What little was left has been destroyed by archaeologsts. The Liberty Works is the last earthwork of the group along the Scioto River.
Just what the archaeologists have been digging in to the last 30 years at the Liberty Works, south of Chillicothe, in Ross County, Ohio, has alluded them to this day. The Liberty Works was a large, geometric shaped earthwork that consisted of a large circle, 1720 feet in diameter along with and attached square and circular work. It was constructed between 200 B.C. - 200 A. D. by the Hopewell Sioux. It was just recently that the archaeologists realized that the Squire and Davis map of the Liberty Works, , done in 1848 and published in, "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." was printed backwards. Recent archaeological appears point out this error, and have now flipped the map into its correct position, or did they?
For the record this is the correct position of the Liberty works located to the southeast of Chillicothe, Ohio.
The original map of the Liberty Works was done by Squire and Davis is 1848 in "Ancient Monuments of the Ohio Valley." The plate was published backward, which was undetected until archaeologists corrected the map recently. The dimensions of the works included a small circle that was 800 feet in diameter, a large circle 1720 feet in diameter and a square that was 1080 feet per side.
Picture of the large burial mound within the 1720 foot circle.
Moorehead and his gang digging and destroying what had been called the Harness Mound
After numerous excavations, archaeologists realized that the road depicted on the Squire and Davis Map was going the wrong direction. The earthwork is located to the southeast of Chillicothe as the corrected map depicts. But it is still wrong!
This is the corrected archaeological map of the Liberty Works. The square work is located southwest of the road. Why wouldn't the archaeologists use aerials to at least have clue of what they were digging in to??? Such zeal to dig, but so little understanding of what they are digging into.
While there are papers on the mound, there is nothing about what the earthwork symbolized.
The square represents the Earth Mother. We know this by the measurement of the sides of 1080 feet and where else this number occurs in the Ohio valley works. The smaller circle represents the Sun Father. It is believed from the study of Sioux religion that the large circle represents "The totality of the people." The diameter of the circle at 1720 feet is also expressed as 215 X 8 = 1720. The length of 215 occurs at Mounds State Park's vesica shaped earthwork and within a similar shaped work at New Castle Indiana that is also 215 feet. The vesica pisca shape has been symbolic of the Earth Mother. The use of the number 8 has been the number interpreted as "new beginning." in nearly all of the ancient religions.
An interpretation of the symbolism of the earthwork would be the "Rebirth of Mother Nature." There is also Solar deity aspects contained within the lengths and geometric shapes within the Work.
Aerial photo of the Liberty Works clearly shows that the square is on the western side of the road. I also discovered a "graded " or "sacred via"emanating from the northwest corner of the work, that was not depicted in Squire and Davis's original survey. The angle of the "sacred via" appears to be aligned to the Summer Solstice sunset. The rounded corners on the northwest part of the square are similar to those at the Hopeton works. The smaller circle is slightly perceptible on the eastern side of the road.
Here is an archaeological investigation of the Liberty Work that was done in 2005. A map is featured on the page that shows the position of three large earthworks along the Scioto, south of the Paint Creek confluence. The map shown of the Liberty Work is the archaeologists "revised" map. Still ain't right.
Who knows how much money was received in grants for this project? Wherever they thought they were digging, they were not. What ever conclusions were drawn from this are invalid, as are all of the other digs done in the last 40 years by the Ohio Historical Society.
Link to the Ohio Archaeologists Map and Dig at the Liberty Works