When was the serpent mound made

The Great Serpent Mound, in Adams County, Ohio, is one of the strangest and most fascinating places on earth and demonstrates the incredible engineering and innovation of an ancient group of people. At 1, feet, it is the longest snake effigy on the planet and the design is quite remarkable, especially when viewed from above. But who built the Great Serpent Mount? And why was it built in Ohio? And, more importantly, what was the reason for its construction? In fact, trying to answer these questions has only created more questions.

Serpent Mound is Unlike any Other Effigy in North America At a little more than a quarter of a mile long and between one and three feet tall, the Serpent Mound pales in comparison to the Great Pyramid or Stonehenge, but it is no less fascinating.

When the effigy was first recorded by European explorers, Edwin Davis and Ephraim Squire, in , their account of the site was published in their book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.

They noted that the head of the serpent rests on a cliff above a stream and that the body meanders back and forth for feet, producing seven coils. A strange feature of Serpent Mound is that it depicts the snake with an open mouth, preparing to eat a large egg. The egg and the serpent are clearly symbolic, but of what? The plateau on which the effigy mound was built is an astrobleme, the impact crater of a long-ago meteorite crash.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland worked with geologists from the Ohio state government in to study the impact crater, which is almost completely eroded away.

They determined that the meteorite hit during the Permian Period, roughly to million years ago. How did they know about a celestial event that occurred millions of years before their arrival? Serpent Mound Still May Have Been Influenced by Astronomy Researchers Clark and Marjorie Hardman suggested in that the head of the serpent and the egg align to the setting of the sun on the summer solstice. Adding to this, other researchers proposed that the coils of the serpent indicate both solstices and both equinoxes.

Yet another expert, William F. If that is the case…that Serpent Mound combines both solar and lunar alignments…it is significant. Regions Southwest Ohio. Audiences All Audiences. We apologize for any inconvenience. We require everyone to wear masks in our indoor spaces to help limit the spread of the more infectious variants of COVID Masks are not required outdoors when you are able to maintain at least 6 feet of distance from others.

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Serpent Mound is managed by the Ohio History Connection. More Search Options. Serpent Mound is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Toggle navigation. Jump to: navigation , search. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, Putnam, F. Century Magazine , Lepper, Bradley T. Timeline 15 5 , Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazier Press, Glotzhober, Robert C.