Name/Title
S04.01.001Description
A photograph of the serpent effigy mound taken from the observation tower at Serpent Mound State Memorial. This area has dolomite, shale, limestone and sandstone lithologies. Bedrock is from the Silurian Geologic Period. The photograph was taken by Gerald H. Newsom during the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Eastern Section Meeting Field Trip to the Plum Run Quarry and the Serpent Mound Disturbance on October 10, 1998.
According to the Ohio History Connection, the Serpent Mound is an effigy earthwork of a serpent uncoiling along a prominent ridgetop in northern Adams County, Ohio. From the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, the effigy is 1,427 feet long. When it was originally described, in 1848, the body of the serpent was five feet high and 25 feet wide. Excavations done in 1991 returned radiocarbon dates suggesting that the Fort Ancient people built the mound between about A.D. 1025 and A.D. 1215. In 2014, another team of archaeologists presented new radiocarbon dates for the Serpent suggesting that it was built by the Adena culture at around 300 B.C. More work is needed to clarify the age of Serpent Mound. The Serpent Mound State Memorial park area was deeded to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, now the Ohio History Connection, in 1900. In 1908, an observation tower was built and during the 1930s a museum and other visitor facilities were added.
This slide image included in the USGS National Digital Catalog for NGGDPP Grant G15AP00115 in FY2015.Context
Serpent-shaped mound. Serpent Mound State Memorial in Bratton, Ohio.