Meyers Gallery 2024 Exhibition- What Remains: A Contemporary Interpretation of Native American Earthworks in the Ohio Valley

Sun rising through clouds and foliage, on the summer solstice, Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve. Near Oregonia, Ohio. June 2024.

Pond by Gate 73, Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve. Near Oregonia, Ohio. February 2024.

Located just inside the far northwest corner, this hand-built wall is a small portion of the vast perimeter of Fort Ancient Earthworks & Nature Preserve high above the Little Miami River valley to the west. The pond in the foreground is one of many built inside the walls, ingeniously lined with clay designed to retain water.

The Hopewell Fort Ancient consists of 100 acres, enclosed by earthen walls. It is the largest hilltop enclosure earthwork in North America. It was created by people of the Hopewell Culture between 200 BCE and 500 CE. In 2023 it became one of the four Hopewell sites in Ohio inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The term “fort” is somewhat of a misnomer. Rather than a structure for defense, Fort Ancient served as a place for ceremonial purposes for both the Hopewell, and later, the Fort Ancient cultures.

Great Circle earthworks, looking north-northeast from above Parkview Drive, with Eagle Mound at center. Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Heath, Ohio. February 2024.

At almost 1,200 feet in diameter, enclosing 30 acres, the Great Circle is among the largest Hopewell and most spectacular enclosures. At its center is Eagle Mound, once the location of a ceremonial longhouse. Inside the Circle’s walls is a ditch designed to retain water. Like other Hopewell earthworks, the Great Circle functioned for the Hopewell primarily as a ceremonial center, drawing participants and traders who brought copper from Ontario, seashells from the Gulf of Mexico, mica from the Blue Ridge Mountains, and fossilized shark teeth from Chesapeake Bay.

Well-preserved over 2,000 years, the 30 acre space within the Great Circle was once the site of the Licking County Fair, including a horse-racing track. A large reunion of 30,000 Union  soldiers congregated in the Great Circle to hear President Rutherford B. Hayes speak. In 2023 it was inscribed along with three other Hopewell earthworks as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Serpent Mound viewed from above after an overnight snowfall. Serpent Mound State Memorial. Near Peebles, Ohio. February 2024.

Alligator Effigy Mound. Granville, Ohio. November 2023.

Administered by the Ohio History Connection, Alligator Mound sits high atop a hill, surrounded by million dollar houses and the Bryn Du Golf Club. From the circle surrounding it, it is nearly invisible. It is believed to have been constructed between 800 and 1200 CE by the Fort Ancient Culture. The ‘alligator' measures 250 feet in length, is 40 feet in width, and is composed primarily of clay.

The term “alligator” is a misnomer for what archaeologists Brad Lepper and Tod Frolking believe is more likely an effigy of an underwater panther, a potent symbol in Native American mythology. The archaeologists have theorized that early European settlers to the region misinterpreted what local Native Americans told them and assumed that the ferocious creature that lived in water and consumed humans was an alligator. In reporting their findings in their 1848 Smithsonian Institution publication Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, authors Squier and Davis considered the mound to be more akin to a lizard.

Tremper Mound and Works. Near Portsmouth, Ohio. October 2023.  

Created by the Hopewell, Tremper Mound and Works consist of an earthen enclosure surrounding an irregular-shaped mound. Inside the outer enclosure, the inner mound is believed by some to be an effigy mound in the shape of an animal. Others contend the animal shape is based on the structure of the underlying charnel house.

Viewed from above, the organization Arc of Appalachia practices “interpretive mowing,” using different lengths of grass along with a mix of native plants to bring out features of the earthworks that have been eroded and plowed over for many centuries. 

Great Mound. Near Middletown, Ohio. October 2023.

The Great Mound, built by the Adena, is located outside of Middletown, in Southwestern Ohio. Covered in a heavy layer of large trees, it stands 43 feet high and has a basal circumference of over 500 feet. It sits on a high ridge, providing excellent views. Like so many mounds, the Great Mound has been compromised by repeated digging.

Woman (center) walking through Junction Earthworks. Near Chillicothe, Ohio. July 2024.

Like Tremper Mound, Junction Earthworks is maintained by Arc of Appalachia and practices “interpretive mowing,” using a variety of native plants and different lengths of grass to effectively reveal the features of the nearly invisible earthworks. 

Night view, Grave Creek Mound (Adena). 10th Street and Morton Avenue, Moundsville, West Virginia. December 2022.

Night visitor on top of Criel Mound (also known as the South Charleston Mound). South Charleston, West Virginia. September 2023.

View across portions of the Octagon. Octagon Earthworks, Newwark, Ohio. November 2023.

The ewwark Earthworks are the largest geometrical earthworks in the world not built as fortifications or as defesive structures.

Frost on a cold morning along a portion of the Octagon. Octagon Earthworks, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Newark, Ohio. November 2023.

Built without the help of modern tools, the creators of the Octagon and Great Circle dug into the earth with pointed sticks, and moved the soil by carrying it on their back in wicker baskets.  The Octagon alone may hold as much as 7 million cubic feet of soil.

Trees on the banks of the Scioto River along the eastern edge of Hopewell National Historical Park. Chillicothe, Ohio. October 2023.

The Scioto River was an important point of arrival and departure for visitors. Fish taken from the river were a vital source of food for the Hopewell.

Porteus Mound. Near Coshocton, Ohio. November 2023.

Believed to have been constructed by the Adena Culture, Porteus Mound once stood proudly above the Muskingum River, 23 feet high and 120 feet in diameter. The entire western portion of the mound–roughly half–was sheared off to allow for the widening of County Road 271. 

Bridge Street Mound, visited by a truck driver and three dogs. Chillicothe, Ohio. October 2023.

Bridge Street Mound is a reconstruction intended to simulate the Adena mound removed during the commercial real estate development for the parking lot surrounding it. 

Norwood Mound (foreground) with city water tanks in the distance. Waterworks Park, Norwood, Ohio. July 2024. 

Electric vehicle recharging station adjacent to Criel Mound. South Charleston, West Virginia. September 2023.

Hodgen’s Cemetery Mound, also known as Tiltonsville Cemetery Mound. Tiltonsville, Ohio. August 2020.

This Adena mound, 13 feet high and approximately 80 feet in basal diameter, is located roughly 1000 feet west of the Ohio River. It stands next door to the Smith Oil Company gas station.

Mound Hill Cemetery, with Adena mound (center) topped by a marble obelisk. Eaton, Ohio. October 2023.

Founded in 1806, Mound Hill Cemetery was built around an eponymous Adena mound. While details vary, in 1847 the mound was reduced 2.5-3 feet in height to make way for the remains of 15 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Lowery from General “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s “Legion.” Lowery and his men were killed north of Ft. St. Clair in an attack by Miami warriors on October 17, 1793.

The remains of Lowery and his soldiers were moved 54 years later from the former site of Fort St. Clair and re-interred in the Adena mound at the center of Mound Hill Cemetery in Eaton. With contributions from the community, a 10 foot monument of Rutland marble was erected atop the mound to honor the fallen soldiers. Digging vertically into the center of the mound, workers encountered the bones of an entire skeleton buried nearly upright, as well as charcoal, ashes, and burnt wood. After moving the Native American remains to the northwest corner of the mound, a box containing the bones of Lowery and his soldiers was deposited in the center of the mound beneath a foundation to support the marble monument above the soldiers.

McLaughlin Mound (also referred to as Cemetery Mound), Mound View Cemetery.

Mt. Vernon, Ohio. October 2023.

McLaughlin Mound sits as the highest point of Mound View Cemetery, 1,080 feet above sea level. The mound is approximately 5.5 feet high, and 75 feet in diameter. It is considered to be a burial mound from the Adena culture. Excavated in the late 19th century, it contained an ancient skeleton bearing items from distant areas– fabric, a copper crescent necklace, bear teeth along the left arm, and seashells near the hips. Today the mound is perforated with the graves of late 19th century and early 20th century citizens of Mt. Vernon, including the Cooper, Curtis, Russell, and Whitesides families.

Sunset Mound (center, between fence and house). Sunset Memorial Park, near the Kanawha River, South Charleston, West Virginia. September 2023.

Conus Mound (Adena). Marietta, Ohio. November 2022.

Conus Mound, also known as the Great Mound, is part of the larger Ohio Hopewell Culture complex known as the Marietta Earthworks. Constructed between 800 BCE and 100 CE, it stands near the center of Marietta Cemetery. Rising 30 feet above the Cemetery, it is 

Indian Mound Cemetery (also known as Romey Cemetery Mound. Romney, West Virginia. May 2023.

A lone mound, possibly Adena or Hopewell, is visible at center behind trees and a lone flag marking a confederate veteran’s grave.

Zaleski Methodist Church Mound. Zaleski, Ohio. November 2022.

This mound derives its name from its location a few yards behind the Church. An Adena mound, it is slightly elliptical, measuring 60 feet in length and 53 feet in width, and stands 7 feet in height. 

Mound, Mound Hill Church and Cemetery, Amesville, Ohio. March 2024.

This mound sits in a cemetery yard, high above Federal Creek and OH Route 329. 

Woodruff-Connett Mound. The Plains, Ohio. November 2022.

Located between homes in Adena Park Subdivision, Woodruff-Connett Mound is 15 feet high, with a base diameter of 90 feet.

Enon Mound (also referred to as Knob Prairie Mound). Enon Ohio, October 2023.

At 40 feet in height, Enon Mound sits in a quiet residential neighborhood. With a base circumference of 575 feet, it is believed to contain 12,800 yards of earth.

Local legend claims that George Rogers Clark, one of the most brutal perpetrators of genocide against Native Americans climbed the mound in 1780 prior to attacking the Shawnee village of Picawey 2 miles to the north. 

Plaza with Henry Moore’s “Large Oval with Points (1970) statue in the foreground,  Franklin County Government Center. Columbus, Ohio. August 2023.

Four blocks south of the present-day State Capitol, the intersection of South High and West Mound Streets was the site of a major Adena mound. As Columbus was platted and its streets constructed in the early 19th century, High Street ran directly into the mound, 40 feet high, and 300 feet wide. Initially, it was left intact. Pedestrians, livestock, wagons, and carriages simply passed around its curved base. Several massive oak trees and the two-story home of a local doctor built atop the mound may have delayed its removal as a traffic impediment.

However, by the 1830’s, the citizens of Columbus decided the mound was too much of an obstruction, and they leveled it. Much of the clay from inside the mound was converted into bricks that found their way into new buildings nearby, including the first Statehouse in Columbus.. When the first Statehouse burned in 1852, legend has it that many of its bricks, made of clay from the mound, were recycled and incorporated into the present Greek Revival Statehouse constructed from 1839-1861 where they remain today.

1931 Restaurant and Bar, Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel. Cincinnati, Ohio. June 2024.

Opened during the darkest days of the Great Depression, no expense was spared in the design of the Netherland Plaza, with its French Art Deco decor, including a large Rookwood Pottery fountain, Romanesque murals, and vast amounts of rare Brazilian rosewood.

Although no visible evidence remains, the restaurant, bar and hotel rest upon what was once an elaborate group of earthworks at the very heart of downtown Cincinnati, reaching roughly from the corner of 5th and Race Streets on the west, to 3rd and Main Streets on the east, just two blocks from Ft. Washington.

The western portion of these earthworks (where this photograph was taken) consisted of an open-ended ellipse, roughly 650 feet in diameter, shaped like the Greek letter Omega, with an opening on Walnut Street between 4th and 5th Streets.

At the turn of the 18th century, other earthworks were still scattered in various corners of the central city, including Washington Park and the intersection of 5th and Mound Streets, where a conical mound formerly 35 feet high had been reduced by 8 feet to accommodate a sentinel platform ordered by General “Mad Anthony” Wayne.

Regrettably, all earthworks in the vicinity of downtown Cincinnati were leveled with the influx of settlers arriving in the rapidly growing “Queen City of the West.”

Camden Park Mound. Camden Amusement Park, Huntington, West Virginia. October 2023.

Generally considered to be an Adena burial mound, Camden Park Mound is tucked away in a back corner of an amusement park, next to classic rides like “The Scrambler” (foreground), “The Flying Scooter,” and a pavilion housing Dodgem cars. Relatively well-preserved, and likely never excavated, the mound was once topped by a bandstand. A few yards from Twelvepole Creek, and near the Ohio River, it is the third highest mound extant in West Virginia after Grave Creek Mound and Criel Mound.

Kayaks in winter storage on the site of Turner Earthworks. Mt. Carmel and Round Bottom Roads, near Newtown, Ohio. November 2023.

Roughly two millennia ago, Turner Earthworks included two large enclosures joined by a long pathway, several other earthworks, and multiple mounds.  It is difficult to comprehend the size, scope and significance of Turner Earthworks. Not far from the banks of the Little Miami River, the land these earthworks occupied has been obliterated and replaced by acre-upon-acre of overgrown gravel pits, construction debris, small factories, and even plastic kayaks.

Named for Michael Turner, the farmer who owned much of the land during the 1880’s, the earthworks yielded some of the Hopewell Culture’s most significant artifacts. As early as 1825, plowing had started the continuous destruction of the earthworks before Frederick Ward Putnam arrived in the 1880’s to begin intensive excavations. Putnam found magnificent pottery, pots, pipes, and ax heads along with the remains of altars, hearths, burials, items made of mica, copper, “meteoric iron,” bone and other materials brought to Turner from distant locations. Among the discoveries were representations of animal and human effigies, including bears that roamed the Ohio Valley forests during the Hopewell period.

Perhaps the most significant objects located were terracotta figurines of humans. Although many were broken or burned from ceremonies, they offered vivid, detailed representations of humans from the Hopewell Culture. Putnam removed the artifacts his team uncovered and shipped them to the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, where they remain today.

Shawnee Reservation Mound, also known as Institute Fairgrounds Mound and Poorhouse Mound. Dunbar, West Virginia. September 2023.

This mound is approximately 25 feet in height and 318 feet in basal circumference. It was excavated by the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology in the 1880’s. Possibly an Adena mound, it was constructed around 500 BCE and 400 BCE. Today, it is surrounded by a large multi-purpose recreational complex, including the pool visible in the foreground.

Central Park Mounds. Ashland, Kentucky. October 2023.

Along the northwestern edge of Central Park near downtown Ashland, is a line of six similar mounds, all approximately 5 feet high. Not excavated, their cultural connection has never been confirmed.

St. Marys Mound, also known as Reynolds Mound or Mound Manor Mound. St. Marys, West Virginia. March 2024.

Roughly 15 feet in height, this variously named conical mound was created by the Adena Culture approximately 2500 years ago. Sitting at the entrance to mound Manor, a subdivision of modest homes, it serves as the back drop to a derelict basketball hoop used by children in the neighborhood.

Newark Catholic High School Junior Varsity Golf Team ending practice, climbing over “The Avenue” between the Octagon and the Observatory Mound, Moundbuilders Country Club, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. Newark, Ohio. August 2023. 

Golfer passing Observatory Mound, at the southwestern end of the Octagon Earthworks, built by the Hopewell Culture between 100 BCE and 400 CE. Observatory Circle, Octagon Earthworks, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, Newark, Ohio. November 2023.

After years in litigation, an agreement has been reached and the club will vacate the site on December 31, 2024, leaving it open for full public access thereafter, under the management of the Ohio History Connection.

No one knows how the Adena, Hopewell, or Fort Ancient Cultures referred to themselves.

Modern American culture frequently refers to these Cultures as “moundbuilders,” a collective term of convenience, rather than one infused with any formal significance.

The generic word “Moundbuilders” is employed widely across the Ohio Valley, appropriated for commercial purposes in the names of a car lot, an auto parts store, a dry cleaner, a dairy bar, a shopping center, a neighborhood cafe, and even as the eponymous Indiana heavy metal band “The Moundbuilders.”

Moundbuilders Doctors Park medical offices. Newark, Ohio. October 2023.

Tomahawk Pizza. Locust Grove, Ohio. June 2023.

Moundbuilders swim team locker room and snack bar, Moundbuilders Country Club, on the grounds of the Octagon Earthworks. Newark, Ohio. July 2023.

Indian Mound Cafe. Norwood, Ohio. May 2023.

Located at the corner of Montgomery Road and Indian Mound Avenue, two blocks west of Norwood Mound. 

Fleek & Reese Field, Mound City Little League. Newark, Ohio. October 2023.

Mound Cleaners, adjacent to Criel Mound. South Charleston, West Virginia. September 2023.

Moundbuilders Dairy Bar. Newark, Ohio. July 2016.

Moundview Behavioral Health Center. Newark, Ohio. October 2023.

Plaque, front door of the clubhouse, Moundbuilders Country Club, on the grounds of the Hopewell Octagon Earthworks. Newark, Ohio. July 2023.

Mound City NAPA Tire & Auto Repair. Newark, Ohio. October 2023.

Polyresin Native American caricatures. Near Radcliff, Ohio. November 2022.

Seip Mound, in the distance, viewed from the Paint Valley High School Bearcats softball field. Bainbridge, Ohio. April 2024.

Seip Mound, also referred to as the Central Mound, was reconstructed after an extensive archaeological excavation in 1925-1926, an effort that revealed copper from Isle Royale in Lake Superior, mica from the Carolinas, effigy pipes from the Tennessee River Valley, and over 15,000 freshwater pearls.

Even at 240 by 160 by 30 feet, Seip Mound represents less than 10 percent of what was once an enormous, and highly sophisticated, complex that included two dozen large circular and square earthworks designed and built by a culture advanced in astronomy, trade, art, precise engineering and mathematics.

Visitor to Serpent Mound juggling while standing on a basketball. Near Peebles, Ohio. June 2023.

This man came to Serpent Mound with his family from Jackson, Michigan, seeking the opportunity “...to feel the energy” on June 21, 2023, the summer solstice. On this day the solstice attracted an unusual brew of visitors in search of positive energy: people chanting, clutching crystals in search of healing, performing yoga and tai chi, and even an elderly couple discreetly spreading human ashes on Serpent Mound while a gentleman in a black top-hat played the recorder. 

Archaeologist Brad Lepper orienting visitors to Serpent Mound on the summer solstice. Near Peebles, Ohio. June 2023.

Visitors exploring Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Chillicothe, Ohio. October 2023.

Early evening visitor at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Chillicothe, Ohio. July 2016.

Visitors at Miamisburg Mound on a rainy day. Miamisburg Mound State Memorial, Miamisburg, Ohio. July 2016.

The steel fence has been removed.

Visitor descending Miamisburg Mound. Miamisburg Mound State Memorial, Miamisburg, Ohio. October 2023.

Visitors atop Miamisburg Mound, viewed from the former site of the Atomic Energy Commission Mound Laboratory. Miamisburg Mound State Memorial, Miamisburg, Ohio. October 2023.

At 65 feet in height and 875 feet in circumference, Miamisburg Mound is second in size only to Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia. This large, conical Adena burial mound covers 1.5 acres and is made up of approximately 54,000 cubic yards of earth. Visitors can climb a stone staircase to the top to gain views of the Great Miami River Valley to the west.

Immediately west of Miamisburg Mound, the Atomic Energy Commission operated Mound Laboratory, a facility for nuclear weapon research and the production equipment for plutonium bombs through the Cold War until 2006. Mound Laboratory became an EPA Superfund site in 1989 and its cleanup concluded in 2010.

Family descending stone steps on Grave Creek Mound, with the former West Virginia State Penitentiary visible on the left. Moundsville, West Virginia. July 2016.

Grave Creek Mound is the highest Adena mound in the Ohio Valley. Rising 62 feet above the ground, and with an estimated diameter at its base of 240 feet, Grave Creek Mound is formed of approximately 3,000,000 basket loads of earth drawn from a moat that encircled the mound and was removed some time after 1838. Grave Creek is the lone survivor in an area that was once a major complex of Adena and Hopewell mounds.

Since its discovery by settlers in 1770, Grave Creek has endured various indignities. A museum was dug into its side, a saloon occupied its pinnacle, a racetrack was built around it, and it was the site of the Marshall County Fair for many years. It was administered for much of the past century by the warden of the West Virginia State Penitentiary before becoming part of the state museum and archaeological research center next door.