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.

Birding at Fort Ancient State Memorial in Warren County, Ohio

I think I’ve found a new haunt—Fort Ancient! Located just 15 minutes up I-71 from where we live in Warren County, Fort Ancient is located on a gorgeous wooded plateau perched 245 feet above the Little Miami River. What makes it special? It is the largest prehistoric earthen hilltop enclosure in the United States. Built 2000 years ago by Mound Builders, the earth walls stretch 3.5 miles, enclosing over 100 acres of hilltop. Mound Builders used small baskets to move more than 553,000 cubic yards of soil to form the earthen walls that reach from 4 to 23 feet in height. Amazingly, most of the earthworks are still visible and retain the same form they had over 2000 years ago! Archeologists estimate it took about 400 years (100BC – 290AD) to build the entire complex.

A 2000 year old earthen wall at Fort Ancient State Memorial.

As you drive through the park, you can see earthen walls rimming the plateau. Believed to

be a gathering place and religious ceremonial complex, Fort Ancient has specific ties to the Summer and Winter Solstice.

Click here for a link to the Ohio Archaeology Blog for a post on the Winter Solstice celebration on Dec 20, 2008 and previous Summer Solstice celebrations.

I love these signs....thank goodness some of the mounds and earthworks in our state have been protected and preserved.

While I was there, I visited the bookstore (of course) at the museum and found two really nice books to help me learn about the Hopewell Culture and the Mound Builders of Ohio:

Ohio Archaeology, by Bradley T. Lepper

This book is fabulous. It chronicles all the earthworks in Ohio. It will be my primary reference as I learn more and more about these prehistoric sites scattered throughout our state. It's loaded with survey maps, photos, the most recent analysis of the purpose of the earthworks, and history. I already caught Matty reading it too. It's very interesting.

The Fort Ancient Earthworks, Prehistoric Lifeways of the Hopewell Culture in Southwestern Ohio, Edited by Robert P. Connolly and Bradley T. Lepper.

This book is specific to Fort Ancient and is a bit more technical. I don't think it was written for lay people because it was based on a symposium sponsored by the Ohio Historical Society, but I'm crazy for it!! It's loaded with survey maps and in-depth articles on all aspects of Fort Ancient.

To top it off, I heard and saw lots of birds and will definitely be back for more birding as well as studying the magnificent earthen walls. I'm sure Fort Ancient will be a jackpot during spring migration. Among the highlights of Sunday's birding was a huge flock of Cedar Waxwings hawking insects above the North Overlook of the South Fort. I've seen large flocks of Cedar Waxwings along the Little Miami River near where we live systematically moving from tree to tree and devouring insects on the wing, but this flock was larger than any I'd ever seen. A constant flurry of activity, the birds were thick in the air as they constantly dove out to nab insects, returning to the towering oaks for just a moment before launching back out for another snack! Tiny flakes of tree debris kept falling all around me as the birds disturbed the upper branches en masse. It almost appeared they were using the twigs for springboards to launch themselves back out into the sky...