Ohio's Ancient Serpent Mound Linked to Summer Solstice?

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 07 June 2001  Page Views: 1765

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Viewed from the heavens, it might appear to be a battle between the forces of darkness and light. Some say this represents the dichotomy of nature: day and night, life versus death — and the underlying struggle between good and evil.

It is the great Serpent Mound of Adams County.

The earthwork was built by an ancient people, archaeologists tell us. But no one is sure who they might have been, what might have motivated them, or even how long ago they fashioned the monument.

This is the only thing we know for sure: On a ridge above the valley of Ohio Brush Creek, a 1 1/4 hour drive east of downtown Cincinnati, lies the largest snake effigy in North America. The serpent is almost a quarter of a mile long, as measured along the centerline of its coils and curves. The height of the mound varies from 2 to 6 feet, while the serpent's body is about 20 feet wide and 1,348 feet long.

Its mouth is thrown wide, as if striking at prey. Just beyond the mouth is a separate, oval mound — what some believe to be a depiction of the sun.

Why would a snake attack the sun? More to the point, why would anyone depict such a thing by fashioning an enormous mound out of clay, stones and dirt?

The most recent theory, popularized in the late 1980s, is that the Serpent Mound represents a solar eclipse. This gains credence from the fact that the mouth of the Serpent Mound is in direct alignment with the setting sun on the longest day of each year: the summer solstice.

This year, as usual, the summer solstice will be June 21. The Ohio Historical Society, which maintains the Serpent Mound and the surrounding 54 acres, has scheduled a special solstice program that Thursday from 8 p.m. until sunset, about 9:15 p.m.

A site interpreter will lead a tour of the mound and discuss the theories of its origins. The program will begin outside the museum and gift shop run by the historical society.

Typically, more than a dozen of the people who travel to Serpent Mound on the summer solstice spend the entire day, said Serpell Adkins, site manager for the Ohio Historical Society.

"We usually always have people here for the equinoxes and the solstices," she said. "Summer solstice is usually our biggest event because it's the most dramatic alignment" of the sun's rays with the Serpent Mound.

Site of Eden? - Since Serpent Mound first was surveyed and mapped by anthropologists some 155 years ago, theories about the mound have been abundant.

Near the turn of the 20th century, the Rev. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, Ohio, interpreted the effigy as a depiction of the serpent in the biblical Garden of Eden. He claimed that the oval mound at the snake's mouth represented the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Rev. Mr. West believed Serpent Mound was created by God, or at least by people inspired by God, to mark the location of the Garden of Eden.

When I was a schoolboy in the 1970s, my Ohio history class was told that the mound depicted a snake swallowing an egg. The grade-school teacher could not explain why Native Americans would have devoted what must have been an enormous amount of time and labor to build — without the aid of even basic machinery — such a massive monument to an egg-eating snake.

Adding credence to the solar eclipse theory of the '80s, researchers have recently found that the outer curves of the serpent align with the rays of the sun at the four divisions of the solar year: sunrise on the summer solstice (the first day of summer); sunrise at equinox (the days when light and darkness are equal in duration, and therefore the first day of spring and the first day of fall), and sunrise on the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year, and therefore the first day of winter).

For many Native Americans, snakes symbolized death, and therefore evil — while the sun symbolized life, and therefore goodness. So, a snake and the sun together might represent the forces of nature at odds.

Likewise, for a prehistoric people, the rare occurrence of the moon obscuring the sun at midday might have been viewed as the ultimate battle between darkness and light — which themselves symbolize death and life.

About 1,000 years ago While we don't know for sure when the Serpent Mound was built, a 1996 scientific excavation, authorized by the Ohio Historical Society, offered a clue. Charcoal found at the base of the mound was radiocarbon dated to about 1,000 years ago.

Researchers note that a total eclipse of the sun might have been viewed from the Adams County area around that time.

Such a solar phenomenon — possibly perceived as a threat to their lives — could have inspired an ancient people to depict darkness trying to envelop the sun. The Serpent Mound has been maintained by the Ohio Historical Society since 1900, when it was designated Ohio's first state memorial.

But the site has been a public park since 1887, when Harvard University owned it and conducted archaeological digs there.

Before then, it was a working farm, with corn stalks growing up to the edges of the Serpent Mound.

Today, about 32,000 people from all over the world visit Serpent Mound every year.

When I arrived on a sunny afternoon in April, about a dozen vintage MG convertibles were in the parking lot, along with a half-dozen other cars.

A pleasant drive About 4 miles northwest of the hamlet of Locust Grove, Serpent Mound is surrounded by rolling hills and farmland. The twisting roads that lead to it make for a pleasant drive.

The site includes picnic tables and grills, so it's a good destination for car enthusiasts as well as families on outings. In addition, nature trails meander alongside Ohio Brush Creek, which flows 90 feet below the ridge where the Serpent Mound lies.

Half-hour guided tours usually are offered only on weekend afternoons, which is when most people visit.

More: Cincinnati Enquirer