Description: Engraved print titled "Ohio River from the Summit of Grave Creek Mound." The print is based on artwork by Seth Eastman. The mound was built by the Adena people between 250 and 150 B.C. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01155
Subjects: Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio
Places: Moundsville (West Virginia)
 

Description: What is now Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, was once home to the Adena and Hopewell prehistoric Native American cultures. This map shows an earthwork known as the Hopeton Work, about four miles north of Chillicothe. The Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) built most of the earthworks and some of the circular enclosures in the Chillicothe area, including the Adena Mound. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 400 A.D.) built monumental earthworks and burial mounds in geometric shapes, primarily in the Paint Creek Valley, a few miles from Chillicothe. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08598
Subjects: Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology)
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: What is now Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, was once home to the Adena and Hopewell prehistoric American Indian cultures. This map shows the most densely-concentrated area of ancient earthworks in North America. The Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) built most of the earthworks and some of the circular enclosures in the Chillicothe area, including the Adena Mound. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 400 A.D.) built monumental earthworks and burial mounds in geometric shapes, primarily in the Paint Creek Valley, a few miles from Chillicothe. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateII
Subjects: Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology)
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: What is now Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, was once home to the Adena and Hopewell prehistoric American Indian cultures. This map shows an ancient earthwork located in Liberty Township, about 8 miles southeast of Chillicothe. The Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) built most of the earthworks and some of the circular enclosures in the Chillicothe area, including the Adena Mound. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 400 A.D.) built monumental earthworks and burial mounds in geometric shapes, primarily in the Paint Creek Valley, a few miles from Chillicothe. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateXX
Subjects: Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology)
Places: Liberty Township (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: What is now the area of Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, was once home to the Adena and Hopewell prehistoric Native American cultures. This map shows the High Bank earthworks in Ross County. The Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) built most of the earthworks and some of the circular enclosures in the Chillicothe area, including the Adena Mound. The Hopewell culture (100 B.C. to 400 A.D.) built monumental earthworks and burial mounds in geometric shapes, primarily in the Paint Creek Valley, a few miles from Chillicothe. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateXVI
Subjects: Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400); Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology)
Places: Chillicothe (Ohio); Ross County (Ohio)
 

Description: Serpent Mound is a spectacular effigy earthwork of a serpent uncoiling along a prominent ridgetop in northern Adams County, Ohio. Excavations between 1887 and 1889 by Frederic Putnam, of Harvard University's Peabody Museum, revealed the structure of the earthwork, but Putnam did not find any artifacts that revealed the age or cultural affiliation of the mound. Until recently, archaeologists assumed that Serpent Mound was built by the Adena culture (800 B.C. to 100 A.D.) since two Adena burial mounds are located nearby. Yet Putnam also discovered traces of a village of the Fort Ancient culture (1000 A.D. to 1650 A.D.) near the Serpent. Excavations conducted in 1991 recovered charcoal that returned radiocarbon dates suggesting that the Fort Ancient people built the mound between about 1025 A.D. and 1215 A.D.. Frederic Putnam saved Serpent Mound from destruction. On his urging, funds were raised for Harvard University to purchase the site. Later, the ownership was transferred to the Ohio Historical Society, and Serpent Mound is now recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08639
Subjects: Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology); Adena Culture (800 B.C.–A.D. 100); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650)
Places: Peebles (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Map of the "Marietta Works" by surveyor Charles Whittlesey, 1837. The Marietta Earthworks site is a large Hopewell culture ceremonial center located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers in Washington County. Originally, it included a large square enclosure surrounding four flat-topped pyramidal mounds, another smaller square, and a circular enclosure with a large burial mound at its center. In 1788, the directors of the Ohio Company of Associates, the founders of Marietta, agreed to preserve important parts of the earthworks as parks. Three segments of the Marietta Earthworks are maintained as public parks today. The large burial mound surrounded by a circular enclosure is called Conus, the largest of the flat-topped earthen pyramids is called Quadranaou, and the next largest pyramidal mound is called Capitolium. The Washington County Public Library was built atop Capitolium Mound. The Marietta Earthworks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateXXVI
Subjects: Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1–400)
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Four small maps showing American Indian earthworks and ancient monuments in Pickaway, Fairfield and Licking Counties. Pictured are "the Alligater," "the Cross," the Rock Mill Work and the Newark Valley earthworks. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateXXXVI
Subjects: Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology); Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000–1650); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400)
Places: Pickaway County (Ohio); Fairfield County (Ohio); Granville (Ohio); Licking County (Ohio); Newark (Ohio)
 

Description: Map showing an ancient earthwork in Seal Township, Pike County, Ohio. Archaeologists E.G. Squier and E.H. Davis, with the help of surveyor and geologist Charles Whittlesey, systematically documented the Indian works and compiled them into an 1847 book called "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the results of extensive original surveys and explorations. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SquierDavisPlateXXIV
Subjects: Mounds--Ohio River Valley; American Indians--Archaeology; Ohio River Valley--Antiquities; Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1-400) (A.D. 1-400)
Places: Pike County (Ohio)