Description: Photograph of material recovered at the Snake Den Mound Group. The Snake Den Mound Group is located in the uplands of Walnut Township, Pickaway County, Ohio, just west of East Ringold. The site’s peculiar name comes from the fact that in earlier times snakes in great numbers were known to hibernate there annually. When first explored by Warren Moorehead in the late 1890s, the site was described as a series of seven mounds containing extended and disarticulated skeletal remains, cremations and stone box burials. Some mounds were constructed from yellow clay and others from stone that included an odd assortment of boulders, spalls, fossils, concretions and burned rock. There was even what Moorehead described as a small concretion box recovered that contained a number of small native silver nuggets, still a unique find in Ohio archaeology. After early investigations the site remained fallow for more than a century, with the site’s last major disturbance being a pipeline constructed through the site in the 1960s. In recent years a local support group has taken a renewed interest in the site with an ongoing research and preservation initiative. The focus of archaeology at Snake Den is no longer toward the large scale excavations of the past but rather comprehensive program of remote sensing surveys utilizing a variety of specialized instruments. This has resulted in discoveries including a perimeter wall and ditch surrounding the mound group, rows of pits, post circles and other subsurface features not visible at the surface, demonstrating that the site is much more complex than ever imagined. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV17_B04F03_E10_003
Subjects: Hopewell culture--Ohio; Mounds -- Ohio -- Pickaway County; Earthworks (Archaeology); Excavations (Archaeology)--Ohio
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph taken during an excavation at the Snake Den Mound Group. The Snake Den Mound Group is located in the uplands of Walnut Township, Pickaway County, Ohio, just west of East Ringold. The site’s peculiar name comes from the fact that in earlier times snakes in great numbers were known to hibernate there annually. When first explored by Warren Moorehead in the late 1890s, the site was described as a series of seven mounds containing extended and disarticulated skeletal remains, cremations and stone box burials. Some mounds were constructed from yellow clay and others from stone that included an odd assortment of boulders, spalls, fossils, concretions and burned rock. There was even what Moorehead described as a small concretion box recovered that contained a number of small native silver nuggets, still a unique find in Ohio archaeology. After early investigations the site remained fallow for more than a century, with the site’s last major disturbance being a pipeline constructed through the site in the 1960s. In recent years a local support group has taken a renewed interest in the site with an ongoing research and preservation initiative. The focus of archaeology at Snake Den is no longer toward the large scale excavations of the past but rather comprehensive program of remote sensing surveys utilizing a variety of specialized instruments. This has resulted in discoveries including a perimeter wall and ditch surrounding the mound group, rows of pits, post circles and other subsurface features not visible at the surface, demonstrating that the site is much more complex than ever imagined. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV17_B04F03_E10_002
Subjects: Hopewell culture--Ohio; Mounds -- Ohio -- Pickaway County; Earthworks (Archaeology); Excavations (Archaeology)--Ohio
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph taken during an excavation at the Snake Den Mound Group. Pictured before the group is a large pile of stone concretions. The Snake Den Mound Group is located in the uplands of Walnut Township, Pickaway County, Ohio, just west of East Ringold. The site’s peculiar name comes from the fact that in earlier times snakes in great numbers were known to hibernate there annually. When first explored by Warren Moorehead in the late 1890s, the site was described as a series of seven mounds containing extended and disarticulated skeletal remains, cremations and stone box burials. Some mounds were constructed from yellow clay and others from stone that included an odd assortment of boulders, spalls, fossils, concretions and burned rock. There was even what Moorehead described as a small concretion box recovered that contained a number of small native silver nuggets, still a unique find in Ohio archaeology. After early investigations the site remained fallow for more than a century, with the site’s last major disturbance being a pipeline constructed through the site in the 1960s. In recent years a local support group has taken a renewed interest in the site with an ongoing research and preservation initiative. The focus of archaeology at Snake Den is no longer toward the large scale excavations of the past but rather comprehensive program of remote sensing surveys utilizing a variety of specialized instruments. This has resulted in discoveries including a perimeter wall and ditch surrounding the mound group, rows of pits, post circles and other subsurface features not visible at the surface, demonstrating that the site is much more complex than ever imagined. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV17_B04F03_E10_001
Subjects: Hopewell culture--Ohio; Mounds -- Ohio -- Pickaway County; Earthworks (Archaeology); Excavations (Archaeology)--Ohio
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio)
 

Description: Spearpoint made of mica, from the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from the Edwin Harness Mound in Ross County, Ohio, ca. 1900-1915. The Hopewell people obtained mica from western North Carolina. Archeologists are not certain how they used mica cut outs. This object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. The Edwin Harness Mound was located south of Chillicothe in Liberty Township, Ross County, Ohio. It was the largest of the 14 mounds associated with the nearly 100-acre Liberty Earthworks, a complex dating to late in the Hopewell Period (post-A.D 300). In their 1840s survey, Squier and Davis described the mound as egg-shaped in plan (about 100 x 180 feet) with the larger end toward the north. It was measured at 20 feet high at the north end, sloping to 11 feet at the south end. Like many large Hopewell burial mounds in Ohio, the Harness Mound was repeatedly investigated throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the recovery of numerous burials and the a variety of related artifacts. The last fieldwork at the site took place in the 1970s in advance of the area being reclaimed for agricultural purposes. Archaeologists dug below the base level of the mound and discovered it had been constructed over the remains of two very large conjoined post structures, most likely ceremonial houses or perhaps a single great house. The houses each measured about 30 x 40 feet connected by a 10 x 10 foot passageway, reminiscent of how Hopewell earthworks in general were laid out. Additionally, numerous artifacts diagnostic of the Hopewell culture were recovered and radiocarbon dates ranging between A.D. 330 and A.D. 470 place the Edwin Harness Mound near the extreme end of the Hopewell sequence. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00259
Subjects: Edwin Harness Mound (Ohio); Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell culture--Ohio--Scioto River Valley; Excavations (Archaeology)--Ohio;
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Canine bear teeth with pearl inlays from the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from Burial 35, Mound 25, Hopewell Group, Ross County, ca. 1922-1925. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. The Hopewell Mound Group, the type site for the Hopewell Culture, is located along the North Fork of Paint Creek in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. When first surveyed in the mid-1800s the mound and earthwork complex, once referred to as the Clark Works, contained at least 38 mounds of various sizes within a 111-acre, somewhat “D”-shaped walled enclosure. An attached segmented square enclosed an additional 18 acres. The most notable mound in the group is referred to as Mound 25, a three-part conjoined mound that once measured 35 feet high by 500 feet long and 180 feet wide at the base. It was this mound more than any other that was the source of many of the iconic artifacts that defined the Hopewell Culture (100 BC-AD 400). The Hopewell Mound Group was extensively investigated in the early 1890s by Warren Moorehead to collect material for the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition. This material is now housed in the Chicago Field Museum. In the 1920s Henry Shetrone of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) also did extensive field work there, assembling an impressive collection of materials for the museum. Today the Hopewell Mound Group and several other related Ross County earthwork complexes are overseen by the National Park Service as the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. The Hopewell Mound Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00260
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Hopewell culture; Artifacts
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Eagle effigy boatstone, constructed of pipestone and river pearl, from the Ohio Hopewell culture, Middle Woodland period, 200 BC-400 AD. Excavated from the Hopewell Group, Ross County, ca. 1922-1925. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. The Hopewell Mound Group, the type site for the Hopewell Culture, is located along the North Fork of Paint Creek in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. When first surveyed in the mid-1800s the mound and earthwork complex, once referred to as the Clark Works, contained at least 38 mounds of various sizes within a 111-acre, somewhat “D”-shaped walled enclosure. An attached segmented square enclosed an additional 18 acres. The most notable mound in the group is referred to as Mound 25, a three-part conjoined mound that once measured 35 feet high by 500 feet long and 180 feet wide at the base. It was this mound more than any other that was the source of many of the iconic artifacts that defined the Hopewell Culture (100 BC-AD 400). The Hopewell Mound Group was extensively investigated in the early 1890s by Warren Moorehead to collect material for the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition. This material is now housed in the Chicago Field Museum. In the 1920s Henry Shetrone of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) also did extensive field work there, assembling an impressive collection of materials for the museum. Today the Hopewell Mound Group and several other related Ross County earthwork complexes are overseen by the National Park Service as the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. The Hopewell Mound Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00262
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Hopewell culture; Artifacts
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Frog effigy pipe from the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from Esch Mound in Huron County, Ohio. The object is held in the Ohio Historical Society Archaeology Collection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00263
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History;
Places: Huron County (Ohio)
 

Description: Awls made of bone from the Ohio Fort Ancient culture, 900 AD-1500 AD. Excavated from Feurt Mound in Scioto County, Ohio. These objects are held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00264
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Fort Ancient culture; Artifacts
Places: Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fish hook made of bone from the Fort Ancient culture, 900 AD-1500 AD. Excavated from the Feurt Village Site in Scioto County, Ohio, in 1940. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00265
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History;
Places: Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Beaded necklace made of bone from the Fort Ancient culture, 900 AD-1500 AD. Excavated from the Feurt Village Site in Scioto County, Ohio, 1916. The object is held in the Ohio History Connection Archaeology Collection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00267
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Fort Ancient culture;
Places: Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Falcon-shaped cut-out made of copper by the Ohio Hopewell culture, Middle Woodland period, 200 BC-1 AD. Excavated from the Central Grave site at Mound City, Mound # 7, in Ross County, Ohio. The object is held by the National Park Service. Mound City is a burial mound and earthwork complex located in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. It is situated on the west bank of the Scioto River opposite the Hopeton Earthworks, a few miles north of Chillicothe. The site was constructed between approximately 100 BC and AD 400 by people of the Hopewell Culture and consists of 22 variously sized mounds surrounded a low, four-sided, earthen embankment that encloses about 13 acres. During World War I Mound City became part of an expansive army training facility called Camp Sherman. In an attempt to preserve as much of the site’s integrity as the army would allow, the mounds were flattened or truncated and camp buildings built over them and not intruded into them. Beginning in the 1920s, the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) funded restoration of the site and in 1923 the Mound City Group was elevated to the status of National Monument. Since 1992 Mound City has served as the focal point of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. Restoration lasted several years and was the beginning of the movement toward archaeology as a disciplined profession. One interesting aspect learned during the restoration process was that, for whatever reason, burials at Mound City were of a more egalitarian nature and not just of apparent high status as seen at other locations. The Mound City Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00268
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; Archaeology--United States--History; Hopewell culture
Places: Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Stars made of copper attributed to the Ohio Hopewell culture, 100 BC-500 AD. Excavated from Burial 12 at Mound City, Mound # 7, in Ross County, Ohio. These objects are held by the National Park Service. Mound City is a burial mound and earthwork complex located in Union Township, Ross County, Ohio. It is situated on the west bank of the Scioto River opposite the Hopeton Earthworks, a few miles north of Chillicothe. The site was constructed between approximately 100 BC and AD 400 by people of the Hopewell Culture and consists of 22 variously sized mounds surrounded a low, four-sided, earthen embankment that encloses about 13 acres. During World War I Mound City became part of an expansive army training facility called Camp Sherman. In an attempt to preserve as much of the site’s integrity as the army would allow, the mounds were flattened or truncated and camp buildings built over them and not intruded into them. Beginning in the 1920s, the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) funded restoration of the site and in 1923 the Mound City Group was elevated to the status of National Monument. Since 1992 Mound City has served as the focal point of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park. Restoration lasted several years and was the beginning of the movement toward archaeology as a disciplined profession. One interesting aspect learned during the restoration process was that, for whatever reason, burials at Mound City were of a more egalitarian nature and not just of apparent high status as seen at other locations. The Mound City Group is one of seven Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites presently under consideration by the United States Department of the Interior for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00269
Subjects: Ross County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; American Indians--Archaeology; Archaeology--United States--History; Hopewell culture; Artifacts
Places: Ross County (Ohio)