What does the Serpent Mound represent?

Purpose of Serpent Mound Serpent Mound may have further had temporal significance—the head of the serpent aligns with the summer solstice sunset while the tail points to the winter solstice sunrise. As such, ancient peoples may have used the structure to mark time or seasons.

What is special about the Great Serpent Mound?

Serpent Mound is an internationally known National Historic Landmark built by the ancient American Indian cultures of Ohio. It is an effigy mound (a mound in the shape of an animal) representing a snake with a curled tail. Nearby are three burial mounds—two created by the Adena culture (800 B.C.–A.D.

What is mound in history?

A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation (see Tell and Terp), ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound).

How does the Serpent Mound relate to astronomy cosmic connection )?

Perhaps the mound served in part to mark this astronomical event or a similar phenomenon, such as light from a supernova. In a more comprehensive view, the serpent mount may represent a conglomerate of all celestial knowledge known by these native peoples in a single image.

What kind of art is the Great Serpent Mound?

Earthwork/effigy mound
Earthwork/effigy mound….

E. Adams County, Ohio (created by Fort Ancient peoples of the Middle Ohio River Valley)

Who built Serpent Mound?

When it was first discovered by European explorers, the indigenous Adena people were cited as the builders. Carbon dating done in 1996 placed the age of the Serpent Mound at 1070 A.D., meaning it was most likely the work of the Fort Ancient people.

What did mound people do?

Mound Builders were prehistoric American Indians, named for their practice of burying their dead in large mounds. Beginning about three thousand years ago, they built extensive earthworks from the Great Lakes down through the Mississippi River Valley and into the Gulf of Mexico region.

Which celestial body is Serpent Mound aligned with?

Celestial hypotheses The head of the serpent aligns with the summer solstice sunset, and the tail points to the winter solstice sunrise.

How was Serpent Mound created?

Serpent Mound is located in a meteorite impact crater mostly in Adams County, Ohio, formed approximately 3oo million years ago and today known as Serpent Mound Crater.

Why was the Serpent Mound created?

Why Was Serpent Mound Built? Because of the astronomical alignments at Serpent Mound, most experts believe it was constructed to record special calendar days and important lunar and solar days. The mound is not a burial mound, although there are some ancient graves in the area.

What does the great serpent relate to?

The mythology of the Abenaki tribe told of a great serpent called the Kita-skog meaning “Big Snake” or Pita-skog meaning “Grand Snake”. The meaning of the Great Serpent symbol are chaos, corruption and darkness. The Great Serpent is seen as a malevolent being or monster who devours his enemies.

How was Serpent Mound discovered?

The Serpent Mound was first reported through surveys by Ephraim Squier and Edwin Davis. It was featured in their historic volume Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, published in 1848 by the newly founded Smithsonian Museum.

Who built the Serpent Mound and when did they build it?

An article published in July 2014, titled “New Radiocarbon Dates Suggest Serpent Mound is More Than 2,000 Years Old”, provides evidence supporting the mound’s creation by the Adena Culture around 300 BC (2300 years ago).

How was the Serpent Mound created?

The plateau on which the effigy mound was built is an astrobleme, the impact crater of a long-ago meteorite crash. Researchers from the University of Glasgow in Scotland worked with geologists from the Ohio state government in 2003 to study the impact crater, which is almost completely eroded away.