<< Other Photo Pages >> Rentschler Park Hilltop Enclosure - Hillfort in United States in Great Lakes Midwest
Submitted by stonetracker on Wednesday, 01 March 2023 Page Views: 1698
Pre-ColumbianSite Name: Rentschler Park Hilltop Enclosure Alternative Name: Line Hill MoundCountry: United States Region: Great Lakes Midwest Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Hamilton OH
Latitude: 39.417980N Longitude: 84.49165W
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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External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
stonetracker visited on 1st Apr 2021 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 2 The site is in a park (Rentschler Forest MetroPark) and open to the public. There are two parking areas: one on the south side and one on the north side near the river. I opted to walk in from the south side. Parking is available in a lot at the end of a side street off of Rentschler Estates Drive. Signage refers to the site as "Line Hill Mound." The gateway is slightly over 0.5 mile away on a flat, easy trail (Mound Trail) which can get muddy so boots are advised in rainy weather. See picture post for a map of the trail system.
I did not check the northern entrance (Reigart Rd) and trail system, but it may be an easier way to explore those parts of the enclosure near the Great Miami River.
This site does not have an official place name so I created one using the name of the modern Ohio MetroPark in which it is located. It was surveyed by Squier and Davis in the mid 1800s. An edited excerpt of their account from "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" follows:
"This work occurs on the bank of the Great Miami river, four miles above the town of Hamilton, in Butler county, Ohio. It occupies the summit of a promontory cut from the table lands bordering the Miami river, which upon three sides presents high and steep natural banks, rendered more secure for purposes of defense by artificial embankments thrown up along their brows. The remaining side is defended by a wall and ditch, and it is from this side only that the work is easy of approach. The walls are low, measuring at this time but about four feet in height. The area enclosed is level, subsiding somewhat towards the north, so as to form a sort of natural terrace along the river. Upon this terrace are situated several small mounds. The point indicated by "c" in the plan is the most elevated within the enclosure. The ground here was intermixed with large stones, most of which were removed in building the canal. Among them, it is said, were found several human skeletons, and also a variety of carved stone implements. The area of the work is seventeen acres; the whole of which is yet covered with a dense primitive forest."
The most interesting feature in connection with this work is the entrance on the south, of which the enlarged plan can alone afford a fair conception. The ends of the wall curve inwardly as they approach each other, upon a radius of seventy-five feet, forming a true circle, interrupted only by the gateways. Within the space thus formed, is a small circle one hundred feet in diameter; outside of which and covering the gateway is a mound, "e", forty feet in diameter and five feet high. The passage between the mound and the embankment, and between the walls of the circles, is now about six feet wide. The gateway or opening "d" is twenty feet wide. The mound "h" is three feet high.
When I visited the site in 2021, I was able to find the southern gateway easily in 30 minutes via a direct trail but little else. However, it is very rare in my experience to find such a complex entrance into a Hopewell (or Adena) hilltop enclosure that is still intact although very degraded and overgrown. So I spent most of my time at the site studying the gateway complex, took some videos (see below), and did some very limited exploring north of that point. I'm including the Squier and Davis map with a detail of the gateway which is useful for reference when watching the videos. But, it is hard to get a good sense of the site from images alone and I recommend an in-person visit, especially when the leaves are off the trees. I did explore parts of the southern wall of the enclosure east and west of the gateway. They are eroded almost to the point of invisibility, but some segments can be made out. I was unable to find mound "h" in Squier and Davis's plan. I did not try to explore the eastern and western sides of the enclosure as the park trail heading north was closed off and it would have involved extensive time and bushwhacking.
The site was never excavated to my knowledge, but my guess is that this is a ceremonial Hopewell hilltop enclosure, given the elaborateness of the entrance earthworks and the overall location of the site. Location coordinates are for the southern gateway.
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