The Great Serpent Mound of Ohio

 
                               Great Serpent Mound, Adam's County, OH

For this, our final week, I am happy to write about the Great Serpent Mound (seen above and aerially below) located in Adams County, Ohio. This incredible figure, formed in the earth back in 1070 C.E., is theorized to have been influenced by the Mississippian culture dating back to 700-1550, as the rattlesnake was a prevalent zoomorphic icon throughout their themes. A fascinating aspect of this particular landmark is that it was and is significantly aligned celestially. While one end of the serpent (the head) lines up with the summer solstice sunset, the other end (the tail), in direct contrast, is in line with the winter solstice sunrise. It has been suggested that the reasoning for this alignment could have been used to mark the seasons and the perfect time for harvesting. The bends in the serpent's shape have also been said to be in line with lunar phases, the two solstices, and the two equinoxes when night and day lasted approximately the same length of time. There is another theory that the shape of the serpent is aligned with the constellation Draco, the 8th largest constellation in the sky. Thuban, one of the stars within the Draco constellation, was the North Pole star from 3942 to 1793. A pole star, which was said to be aligned with the first curve in the snake's torso, can lead us to believe that they could have been trying to use this curve to identify true North. I found the most wonderful sentence in my research to be "the serpent mount may represent a conglomerate of all celestial knowledge known by these native peoples" (Brown).

             Aerial View of the Great Serpent Mound, Adams County, OH

The Great Serpent Mound, as you can see above, is known to be the largest serpent-shaped mound, image, statue, figure, effigy, call it what you like, in the world. This spectacular mound measures in at approximately 1300 ft long. Many of these mounds were made by Native Americans throughout Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois along riverbeds and valleys. I was saddened to read that many of these incredible figures were destroyed as farms and other modern-day constructions were erected in their place. The particular geography surrounding this effigy's location suggests that a meteor probably struck this site an estimated 250-300 million years ago. There are theories as to who originally built this mound and that it is possible that, over the years, many indigenous civilizations took great care to continuously refurbish the site. Interestingly enough, there were no artifacts found within this mound, as was the typical practice back then. There were also no graves found within the mound, although there were burials discovered nearby.

This has been a wonderful semester and I truly wish the best for all of you, my classmates, with who I shared this blogging experience. 

Dr. Katherine T. Brown, "Fort Ancient Culture: Great Serpent Mound," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed November 16, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/fort-ancient-culture-great-serpent-mound/.

Comments

  1. Justin DwinellNovember 18, 2020 at 11:41 AM

    Hello Jake,

    Your post truly caught my eye from the beginning. Once I read your first sentence from the brief preview on blackboard, I knew I had to learn more. I like how your final post you decided to choose something that dates back to 1070 C.E. that is in our own country. It blows my mind how intelligent this civilization was to have the head and tail pointing towards the summer (sunset) and winter (sunrise) solstice. It is also crazy to me how big this piece is after seeing your picture from aerial view. Do you think there is anything underneath the mounds?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kirstyn CraigNovember 20, 2020 at 2:42 PM

    Good job Jake! Very insightful post

    ReplyDelete

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