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<< Other Photo Pages >> Tarlton Cross - Artificial Mound in United States in Great Lakes Midwest

Submitted by bat400, Bob Williams on Thursday, 21 September 2006  Page Views: 15148

Pre-ColumbianSite Name: Tarlton Cross Alternative Name: Cross Mound Park
Country: United States Region: Great Lakes Midwest Type: Artificial Mound
 Nearest Village: Tarlton, Ohio
Latitude: 39.562000N  Longitude: 82.786W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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bat400 would like to visit

mobial visited on 19th Jun 2012 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 3 The mound is a short walk from a parking area outside the small town. In the park there is a 1936 walking bridge over a small creek, then the trail winds up a hill from what i remember, up to the mound; the entire area is in trees. It's a bit difficult to see, as the mound structure itself is not very tall. A split-rail fence circles the mound, but the rock pile nearby appears as if you are just standing next to some landscaping project. When I visited in 2012, there were still signs that the park was closed, however, I was on a bicycle and was easily able to access the site and walk up (was on a tour with 2500 other cyclists, but I believe only a handful took the time to go see the mound). Quite an interesting and apparently rarely visited location, yet easy to access. Photo here: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/92727291

Tarlton Cross
Tarlton Cross submitted by mobial : TarltonCross-altar The "altar" Tarlton Cross - "altar" Image copyright: Mobial (Mike Osswald), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Effigy Mound in Fairfield County, Ohio.
A cross shaped mound. The depression in the center may be a feature of the original or an early historic excavation. When mapped by Squire and Davis a smaller stone mound nearby was designated as an "altar."
The actual "provenance" of the cross and the stone "altar" are unknown, as there are no records of any definitive excavations of the mounds. Some archaeologists think that they are Hopewell, others think they are from the Fort Ancient period (about 1000y BCE).

A few years ago, Brad Lepper took core samples from the cross, but was unable to identify any sort of soil horizon at what should have been the base of the mound. Current thinking is that the mound was not "built up", but the voids around the mound were excavated from the existing soil. Also, Jarrod Burks, of Ohio Valley Archaeological Services, performed a magnetic radiometry scan of the cross. No obvious return signals that imply buried artifacts were found in the data.
There are 4 conical earthen mounds forming the corners of a square just to the southwest of the cross. It is interesting to note that the length of the diagonals (lines from SW corner to NE corner and NW corner to SE corner) are about 260 feet, which is one-fourth of the length of the "Hopewell unit of measure", as posited by William Romain in his book Mysteries of the Hopewell.
Despite the attached comments posted for this site listing by visitors, the "arms" of the cross are not directly lined up with the 4 cardinal points, but are rotated counter-clockwise by about 11 degrees.
Unfortunately, due to budget constraints and vandalism, Cross Mound Park is currently closed to the public. Tours of the park are available by appointment. Contact the Fairfield County Parks for more information.
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Tarlton Cross
Tarlton Cross submitted by AKFisher : Information brochure on the Tarlton Cross mound in Tarlton, Ohio. The bottom right is a recent LiDAR image of it. Photo courtesy Dr Greg Little, author of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds & Earthworks (2016).  (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tarlton Cross
Tarlton Cross submitted by AKFisher : Mid 1800's Smithsonian survey of the Tarlton Cross Mound in Ohio. Today it is in a small park. The stone mounds associated with it were destroyed. Image courtesy Dr Greg Little, author of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds & Earthworks (2016).  (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tarlton Cross
Tarlton Cross submitted by Flickr : Cross Mound Cross Mound Park gets its name from the unique ancient earthwork structure situated in the shape of a plus-sign, or cross, composed of four identical arms each about 12 feet wide, three feet high and 45 feet long. The cross sits at the top of a moderate incline just west of Salt Creek, a tributary of the Scioto River. Archeologists have suggested that its western arm was carved out of ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Tarlton Cross
Tarlton Cross submitted by mobial : Tarlton Cross Panoramic image of the cross - taken June 19, 2012 Panorama created from iPhone photos Image copyright: Mobial (Mike Osswald), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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"Tarlton Cross" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Re: Tarlton Cross by Anonymous on Friday, 20 November 2009
Hello,

I am a volunteer for the Fairfield County Parks, and conduct interpretive tours of Cross Mound. I wanted to correct a few of the mistakes in your description of Cross Mound.

The park is no longer an Ohio state park -- it is a property of the Fairfield County Parks.

The "arms" of the cross are not directly lined up with the 4 cardinal points, but are rotated counter-clockwise by about 11 degrees.

There are 4 conical earthen mounds forming the corners of a square just to the southwest of the cross. It is interesting to note that the length of the diagonals (lines from SW corner to NE corner and NW corner to SE corner) are about 260 feet, which is one-fourth of the length of the "Hopewell unit of measure", as posited by William Romain in his book Mysteries of the Hopewell.

The actual "provenance" of the cross, the stone "altar", and the conical mounds are unknown, as there are no records of any definitive excavations of the mounds. Some archaeologists think that they are Hopewell, others think they are from the Fort Ancient period (about 1000y BCE). My own hunch (and it's nothing more than a hunch) is that the cross is from the Fort Ancient period, as they built "effigy" mounds like the Serpent and the Alligator. The conical mounds are (again, a hunch) Hopewell, since they are separated by a common unit of measure found in other, verified Hopewell earthworks.

A few years ago, Brad Lepper took core samples from the cross, but was unable to identify any sort of soil horizon at what should have been the base of the mound. Current thinking is that the mound was not "built up", but the voids around the mound were excavated from the existing soil. Also, Jarrod Burks, of Ohio Valley Archaeological Services, performed a magnetic radiometry scan of the cross. No obvious return signals that imply buried artifacts were found in the data.

Unfortunately, due to budget constraints and vandalism, Cross Mound Park is currently closed to the public. Tours of the park are available by appointment. Contact the Fairfield County Parks through the website above for more information.

Bob Williams
[ Reply to This ]
    New and corrected information Re: Tarlton Cross by bat400 on Saturday, 21 November 2009
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Bob --

    I appreciate your posting. The site listing will be revised.
    Please post if Cross Mound Park is open to the public for any special events, or if there is any news about the site to report.

    Thanks again.
    [ Reply to This ]
    New and corrected information Re: Tarlton Cross by Anonymous on Saturday, 21 November 2009
    bat400,

    Thanks for quickly updating the description of Cross Mound. If you're interested, here's a link to a scan of Squier & Davis' drawing of Cross Mound. Please feel free to copy it and host it on your site if you'd like to include it in the write up for Cross Mound (please don't source it from my Lancaster-OH.com website, but copy the file to yours -- thanks!).

    I forgot to mention that the Fairfield County Parks hosted the Walk With the Ancients folks for 4 nights as they traveled through the county. They spent Sunday night at Cross Mound, Monday and Tuesday at Rock Mill (the oldest existing grist mill in Ohio), and Wednesday night at Smeck Farm. All of these places are county parks, and are all within a mile or two of Brad Lepper's path of the Great Hopewell Road (GHR). I spent some time with the folks, and enjoyed being around them greatly. I'm hoping Dr. Shiels will make this an annual event -- perhaps during the summer solstice (the GHR is aligned with the Milky Way during the summer solstice).

    I'll bookmark this page, and hopefully remember to return to it if there are any future events at Cross Mound, so I can keep you updated.

    Thanks for creating such a great website for archaeo-info!

    Bob
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Tarlton Cross by Hikerdoc on Wednesday, 25 July 2007
(User Info | Send a Message)
Condition:Good
Ambience:Good
Access:Easy....but finding the town of Tarlton and Salt Creek takes a little bit of navigational skills. This is the only cross shaped Hopewell mound....and it corresponds to the four directions... a perfect N...S ...E...W...if you will.

Definately worth the visit....somewhat spooky as it is in deep woods and above Salt Creek...but maybe that was just me.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Tarlton Cross by Anonymous on Sunday, 01 July 2007
I have been to this site. It is worthwhile even though the cross is a little difficult to find. it is oriented to the four directions and is very near the Great Hopewell Road.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Tarlton Cross by Anonymous on Sunday, 01 November 2009
    You say it is inline to the four direction N_E_S_W is this by compass ie magnetic North or Celesterial North ie the North Pole,North Star
    [ Reply to This ]

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