Serpent Mound

Overlooking Brush Creek in Ross County, Serpent Mound is one of the few effigy mounds in the State of Ohio and is the largest and finest serpent effigy in the United States. Judging from the associated mounds and burials (which have also been included in the landmark), the effigy probably dates from the Adena period (about 1000 B.C. to 200 A. D.). This giant snake--built with digging sticks and stone and shell hoes--cannot help but fire modern man's imagination and provoke thought about the lifestyle and mystical beliefs of these prehistoric people.


With its graceful undulating form and the oval near its mouth, the serpent has been the subject of various interpretations throughout the years. It has sometimes been thought to be in the act of striking at a frog, which leaped away leaving its egg. The oval mound has also been described as a stylization of the head and eye of the serpent or as the serpent's heart. The most frequently mentioned interpretation envisions the reptile in the act of swallowing an egg. Excavations have tended to support this latter interpretation, and the mound's present restoration therefore conforms to it.

The serpent has played an important role in religions throughout the world, and it seems logical to assume that this giant effigy possessed mystical significance for its builders. However, any further statement involving the mound's purpose and its role in the people's religious life would involve a great deal of conjecture.

Although these spiritual beliefs cannot be adequately discerned by the archeological remnants of the 2,500-year-old culture, the excavations by Putnam in 1886 of the mound and its immediate vicinity have yielded other valuable information about the construction of Serpent Mound and the lifestyle and burial practices of the site's occupants.

Serpent Mound contained very little occupational debris. Its construction was very obviously carefully planned. The builders outlined the structure with stone and lumps of clay and then poured dirt over them.

Excavation of the mounds in the serpent's immediate vicinity has yielded insight into the cultural practices of the former inhabitants of the area. The conical mound southwest of the serpent shows definite Adena affinities and is one of the reasons for attributing the giant effigy to the Adena period. Putnam's excavations during 1886 indicate that a platform was built, and the body of an adult male was placed upon it and partially cremated. Clay was thrown on the cremation fire thereby preventing complete incineration. Artifacts associated with the 30 by 35-foot ashy area caused by this fire include potsherds, burnt bone, stone chips, broken stone implements, 12 unbroken ones, and pieces of clam shell. In direct association with the cremated body were: flint points, a hematite core, a stone celt, two three-quarter grooved axes, and several bone awls.
Later investigations of other Adena sites indicate that Putnam had probably uncovered a house site. The floor of the mound would have been the original floor of the house. Excavations around the perimeter of the mound might have revealed post molds of the house. The Adena tended to bury someone--perhaps the most important member of the household--in a mound erected over the house site and move elsewhere. Nine burials were also placed in graves near the surface of the mound sometime after its erection.

The oblong mound to the south of the serpent contained four individuals buried in stone graves below ground level. Other graves on the site have yielded large numbers of artifacts; indeed one grave contained 30 points, a grooved sandstone, 3 awls, 2 celts, and a mass of red ochre. The mounds have been identified as Adena because they contained the following traits generally characteristic of that particular culture: stemmed and leaf-shaped flint points, pieces of sandstone bearing groves (shaft smoothers?), bone tubes or handles, and red ochre. The conical shape of one of the mounds along with the single central burial located within it and the burials below ground level in the oblong mound likewise indicate Adena affinities. Other features--such as copper breastplates, stone axes, stone graves, and bundle burials-- occasionally occur in Adena mounds but are more often associated with other cultures.