Fort Hill shelterhouse photograph   Save
Ohio History Connection Archaeology Photograph Collection
Description: Photograph showing a shelterhouse at Fort Hill. Fort Hill Earthworks and Nature Preserve is a 1300-acre, heavily-wooded tract located near Hillsboro in Highland County, Ohio. Including Fort Ancient and Spruce Hill, Fort Hill is one of three large hilltop enclosures in the southwest part of the state. The site's 50-acre earthwork is enclosed by nearly 1.5 miles of walls and sits at the crest of a particularly steep hill above Ohio Brush Creek. The walls follow the hill’s irregular outline just below the crest and are punctuated by 33 irregularly spaced gaps or gateways. Fort Hill was likely erected by people of the Hopewell culture somewhere between 100 B.C. and A.D. 400, more as a ceremonial precinct rather than a defensive position. The Hopewell timeframe is further suggested by materials recovered in the 1940s and 50s during fieldwork at a habitation site in the valley below the enclosure. An absolute date of AD 306+/-58 was later determined through hydration dating of an obsidian biface fragment recovered in the 1950s, further establishing an overall Hopewell presence at Fort Hill. There are hiking trails to the fort and the preserve itself can be accessed from Ohio’s Buckeye Trail from where it crosses the Preserve. The site, which is managed by the Arc of Appalachia for the Ohio History Connection, is open year-round except during a controlled hunting season in the fall. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV17_B02F03_E2_05
Subjects: Fort Hill (Ohio); Earthworks (Archaeology); Hopewell Culture (A.D. 1–400); State parks & reserves;
Places: Highland County (Ohio)