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Earthen mounds in Ohio are a 2,000-year-old mystery
11:12 AM CST on Sunday, January 21, 2007
By BOB DOWNING / Akron Beacon Journal
OREGONIA, Ohio – Fort Ancient remains a mystery.
The extensive earthen mounds and walls in southwestern Ohio probably aren't a fortress, although they may have been used for social gatherings, religious ceremonies and astronomical viewings.
The site, atop a wooded bluff 235 feet above the Little Miami River in Warren County, 75 miles southwest of Columbus, was built 2,000 years ago by Indians whom archaeologists call Hopewells.
The intricate series of mounds stretches nearly 3 ½ miles and encloses about 100 acres.
The earthen walls are as tall as 23 feet and as wide as 68 feet. They're divided by 67 crescent-shaped gateways. Stone pavement survives 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 and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
Fort Ancient is impressive, although it's difficult to fully gauge what you're seeing. Hiking the trails, you see mounds and more mounds. The site is heavily wooded, and the mounds are overgrown with trees. The pieces don't quite fit together until you go through the Museum at Fort Ancient.
Fort Ancient was built in three stages in about 400 years starting in 100 B.C. The South Fort was built first, followed by the Middle Fort and then the North Fort. The builders used deer shoulder blades, elk antlers, clamshell 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.
The walls at the 764-acre site follow the plateau and ravines in some areas, and in some spots are laid out in geometric patterns. There are dome-shape mounds inside and outside the enclosure.
The earthworks were used for about 600 years from 100 B.C. to 400 or 500 A.D. Evidence suggests that many people stayed outside the earthworks. But recent excavations indicate some people also lived within the enclosure.
The mounds' builders may 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 moonrises align with certain gaps in the mounds.
There is also evidence of a sacred or ceremonial road leading into the enclosure from the east. 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.
Archaeologists are reasonably sure that Fort Ancient was not built for defense. Ditches have been found inside the walls, not outside. There's also little evidence to suggest enough people living at the fort 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. Experts don't know why they moved or to where.
11:12 AM CST on Sunday, January 21, 2007
By BOB DOWNING / Akron Beacon Journal
OREGONIA, Ohio – Fort Ancient remains a mystery.
The extensive earthen mounds and walls in southwestern Ohio probably aren't a fortress, although they may have been used for social gatherings, religious ceremonies and astronomical viewings.
The site, atop a wooded bluff 235 feet above the Little Miami River in Warren County, 75 miles southwest of Columbus, was built 2,000 years ago by Indians whom archaeologists call Hopewells.
The intricate series of mounds stretches nearly 3 ½ miles and encloses about 100 acres.
The earthen walls are as tall as 23 feet and as wide as 68 feet. They're divided by 67 crescent-shaped gateways. Stone pavement survives 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 and has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
Fort Ancient is impressive, although it's difficult to fully gauge what you're seeing. Hiking the trails, you see mounds and more mounds. The site is heavily wooded, and the mounds are overgrown with trees. The pieces don't quite fit together until you go through the Museum at Fort Ancient.
Fort Ancient was built in three stages in about 400 years starting in 100 B.C. The South Fort was built first, followed by the Middle Fort and then the North Fort. The builders used deer shoulder blades, elk antlers, clamshell 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.
The walls at the 764-acre site follow the plateau and ravines in some areas, and in some spots are laid out in geometric patterns. There are dome-shape mounds inside and outside the enclosure.
The earthworks were used for about 600 years from 100 B.C. to 400 or 500 A.D. Evidence suggests that many people stayed outside the earthworks. But recent excavations indicate some people also lived within the enclosure.
The mounds' builders may 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 moonrises align with certain gaps in the mounds.
There is also evidence of a sacred or ceremonial road leading into the enclosure from the east. 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.
Archaeologists are reasonably sure that Fort Ancient was not built for defense. Ditches have been found inside the walls, not outside. There's also little evidence to suggest enough people living at the fort 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. Experts don't know why they moved or to where.
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