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