies! We enjoyed watching the parents work hard in their quest to offer the babies an endless supply of juicy and crunchy green things!

A White-breasted Nuthatch also kept us company while we were there. Listening to its gentle call and the dull thud of its bill against the bark as it rooted out insects was soothing.

For a really detailed post about Serpent Mound, see Ohio Archaeology Blog's article, "The Snake's Tale: How Old is Serpent Mound?" They have posted a lot of technical and historical information.