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 (A.D. 1000–1650);
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; Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650);
Places: Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Comb made of bone by the Fort Ancient Culture, 900 AD-1500 AD. Excavated from the Feurt Village Site in Scioto County, Ohio. This item is part of the H. R. McPherson Collection at the Ohio History Connection. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00266
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650);
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 (A.D. 1000–1650);
Places: Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Spherical ceramic vessel has an outward-flaring rim. Entire exterior surface is cordmarked. It ranges in color from dark yellowish brown to very dark gray. Item was excavated from Holmes Mound in Highland County, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07466
Subjects: Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Pottery; American Indians--Archaeology; American Indian history and society
Places: Highland County (Ohio)
 

Description: Aerial view of Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio. It is the largest serpent effigy mound in the United States. The Ohio Historical Society has managed the site since 1900. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02756
Subjects: American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Archaeology--United States--History; Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650);
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Sandstone petroglyphs at Leo Petroglyph State Memorial park, attributed to the Fort Ancient Indians, 900 AD-1500 AD. The Leo Petroglyph is an Ohio Historical Society site located northwest of Leo, Jackson County, Ohio. The photograph was taken ca. 1940-1949. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00354
Subjects: Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio
Places: Leo (Ohio); Jackson County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the Miami Valley from Fort Ancient, Warren County, Ohio, ca. 1886-1888. This photograph is part of a collection compiled by Henry Howe while researching the 1889 edition of "Historical Collections of Ohio." The Fort Ancient Earthworks are a series of earthen embankments that extend for more than three and one half miles around a high bluff along the Little Miami River in southwestern Ohio. Although it is called a "fort," it probably never served as a defensive work. Ditches are located inside the walls rather than outside as might be expected in a fortification. There are more than 60 gateways in the walls, making it difficult to defend the site against enemies. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 500 A. D.) of prehistoric American Indian people constructed the earthworks. Later native residents built a village and a cemetery within the walls of the already ancient South Fort. Archaeologists mistakenly assumed that these villagers had built the earthen walls. It was called the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) after the name of the site. This mistake has caused confusion for later students of Ohio archaeology. Recent excavations at Fort Ancient have discovered the remains of Hopewell culture houses and ceremonial features both inside and outside of the enclosure walls. It is not known whether the houses located inside the enclosure were occupied before or after the enclosure was built. It also has yet to be determined whether the houses were the dwellings of more or less full time residents, or the temporary shelters of visitors. The Fort Ancient Earthworks is an Ohio Historical Society site open to visitation. It is located seven miles southeast of Lebanon, in Warren County, Ohio. In addition to the earthworks, the site features a museum with interpretive exhibits about Ohio's ancient past. The Fort Ancient Earthworks site also is a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00506
Subjects: Fort Ancient (Ohio); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Earthworks (Archaeology); State parks & reserves; Mounds--Ohio--Warren County
Places: Warren County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph taken by Warren Moorehead showing visitors during a grave opening at Fort Ancient. Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve is located on the Little Miami River in Warren County, Ohio. The earthwork encloses 100 acres and is delineated by nearly 3.5 miles of earthen walls punctuated by 67 irregularly spaced gaps or gateways. Rather than an immense defensive location, current thinking maintains that it is actually a ceremonial precinct with astronomical alignments incorporated into its design. The site is subdivided into North and South Forts connected by a causeway-like Middle Fort. Fort Ancient was constructed in phases by the Hopewell culture between 100 B.C. and A.D. 400. Centuries later the South Fort was re-occupied by a different American Indian culture, themselves referred to as the Fort Ancient people. This inconsistency in names quickly became a source of confusion among students of Ohio archaeology and remains so to the present day. Fort Ancient was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. In 2008 it was included as one of seven Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork sites in Ohio under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site also features hiking trails, a picnic area and a museum with interpretive exhibits about Ohio's ancient past. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV17_B02F02_E7_002
Subjects: Fort Ancient (Ohio); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1-400); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Earthworks (Archaeology); State parks & reserves; Mounds--Ohio--Warren County
Places: Warren County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads: "Aerial view of Serpent Mound largest serpent effigy mound in the world near Fort Hill Adams County" The Serpent Mound, containing three parts, extends approximately 1, 370 feet ((420m) and varies in height from less than a foot to three feet. It conforms to the land where it rests with its head approaching a cliff above a stream and its body winds back and forth over eight hundred feet with seven coils. It's tail ends in a triple coil. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 15, 1966. The serpent has an open mouth extending around the east of a 120 foot-long hollow oval feature. Some scholars theory is that the oval feature is an egg, the sun, the body of a frog, or the remnant of a platform. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F05_001_001
Subjects: Serpent Mound State Memorial (Ohio); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650)
Places: Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows Fort Ancient. The Fort Ancient Earthworks are a series of earthen embankments that extend for more than three and one half miles around a high bluff along the Little Miami River in southwestern Ohio. Although it is called a "fort," it probably never served as a defensive work. Ditches are located inside the walls rather than outside as might be expected in a fortification. There are more than 60 gateways in the walls, making it difficult to defend the site against enemies. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 500 A. D.) of prehistoric American Indian people constructed the earthworks. Later native residents built a village and a cemetery within the walls of the already ancient South Fort. Archaeologists mistakenly assumed that these villagers had built the earthen walls. It was called the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) after the name of the site. This mistake has caused confusion for later students of Ohio archaeology. Recent excavations at Fort Ancient have discovered the remains of Hopewell culture houses and ceremonial features both inside and outside of the enclosure walls. It is not known whether the houses located inside the enclosure were occupied before or after the enclosure was built. It also has yet to be determined whether the houses were the dwellings of more or less full time residents, or the temporary shelters of visitors. The Fort Ancient Earthworks is an Ohio Historical Society site open to visitation. It is located seven miles southeast of Lebanon, in Warren County, Ohio. In addition to the earthworks, the site features a museum with interpretive exhibits about Ohio's ancient past. The Fort Ancient Earthworks site also is a National Historic Landmark. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07999
Subjects: Fort Ancient (Ohio); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1-400); Earthworks (Archaeology); State parks & reserves; Mounds--Ohio--Warren County
Places: Warren County (Ohio)
 

Description: Fort Ancient, an earthworks featuring 18,000 feet of earthen walls, was built 2,000 years ago by Hopewell Indians who used the shoulder blades of deer, split elk antler, clam shell hoes and digging sticks to dig the dirt. They then carried the soil in baskets holding 35 to 40 pounds. Portions of these walls were used in conjunction with the sun and moon to provide a calendar system for these peoples. Early settlers believed the mounds were fortifications, leading to the naming of the site Fort Ancient. The two photographs shown here measure 8" x 10" (20.32 x 25.4 cm). In Ohio, the Hopewell Indians (100 B.C.-A.D. 500) built burial mounds and large earthen enclosures in geometric shapes (circles, squares, and octagons) to mark the places where the people gathered periodically to participate in many social and ceremonial events. Some of these sites were quite large--the Newark Earthworks complex extends over a 4-square-mile area. The Hopewell people also maintained a large trade network extending as far as the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, the Florida coast and Appalachians, and northern Lake Superior. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3174_3928614_001
Subjects: Fort Ancient (Ohio); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); State parks & reserves; Mounds--Ohio--Warren County
Places: Oregonia (Ohio); Lebanon (Ohio); Warren County (Ohio)