Serpent Mound of Ohio

by elissamichelezacher in Ethnicity, August 2, 2011

Solar site or a goddess incarnate?

Postcard: Image via Wikipedia

“The most famous of all such (effigy) mounds is the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, 1,330 feet in length along its coils and averaging three feet in height.”

–E.H. Roseboom & F. P. Weisenburger
A History of Ohio

The Hopewell and Adena cultures made most of the mounds in the Ohio River Valley. Many artefacts, such as pipes and ornamental collars called gorgets were excavated at these mounds. The largest effigy mound is in southern Ohio. It is in the form of an unravelling snake holding an egg-shaped object in its mouth. This snake mound is more than 1,300 feet long and 2.5 to 3 feet high. It is the largest serpent mound discovered to date. Recent technological research dates it to about the year 1070 and built by the Fort Ancient culture, but artefacts and the style of building are Adena. It is made of clay and rock and four to five feet of dirt.

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The snake appears to have a hollow oval shaped object in its mouth as it faces east. This object has been construed by some to be the sun and, therefore, the snake is the one who causes solar eclipses. The head is aligned to the summer solstice sunset and the coils may lead to the winter solstice sunrise and equinox sunrise. Others say the coils align to lunar events and that the oval could be a moon as well. A few say the oval is its eye and that the snake represented is a rattlesnake. Some allege that there crop circles and UFO sightings in the area. It is true that compasses cease to work by the serpent. If it was constructed around 1070, that would be significant as in the years prior, Halley’s Comet and the supernova that created the Crab Nebula were seen. The form of the snake compares well with the constellation Draco, but would the Natives have the same constellations as western Europeans considering other cultures do not.

Serpents are common feature in the art of Native Americans from the year 900 to 1650. Was this mound meant to honour the horned serpent god Uktena or was it a pathway to the Underworld as the people of the Eastern Woodlands believed the snake was the spirit of the Underworld.

There are said to be similar snake effigies in Ontario, Canada, and Scotland.