Ohio Earthworks

Map of precontact sites in Ohio by Heironymous Rowe

Thanks to American Indian Studies Program at the Ohio State University, Linda Lomahaftewa and I are embarking on another precolumbian journey—this time to explore Ohio's Ancient Earthworks!

Ohio is the birthplace of three major civilizations:

• Adena culture (ca. 1000 - 200 BCE)
• Hopewell Exchange (ca. 200 BCE - 500 CE)
• Fort Ancient culture (1000-1750 CE )

Marti Chaatsmith, the Associate Director of the Newark Earthworks Center, and Christine Ballengee Morris, Professor of Arts Administration and Policy at OSU, created an amazing itinerary that includes:

• The Great Serpent Mound

  

  Hopewellian copper bird, the Mound City, Ohio

• Fort Ancient Earthworks
• Mound City [Hopewell Culture National Historic Park],
• Newark Earthworks: the Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks
• Panther Mound
•  Jeffers Mound
• Wright-Holder Earthworks
• Ohio Historical Society
• Flint Ridge State Park
• and, for fun, the Longaberger Basket Building.

We'll post our discoveries and adventures here. For more information about Ohio's precontact earthworks, check out:

• Newark Earthworks Center blog
• Ancient Ohio Trail.