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 (A.D. 1–400); 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 (A.D. 1–400); 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 (A.D. 1–400); Mounds -- Ohio -- Pickaway County; Earthworks (Archaeology); Excavations (Archaeology)--Ohio
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio)