Great Serpent Mound
GREAT SERPENT MOUND
Near Hopewell, Ohio, an early group of Indians, called Mound Builders, constructed an earthworks that looks like a huge snake when viewed from the sky. The Great Serpent Mound is one-quarter mile (just under one-half kilometer) long and was built by the Fort Ancient group. These Indians were descendants of the Hopewell, an earlier culture that dominated the Ohio River Valley until about a.d. 500. The ruins of the Fort Ancient people indicate that they were hunters and gatherers like the Mississippian people to their south and west, but they also fished and cultivated some crops including beans, corn, and squash. The Fort Ancient people lived in stockaded villages like that found in southwest Ohio, overlooking the Miami River. The site is called Fort Ancient (after its name the
prehistoric Indian group was named), and it is a fortification surrounded by an earth wall, ranging from six to ten feet (two to three meters) in height and it is over 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) long.
See also: Mound Builders, Ohio Valley