TRAVEL GUIDES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LINKS
 
       
     
    TRAVEL GUIDES  
       
    You may find a complete travel guide showcasing the Ohio earthworks at the Ancient Ohio Trail website.  
       
    During the development of our "Earthworks" interactive media productions,  
   
we have traveled the back roads and small towns of the region quite a bit, and can offer some advice for a driving tour of the major sites in the region.
 
       
    Fort Ancient is near exit 36 off of I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, and  
   
is open in daylight hours. Check the Ohio Historical Society website (ohiohistory.org) for exact times. The museum exhibit there gives a thorough introduction to the cultures of the region, and includes one of our kiosks about the site, with more virtual tours. There are many paths around the huge walls, but do not miss the "South Gate" buried in the woods at the southeast corner. It is the most spectacular feature at Fort Ancient.
 
       
    The Newark Earthworks are in the town of the same name just a bit east of  
   
Columbus, off I-70. We have a CD-ROM you can buy that goes deeper into the stories on this site, and also provides more detailed driving directions. The Octagon earthworks are just off north 30th Street a few blocks above Main Street; and the Great Circle is just off 21st Street (or along Highway 79) a few blocks below Main. Both of these are very well preserved. The best time to "see" the earthworks is shortly after sunrise or shortly before sunset. The "Alligator” effigy is also well preserved, and sits on the hilltop at the end of a suburban sub-division called “Bryn du Woods”, off the old Newark Granville Road, near Granville.
 
       
    The most scenic way in and out of Newark is through the beautiful village of  
   
Granville, where there are wonderful historic inns, especially the Granville Inn and the Buxton Inn, for overnight lodgings. Granville is a beautiful historic town, as if transplanted from New England.
  
       
    Next would be the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe  
   
(Mound City), down the Scioto River from Columbus. There we also have an interactive kiosk installed that will give you more detail about sites they maintain in Ross County, including the Hopewell Mound Group and High Bank. Chillicothe is also a beautiful old city, and Ohio’s first capital, with many Greek Revival mansions. There are several fine Bed and Breakfast Inns, such as “The Guest House."
  
       
    Leave Chillicothe by way of US Highway 50 West, and between the towns of  
   
Bourneville and Bainbridge are the remains of the Seip earthworks: mainly a very large mound. Beautifully scenic back-roads will take you from there, by Fort Hill (a long hike up a very large hill surrounded by an earthwork) and then to the most famous earthwork of all, the Great Serpent Mound, near the town of Peebles, Ohio, in northern Adams County along State Route 73.
  
       
    For the most satisfying experience, we’d recommend using the large  
   
Delorme OHIO Atlas, with very detailed maps, available from any major bookstore such as Barnes and Noble. Another handy resource, including directions to many more mound and earthwork sites, is Woodward and McDonald’s guidebook entitled: Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People.
  
       
     
       
     
   
BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
       
    ANCIENT OHIO VALLEY CULTURES, WORKS, INTERPRETATIONS:  
       
 
Abrams, Elliot M., and AnnCorinne Freter, eds. The Emergence of the
 
   
Moundbuilders: The Archaeology of Tribal Societies in Southwestern Ohio. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2005.
  
       
 
Atwater, Caleb. “Description of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio
 
   
and Other Western States.” Archaeologia Americana: Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society 1 (1820), 109-251.
  
       
 
Aveni, Anthony. Stairways to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient
 
   
Cultures. New York: J. Wiley, 1997.
  
       
 
Baugh, Timothy G., and Jonathan E. Ericson, eds. Prehistoric Exchange
 
   
Systems in North America. New York: Plenum Press, 1994.
  
       
 
Beardsley, John. Earthworks and Beyond: Contemporary Art in the
 
   
Landscape. 3rd ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1998.
  
       
 
Brose, David S., and N'omi M. Greber. Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe
 
   
Conference. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1979.
  
       
 
Brose, David S., James A. Brown, David W. Penny, and Dirk Baaker. Ancient
 
   
Art of the American Woodland Indians. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1985.
  
       
 
Byers, A. Martin. The Ohio Hopewell Episode. Akron, Ohio: The University of
 
   
Akron Press, 2004.
  
       
 
Carr, Christopher, and D. Troy Case. Gathering Hopewell: Society, Ritual, and
 
   
Ritual Interaction. Secaucus, New Jersey: Springer, 2005.
  
       
 
Connolly, Robert. Middle Woodland Hilltop Enclosures: The Built Environment,
 
   
Construction, and Function. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, 1996.
  
       
 
Cowan, C. Wesley. First Farmers of the Middle Ohio Valley. Cincinnati:
 
   
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, 1987.
  
       
 

Dancey, William S., and Paul J. Pacheco, eds. Ohio Hopewell Community

 
   
Organization. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1997.
  
       
 
DeBoer, Warren R. “Ceremonial Centers from Cayapas (Esmeraldas, Eduador)
 
   
to Chillicothe (Ohio, U.S.A.).” The Cambridge Archaeological Journal 7, No. 2 (October, 1997): 225-253.
  
       
 

Echo-Hawk, Roger C. “Ancient History in the New World: Integrating Oral

 
   
Traditions and the Archaeological Record.” American Antiquity 65, No. 2 (2000): 267-290.
  
       
 
Greber, N’omi. “A Study of Continuity and Contrast Between Central Scioto
 
   
Adena and Hopewell Sites.” West Virginia Archaeologist 43, nos. 1 and 2 (Spring and Fall 1991): 1-26.
  
       
 
Hall, Robert L. An Archaeology of the Soul: North American Indian Belief and
 
   
Ritual. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
  
       
 
Jakes, Kathryn A., and A. Thompson. “Textile Evidence for Ohio Hopewell
 
   
Burial Practices.” Southeastern Archaeology 24:2 (winter 2005), 137-141.
  
       
 
Kennedy, Roger. Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North
 
   
American Civilization. New York: The Free Press (Macmillan), 1994.
  
       
 

King, J.C.H. First Peoples, First Contacts: Native Peoples of North America.

 
   
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
  
       
 
Lepper, Bradley T. Ohio Archaeology: An Illustrated Chronicle of Ohio’s
 
   
Ancient American Indian Cultures. Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press, 2005.
  
       
 
Lilly, Eli. Prehistoric Antiquities of Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical
 
   
Society, 1937.
  
       
 
Mainfort, Robert C., Jr., and Lynne P. Sullivan, eds. Ancient Earthen
 
   
Enclosures of the Eastern Woodlands. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998.
  
       
 
Mann, Barbara. Native Americans, Archaeologists, and the Mounds. New
 
   
York: Peter Lang, 2003.
  
       
 
Miller, Jay. “Instilling the Earth: Explaining Mounds.” American Indian Culture
 
   
and Research Journal 25:3 (2001), 161-177.
  
       
 
Mills, William C. Archaeological Atlas of Ohio. Columbus: Ohio State
 
   
Archaeological and Historical Society, 1914.
  
       
 

Milner, George R. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North

 
   
America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.
  
       
 
Morgan, William N. Prehistoric Architecture in the Eastern United States.
 
   
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1980.
  
       
 
Nabokov, Peter, and Robert Easton. Native American Architecture. New York:
 
   
Oxford University Press, 1990.
  
       
 
National Park Service Midwest Archaeology Center. Hopewell Archaeology
  
     
       
   
     
       
 

Pacheco, Paul J., ed. A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell

 
   
Archaeology. Columbus: The Ohio Archaeological Council, 1996.
 
       
 
Romain, William F. Mysteries of the Hopewell: Astronomers, Geometers, and
 
   
Magicians of the Eastern Woodlands. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 2000.
 
       
 
Rockwell, David. Giving Voice to Bear: North American Indian Myths, Rituals,
 
   
and Images of the Bear. Niwat, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1991.
  
       
 
Seeman, Mark F. The Hopewell Interaction Sphere: The Evidence for Inter-
  
   
Regional Trade and Structural Complexity. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, Prehistory Research Series 5:2 (1979).
 
       
 
Smith, Bruce D. “Hopewellian Farmers of Eastern North America.” In Rivers of
 
   
Change: Essays on Early Agriculture in Eastern North America., ed. Bruce Smith. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.
  
       
 
Squier, Ephraim G., and Edwin H. Davis. Ancient Monuments of the
 
   
Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 1 [1848], edited with introduction by David J. Meltzer. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1998.
 
       
 
Thomas, Cyrus. Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of
 
   
Ethnology. Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-1891. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894.
 
       
 
Townsend, Richard F., ed. Hero, Hawk and Open Hand: American Indian Art
 
   
of the Ancient Midwest and South. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press, 2004.
 
       
 
Webb, William S., and Raymond S. Baby. The Adena People No. 2.
 
   
Columbus: The Ohio Historical Society, 1957.
  
       
 
Willoughby, Charles C. The Art of the Great Earthwork Builders of Ohio:
 
   
Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1916.
 
       
 
Woodward, Susan L., and Jerry N. McDonald. Indian Mounds of the Middle
 
   
Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People. Blacksburg, Viginia: The McDonald and Woodward Publishing Co., 2002.
 
       
    SITE - SPECIFIC WORKS:  
       
 
Anderson Mounds
  
     
       
 
Cincinnati
  
     
       
 
Circleville
  
     
       
 
Fort Ancient
  
     
       
 
Grave Creek Mound
 
     
       
 

High Bank Earthworks

 
     
       
 
Hopeton Earthworks
  
     
       
 
Hopewell Mound Group
  
     
       
 
Marietta
 
     
       
 

Mound City

 
     
       
 
Mount Horeb
  
     
       
 

Newark Earthworks

 
     
       
 

Pollock Works

 
     
       
 
Portsmouth Earthworks
 
     
       
 
Seip Earthworks
 
     
       
 

Serpent Mound

 
     
       
 

Stubbs Earthworks

 
     
       
 

Tremper Mound

  
     
       
 

Turner Earthworks

 
     
       
     
       
     
   
LINKS
  
       
   
   
The Conservancy promotes preservation, buys endangered archaeological sites, and publishes American Archaeology magazine.
  
       
   
   
Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites, at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. EarthWorks is one of several projects under way here.
  
       
   
   
Located at Union Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio, the CMC hosts a permanent EarthWorks exhibit on the Little Miami Valley sites, and premiered the EarthWorks traveling exhibit.
  
       
   
   
Archaeological collections are concentrated on Native America, pre-1650. Host to the EarthWorks traveling exhibit, 2007.
  
       
   
   
The Field Museum of Chicago, Illinois holds a large collection of Hopewell culture artifacts; its new Americas hall will include materials from the EarthWorks project.
  
       
   
   
Information, history, and news about the Hopewell culture in Ohio from its heartland in Chillicothe, Ohio. The visitors’ center at “Mound City” includes an interactive EarthWorks exhibit.
 
       
   
   
The National Park Service Midwest Archaeology Center provides this newsletter.
  
       
   
   
NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
  
       
   
   
Information about the Newark earthworks as they mark movements of the moon, and about the Earthworks Center at Ohio State University Newark.
  
       
   
   
A nonprofit organization which includes professional archaeologists and interested citizens, promoting archaeology and preservation of sites in the state.
  
       
   
   
Locations and hours of earthwork sites and museums; information on artifact collections; online Ohio History journal; online encyclopedia of Ohio history; multiple education resources.
  
       
   
   
The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.
  
       
   
   
The Council is an independent, nonprofit organization funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and private contributions. The OHC awards grants and presents its own cultural programs across the state.
  
       
   
   
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology holds a large collection of Hopewell artifacts, in addition to records related to early investigations of Ohio sites by Frederick Putnam.
  
       
   
   
Open to the public near Dayton, Ohio, this reconstructed village of the “Fort Ancient” culture hosts the EarthWorks traveling exhibit in 2007.
  
       
   
   
Located in Cincinnati, Ohio, home and sponsor of the EarthWorks project of CERHAS within the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.
  
       
 
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