Posted on 12/12/2006 4:26:26 PM PST by blam
Ohio's Stonehenge
Fort Ancient is largest, best preserved earthwork of its kind in America. Its purpose is not known
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
A sign identifies one of the prehistoric earthworks at Fort Ancient State Memorial. Ohio law forbids walking off trail or on any mound or earthwork.OREGONIA - Fort Ancient remains a mystery.
The extensive earthen mounds and walls in southwest Ohio are unlikely a fortress, although they might have been used for social gatherings and religious ceremonies and astronomical viewings.
The site, atop a wooded bluff 235 feet above the Little Miami River in Warren County, was built 2,000 years ago by ancient Indians that archaeologists call Hopewells.
The intricate mounds stretch nearly 3 ½ miles and enclose about 100 acres atop a promontory on the east bank of the river in Washington Township.
The earthen walls are as high as 23 feet and as wide as 68 feet. The walls are divided by 67 crescent-shaped gateways. There are stone pavements in some places.
Some call Fort Ancient Ohio's Stonehenge and it is one of Ohio's top prehistoric sites.
Fort Ancient State Memorial is the largest and best-preserved prehistoric Indian hilltop earthwork in North America. It is a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Fort Ancient is an impressive site although it is difficult to fully gauge what you're seeing. It's like you are seeing a small bit of an elephant by hiking the trails on the site. You see mounds and you see more mounds. You're not quite sure what you're seeing. The pieces don't quite fit together until you go through the Museum at Fort Ancient, as it is called.
Also, the site is heavily wooded and the mounds are overgrown with trees that make it difficult to assess what you are viewing.
Three areas in site
The 764-acre site, operated by the Ohio Historical Society, is divided into three areas: North Fort, Middle Fort and South Fort.
The earthworks widen at the South Fort and the North Fort. The Middle Fort is long and narrow.
In general, the walls are irregular. They follow the plateau and ravines in some areas and in some spots are laid out in specific geometric patterns. There are a number of dome-shaped mounds inside and outside the enclosure.
There is no evidence that the earthworks were used to bury the dead.
They were built over 200 years and then used for 200 years from 100 A.D. to 300 A.D.
The South Fort was built first, followed by the Middle Fort and then the North Fort.
There is evidence of a large habitation just outside of the North Fort, suggesting that many people stayed outside the earthworks. But recent excavations indicate that some people also lived within the enclosure.
Sun, moon movement
Research suggests that the people who built the earthworks might have used them to mark the movement of the sun and the moon.
Standing near four stone-covered mounds in the North Fort's northeast corner, researchers have seen how sunrises on the summer and winter solstices and the minimum and maximum northern moon rises align with certain gaps in the mounds.
The four inner mounds create a perfect square, 512 feet apart on each side. The moon rises marked by the openings occur 9.3 years apart.
There is also evidence of a sacred or ceremonial road leading into the enclosure from the east. It was the last feature added to Fort Ancient.
Evidence shows two walls about 140 feet apart. The walls on each side were 3 to 4 feet high and 12 feet wide. There is some evidence of stone pavement. The walls stretched 2,500 feet to the northeast.
But most evidence of the road has been destroyed by farming.
Who built the mounds?
Fort Ancient was built in three stages in about 400 years. The builders used deer shoulder blades, elk antlers, clam-shell hoes and digging sticks to loosen the soil. It was then loaded into baskets and moved into place, 35 to 40 pounds at a time. The total volume of dirt in the mounds is estimated at 553,000 cubic yards. That's enough to fill Akron's Rubber Bowl 2 ½ times.
In addition, the Hopewells moved roughly another 500,000 cubic yards to fill in three gullies.
There are a number of reasons why archaeologists are reasonably sure that Fort Ancient was not built for defense.
Ditches have been found on the inside of the walls, not the outside. There is also little evidence to suggest enough people living at Fort Ancient to defend it. It would be difficult to block the 67 gateways if an enemy approached.
The Hopewell Indians occupied Ohio from 100 B.C. to about 500 A.D. They built other mounds in southern Ohio and traded extensively. Experts do not know why they moved nor where they went.
The Fort Ancient site was later occupied in about 1200 A.D. by Fort Ancient Indians who built villages within the South Fort and along the Little Miami River.
They farmed corn, beans and squash and added wild game, fish, clams and wild plants.
At one time, it was thought that these later Indians had built the mounds and that's where the Fort Ancient name came from.
The museum offers 9,000 square feet of exhibits and displays that cover 15,000 years of Indian history in Ohio.
That includes an outdoor display of plants cultivated by prehistoric Indians: corn, squash, sunflowers, goosefoot, marshelder, bottle gourds, squash and tobacco.
Artifacts uncovered
Research continues at Fort Ancient.
Last summer, archaeologists from Wright State University recovered flint, small bladelet knives, mica fragments, pottery fragments, a broken ax head, projectile points and flint flakes during their excavations of 10 centimeters or 4 inches of soil at a time.
A year earlier, archaeologists had used remote sensing devices to study underground features at Fort Ancient -- without any digging.
The survey of areas within the North Fort found evidence of a previously unknown circular structure nearly 200 feet in diameter and below ground. The survey and later excavating found evidence of possible houses, pits and other ancient activities.
Fort Ancient features two miles of hiking trails.
The 1-mile Earthworks Trail is fairly level and provides two scenic overlooks to the Little Miami River, a national scenic river. It also provides clear views of the earthworks. You can also shorten the distance, if you are so inclined.
The Connector Trail descends a quarter mile to the Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail that is part of the cross-Ohio Buckeye Trail and the North Country National Scenic Trail that stretches from New York to North Dakota.
The quarter-mile-long Stone Circle Trail runs behind the museum.
Ohio law forbids walking off trail or on any mound or earthwork. It's also against the law to remove any object from the state site.
But it's obvious that many visitors to Fort Ancient do walk along the mounds because the tops of the mounds are, in many cases, worn down to bare dirt.
You can also picnic at Fort Ancient, which was the first site operated by the Ohio Historical Society in 1891.
It is 75 miles southwest of Columbus and 35 miles northeast of Cincinnati. It is about 3 hours and 20 minutes from Akron.
GGG Ping.
When I was a kid we went to Mounds state park. I think it's in Indiana. I really enjoyed the trip even at 14 years old. Going to ancient archaeological sites was the main focus of the trip.
The mound structure doesn't appear to be following elevation contours. Why wouldn't they have built less wiggly?
No surveyors?
I know of such a mound in Indiana that is kept secret by the local farmers. They don't want outsiders coming around to mess with it out of respect to the indians who lived there a couple hundred years ago. Some call it a burial mound, others call it a gathering place for ceremonies. It has been covered by trees for several generations. There was a nearby indian village (about 1.5 miles from the mound) where you can still find arrowheads and tools. Much of it has been picked over (including by me as a kid), but no one has dug there with tools, only picked off the surface.
Thanks. Another great mystery waiting to be solved.
I hope, if and when I get to Heaven, there will be a class, detailing the true history of this wonderful and strange place, we call Earth.
I'm sure you know of the place linked below.
I visited it myself a while back.
Just a piggy back on your post.
http://www.stonehengeusa.com/
The Appalachians are so f'kin old . Euro peons just don't get it. I remember a Spanish travel agent gal laughing at the thought of a trip down the Ohio river in a boat. In her mind if there was not a Moorih castle , there was no history. I told her she was an ingnorant slut. But she did not have the intelligenge to sleep with me.
later read Buckeye bump
I think there will be, and I can't wait to learn forever.
Thank you to the link to the maps, fascinating information.
Wow, all their life work, was spent on a wall.. what fantastic.... intelligence?... is that the word I'm looking for?
At a glance, and of course I could be wrong..The mounds follow tha contours of the land with an equal setback on all sides.
Could be to prevent fire? Sneak attack?. I don't know.. perhaps there were Sentries posted at the openings to sound an alarm if there were wild animals entering. It may be one giant hunting trap. After all these years, who knows how steep those walls once were.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
I camp out one time, just one stinkin time, and so if I left a couple things behind. Geesh, will they ever leave me alone!
You are correct. Mounds State Park is in Anderson, Indiana, approximately 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.