Burial Mound Photographed in Butler County, Ohio

Burial Mound Photographed in Butler County, Ohio

The largest mound of this group must have been destroyed at some time, leaving this smaller mound of the group as the only one to survive the urban sprawl. It is situated next to a new home, however, it has been left with thick underbrush and trees growing on it that make it difficult to see.  I photographed 32 large burial mounds in Ohio.  25 of these are `" Address Restricted.  To see photos, historical documentation, and directions to these sites they are found in "The Nephilim Chronicles: a Travel Guide to the Ancient Ruin in the Ohio Valley." Here's a sneak peek of 32 of the largest mounds in Ohio 

The Mound Builders, Archaeology of Butler County, Ohio, 1879:

On the farms of William Hogan and Charles Borger, section twenty-one, is group of mounds, six in number. A plan of these given in Fig. 56.

  

Mr. L. Demoret looked up the history of and the stories concerning this mound, and writes as follows:

“About the year 1820 this mound was opened by a man named Young, assisted by the Keever brothers, in hopes of finding a treasure chest. They worked only during the hours of darkness, and in perfect silence, in the belief that the chest never could never be reached if a word was spoken while at work. A story was started, and believed by many, that the chest was finally discovered, when one of the diggers exclaimed: ‘I’ve got it at last!’ whereupon it slipped from his fingers and vanished, leaving a smell of brimstone in the air.

“The tunnel was started on the north side, about half way up the slope, and ran downwards at an angle of thirty-five degrees, for a distance of thirty feet, when the center was reached, from which point it was carried eastwardly several feet. It was stated at the time that the center of the mound gave the appearance of having been once a hut formed of leaning timbers to sustain the great weight of earth. Within this vault were found a stone back-wall, coals and ashes, and human bones.”

Butler County, Ohio Reily Cemetery Mound

Butler County, Ohio Reily Cemetery Mound

The position of this mound is on an upland terrace next to a small creek called Little Indian that is a tributary to the Miami River. Reily Cemetery located in the town of Reily, Ohio.  

he Mound Builders, Archaeology of Butler County, Ohio, 1879:

On a hill west of the village of Reily, and near the cemetery, on section twenty-one, located in the woods on the farm of P. Wunder, is a mound ten feet high by fifty feet diameter. Many years ago this was dug into, and many earthen vessels taken from it. An oak tree of considerable size is growing on the side of the mound.

The 8 Gods and Goddesses of the Dakota Sioux are Symbolized with the Ohio Hopewell Mound Builder's Earthworks

The 8 Deities of the Sioux Indians and the Ohio Hopewell Earthworks

Wankan Tanka - The Great Spirit that created everything. He governs all.

The number 8 is prevalent in the Ohio Hopewell earthworks. The octagon at Newark was constructed to venerate these gods.

The center column represents the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka.  He symbolized here as the Tree of Life.  The 4 earthen columns on each side represent the 8 lesser deities.



Wi -  The most powerful Sun god
Shkan - The sky god
Maka - The Earth Mother
Inyan - Rock and immovable things

Hanwi - Goddess of the Moon - wife of Wi
Tate -  god of the winds
Wohpe - The falling star or meteor
Wakinyan - Thunderbird

Wi, The Sun God, was represented by circular earthworks or henges.

Maka, The Earth Mother was represented by the square. The largest circle may represent Shkan, the sky god

Stone walls on hilltop ceremonial works were dedicated to Inyan

Tate was the god of the 4 winds.

Wohpe - The falling star or meteor



Wakinyan - Thunderbird

Glenford Adena Stone Ceremonial Center To Open To Public

Glenford, Ohio, Adena Stone Ceremonial Center To Open To Public

Early map of Glenford Fort that was once surrounded by a six foot high stone wall.

   

  The Columbus Dispatch just reported that what is known as "Glenford Fort" is to open to the public.  The Coopriders had made efforts to have the large stone burial mound reconstructed after being demolished by a local amateur archaeologists.

I took this photo several years ago of large stone burial mound in the center of the complex.

 

Remnants of the stone wall after being demolished by the city of Columbus.

Recent photo of a remaining wall that is still a couple of feet high

The entrance to the ceremonial complex takes you through this stone sacred via.

Maritime Archaic Origins of the Hopewell Mound Builders

Plummets associated with the Maritime Archaic were found in Hopewell burial mounds in the Ohio Valley.

   Plummets, bar amulets and other iconic Maritime Archaic artifacts are found within the 

Hopewell burial mounds of the Ohio Valley.

   According to Native Americans, the only people that have claimed heredity to the Hopewell mounds and earthworks are the Dakota Sioux Nations. The descendants of the Hopewell are the Dakotan or Siouan family comprised of these known Nations. The Winnebago, Omaha, Osage, Issati, Mandan, Missouri, Dakota, Iowa, Ottoe, Hidatsa (Crow), Blackfeet, Ogala, Ponka, Assinboin, Akansea, Kansa and others. There is also evidence that the Cherokee and the Iroquois may have a common origin with the Dakota. No records and only one tradition exist of war between the Iroquois and the Sioux, west of the Alleghenies, but both of these people maintained bitter and hereditary war against the Algonquin. The prehistoric Siouan people were neighbors in Carolinas of the prehistoric Iroquois, and the two people more or less allied in language and having similar customs.

   The question of what Native Americans were building mounds over their dead also narrows the possibilities as to the descendants of the Hopewell Culture.

    Linguistic studies show that at the end of the Archaic Period (1500 B.C) that bands of the Maritime Archaic split into separate groups. This split would culminate in the respective Sioux, Iroquois and Cherokee tribes.

   Linguistically, the Iroquois, the Sioux and the Cherokee are similar and may have been derived from a common source. All of these tribes were builders of burial mounds and the later Mississippian platform mounds. The only known Algonquin tribe that built burial mounds were the Shawnee that have been erroneously called “Fort Ancient” by archaeologist. Shawnee mounds can be found through out Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Ohio and Indiana. Some are of earthen mounds while others were made of stones with the bodies being places within stone lined graves or in a stone box.

Bulletin 180 Symposium on Cherokee and Iroquois Culture

   The widest cleavage in the Iroquoian family is certainly that between the Cherokee and all the rest of the Iroquoian, i.e., between alone southern branch and a large northern trunk. Ten years ago, at the Fourth Conference on Iroquois Research, I hazarded a guess of around 4,000 years for the time depth of this split. The estimate was based primarily on a rough evaluation of the amount of phonetic, grammatical, and lexical change which has accrued to the Cherokee and which sets it off from the rest of the Iroquoian.

A Brief History of the Cherokee,” 
   Mary Evelyn Rogers writes, “Linguistic studies show the Cherokee had been separate from the Iroquois, their closest linguistic relative, for at least3500 years, based on a 1961 per Duane King in the introduction to “The Cherokee Nation.”  

Sioux Indian Shell Mounds

There is evidence that the early Dakota were the Archaic Maritime people, both of whom buried their dead in shell mounds. These people are pre-Hopewell, called the Shell Mound Tradition. Shell mounds are found most extensively in southern Ohio and Indiana and in northern Kentucky. In Louis F. Burns book “The History of the Osage” he writes, “Recent archaeological findings seem to indicate that both the Dhegiha Sioux and Chewere Sioux were the Indian-Knoll and Shell Mound culture of Kentucky and Tennessee.” Skeletal remains found in these shell mounds are identical to the later Hopewell showing that they had inhabited the Ohio and Wabash Valleys for hundreds of years. The shell mounds in the interior reveal Laurentian type artifacts, however they were different skull types than the shell mounds in the coastal regions, the Dakota Sioux having long heads and the Laurentian/Adena round.

Ancient Adena Earthwork Found in Jackson County, Ohio

The Jackson County, Adena ceremonial earthwork is still visible in this field overlooking Jackson, Ohio.  The work measured 100 x 110 feet and had a deep interior ditch that was typical of Adena earthworks. For 121 mounds and earthworks in Ohio including the "Address Restricted" burial moundswww.nephilimgiants.net : 121 Photos of Burial Mounds in Ohio Including the :Address Restricted" Sites 

Another view of the earthwork shows how it overlooks the city of Jackson, Ohio

History of Jackson County, Ohio - 1900
THE OLD FORT— This is the name by which the ancient earthwork on McKitterick's hill, northwest of Jackson, is generally known. There were two of these works on the McKitterick farm in early days, but the eastern one, inside of which the house was erected, has been almost obliterated. They were visited by Charles Whittlesey in 1837, when he was engaged upon the first geological survey of Ohio and described as follows: "No. 1 is situated in Lick township, Jackson county, Ohio, on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 19, Township 7, Range 18, on high ground, about one-fourth of a mile northwest of Salt Creek. The soil is clayey, the work slight, with only one opening, which is on the east, and to my knowledge, without running water in the vicinity. The ditch being interior, indicates that the work was built for some other purpose than defence, probably for ceremonial uses. No. 2 is on the same quarter section on the east half, and lies near the road from Jackson to Richmond, on the left hand. The prospect from the mound is extended and delightful. On the west between this and No. 1, is a ravine and a small stream. As the soil is sandy, it is certain that the mound attached to the rectangle on the southwest was somewhat higher at first that it is at present. Neither of these works are perfectly square or rectangular, but irregular in form, approaching a square. No. 2 is clearly not a work of defence, and was probably intended as a high place, for superstitious rites. A more charming spot for such observances could not be chosen, if we admit that external circumstances and scenery had any connection with the sentiments of the worshipers, and we must allow that the Mound Builders were alive to the beauty of the scenery." The writer had a survey of the Old Fort made in July, 1894. The dimensions were found to be as follows: Length 110 feet, width 100 feet. From bottom of ditch to top of embankment at south west corner is three feet and four inches; height of embankment six inches. From bottom of ditch at southeast corner to top of embankment is five feet and six inches; the embankment is two feet high. Distance from inside ditch across to outside of embankment is fifty feet. The inclosure is level, and the entrance is on the east side. The inclosure is almost rectangular, but the embankment is more irregular. An oak seven feet in circumference stands on the embankment near the southeast corner. There are a number of smaller trees growing on the embankment, and a few in the inclosure, but there are none in the ditch. The Old Fort stands on level ground, overlooked by several higher elevations, which proves conclusively that it could not have been intended for defence. There is no great quantity of water nearer than Salt Creek, a quarter of a mile away, which argues that it was not the long house of a village. Whittlesey failed to find any running water in the vicinity, but since the ground has been cleared, a number of coal springs have been discovered near. In short, there is a coal spring at the head of each branch of the several ravines adjacent. In the summer of 1896, one of these springs, located a few hundred feet southeast of the Old Fort, dried up and Milton Cameron, who was clearing the land, cleaned it out in hopes of finding water. At a depth of about three feet, he came upon a pan scooped out in the sandrock where the stream had welled forth. There was nothing to show that the spring had ever been cleaned out by whites, and it is evident that this pan was the work of the fort builders. Its discovery justifies the belief that there may have been other springs nearer the Fort which were stopped up by its users, and have not yet been rediscovered. Only a few relics have been discovered near the Old Fort. The only specimen found inside the inclosure was a fine spear head, about four inches long. It was found accidentally by John F. Motz, when a lad. Samuel McKitterick, the present owner of the land, found a steel bladed ax May 5, 1896, when plowing in the field about one hundred yards south of the Fort. The ax weighs one and one-half pounds, is seven inches long, has a three inch blade and the eye measures 1 1-8 in. x 1 1-2 in. The ax Is now owned by J. H. Cochran. 

Hopewell Artifacts Discovered in Hocking County, Ohio

Hopewell Artifacts Discovered in Hocking County, Ohio

Ancient Levee Discovered at the Portsmouth, Ohio Earthworks

Ancient Levee Discovered at the Portsmouth, Ohio Earthworks

The Yellow Line is where the ancient levee was diagrammed by the Ohio Power Company

Portsmouth Daily Times, October 2, 1939
Sixth St. Believed, Part of Levee by Mound Builders
   The Ohio Power Co.s new office building at Sixth and Washington streets will sit on top of a flood levee built years ago by the Mound Builders.
   Samples of the soil sent to Columbia University for testing puzzled the professors and another sample was requested.  The professors said that the sod appeared to be "doped" and was unlike sod usually found in that section of the country.
Soil Imported
   Further examination revealed the sod was brought here by the Mound builders and was used to build a levee along Sixth Street from the Scioto river bank east..  The levee apparently followed a line east from Sixth street to Galia and Waller streets and ran northeast to Offnere street hill.
   The lines in the soil indicated that more soil was added each year. In one place a leaf mold about two feet thick was found. It has not been determined of the required years to build the levee, or was soil added as the flood stage of the river increased.
Believed Mixed with Clay
   Historian believe that Mound Builders found a particular soil elsewhere that proved superior for their purposes than the clay found around here.  It is believed the imported soil was mixed with clay to build the levee.

Historian

Lumberton Adena Mound in Clinton, County Ohio

Lumberton Adena Mound in Clinton, County, Ohio

The Lumberton mound is close to tumbling down the bluff on which it sits. Lumberton is north of Wilmington in Clinton County.

Pleiades Star Cluster Effigy in Butler County, Ohio

Pleiades Star Cluster Effigy in Butler County, Ohio

The Pleiades Star Cluster is usually represented by seven stars, but at times only six are visible. Was there one additional mound that was going to be constructed here?

The Pleiades Star Cluster

Sioux Indian tipi with star clusters and a Sun symbol used by the Ohio Hopewell. 

The largest mound in the center is still visible in the front lawn of a new home.

Portsmouth Earthwork Complex, Bear Effigy Mound

Portsmouth Earthwork Complex, Bear Effigy Mound

A Bear Effigy mound is diagrammed from an 1886, Oho Historical Society survey of the sacred vias and earthworks at Portsmouth, Ohio and across the river in Greenup County, Kentucky.

The Tremper  effigy mound is just north of Portsmouth, Ohio. What animal was being depicted is still a matter of conjecture.

Dakota Sioux Hopewell of the Ohio Valley

Dakota Sioux Hopewell of the Ohio Valley

American Antiquarian, 1891
THE DAKOTAS AND THEIR TRADITIONS.
      Editor American Antiquarian: In reference to the Dakotas and their migrations, I would say that I was informed by my father and Messrs. Pond that their myths refer to their ancestral villages on the Upper Mississippi, Lake Isanti, and the west end of Lake Superior; to wanderings in regions north of the Great Lakes; to a residence on the Great Lake many times farther east than Lake Superior. Their descriptions of the ocean storms, sea beaches, etc., are so accurate that it seems impossible that these myths, gathered more than fifty years [ago, could possibly have originated otherwise than when they resided there. But they had no traditions as to residence south of Lake Superior. Father was informed by half breeds, who had resided among the Iowas, that the Iowas had traditions that thev came from the Ohio Valley, but without the myths themselves to be analyzed little importance could be attached to such traditions. With the exception of the Crows, and perhaps the Osages and Winnebagos, the tribes allied to the Dakotas in language were, when first visited by the whites, chiefly dependent on agriculture for their support. It was my father's opinion that these tribes, the Iowas, Omahas, and Ponkas ; the Osages, Kansas, Kaws and Qunpas, the Mandans and Winnebagos, were the Ohio mound-builders, or at least one class of them.  More on the Sioux Indian mound builders

The Iowas and Ponka Sioux had a tradition of building large burial mounds like Seip in Ross County, Ohio

     According to Dakota traditions, the Iowas and Ponkas built much larger mounds than the Dakotas. I have myself heard several Dakotas say that the Iowas (" Syakhibee" in the Santee dialect) built the round mound thirty feet high, perhaps partly natural, on the brow of the bluff a mile east of my father's mission station, and quite an extensive earth-work, probably originally ten feet from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the wall between this mound and the mission station. This earth-work enclosed a spring well towards the top of the bluff, and over looked a rich bottom, in which was a large space partly covered with large trees, that seemed to be covered with old corn-hills. The Indians stated this bottom was used as a corn-field by the Iowas and also another piece afterwards planted by themselves. They represented that the Iowas left this region on account of a war between the Dakotas and Iowas, one Indian supposing this happened about ten generations ago, another estimating the time at only five generations. I noticed the remains of some circular houses banked up with earth within the enclosure, but these remains and a large share of the earth-work were many years ago destroyed by plowing. I never examined fully the large mound, and could not do so on account of intrusive burials of the Dakotas in the top. A small excavation in one side proved that it was to a considerable extent artificial, but seemed to indicate that it was partly natural. It commanded an extensive view. The Dakotas in winter sus pended their dead in trees or on scaffolds, and buried the bones only when the flesh had rotted off. In summer they usually buried at once, provided they could obtain a coffin of boards. The heathens always placed offerings with the body, whether on the scaffold, in the tree, or in the coffin; but I think never placed offerings with buried bones, as they supposed the dead by this time domiciled in the new world, and that the spirit, which long lingered about the body, took its final departure into some other human being or some animal when the decay of the flesh was complete. A. W. Williamson. Rock Island, I11., October 25, 1890.

Skull Rock at Yellow Springs, Ohio

Skull Rock at Yellow Springs, Ohio

Skull Rock is located at the Hopewell necropolis at Yellow Springs, Ohio. It is situated about 50 below street level in cavern that includes two natural springs.

Serpent Mounds and the Dakota Sioux

Serpent effigy in Kansas that is depicted as swallowing an egg or sun symbol is identical to the famous serpent in Ohio. More on the ancient Sioux and serpent mounds

It is also a remarkable fact that the Dakota has a tradition among them that they once occupied the valley of the Ohio, and lived in villages and were tillers of the soil.  Now, the point which we make is this: the serpent effigies which have been found in the Dakota territory and on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers at various points, so resemble that found in Southern Ohio that they convey the impression that the same people built the serpent effigies wherever found

Winter Solstice Sunset Alignment at Marietta Sacred Via

Winter Solstice Sunset Alignment at Marietta Sacred Via

The graded way or sacred via extended from the enclosure to the second terrace of the river. The sacred via was constructed to align to the Winter Solstice sunset.

At Marietta the graded ways leads from the second terrace up to the third terrace, and connects the enclosure and the three temple platforms with the river, thus giving the impression that they were used for religious purposes.

Hopewell Numerology, The Earth Mother and 215 Feet

Hopewell Numerology, The Earth Mother and 215 Feet

There are several works in the Ohio Valley that have been measured at 215 feet. The shapes of these earthworks would suggest that the length was used as part of a numerological codex to indicate the Earth Mother.

Intersecting two circles at the midpoint creates the vesica pisca (fish vessel) that was used in an cient times to represent the Earth Mother.

This shape was used in two separate earthworks at Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana. The length of the earthwork, t called the "Fiddle Back Mound" is 215 feet in length. The aligment from the (now destroyed) center mound to the center of the "Fiddle" aligns with the Winter Solstice Sunrise.

This photo shows the Point that extends through the interior ditch of the "Fiddle" that was constructed as a Vesica Pisca.

Another earthwork with a constructed middle is just north of the "Fiddle" at Mounds State Park. Evidence that this work is associated with the Earth Mother is the solar alignment of the gateway with the May 1st sunrise. 

Another earthwork with a constricted middle occurs at the New Castle, Indiana henge site, about 20 miles from Anderson. It is designated as Mound # 4 on the top map and the length of 215 feet is shown at the bottom of the page. This mound is aligned to the mound to the west to mark the Equinox sunset.

The third earthwork that was measured at 215 feet wide, is the Sacred Via at Piketon, Ohio. The length of the earthwork was 1080 feet, that reoccurs in the side of square earthworks in Ohio and Indiana. The square was symbolic of the 4 winds and the Earth Mother.

Gematria Numerology of the Portsmouth Square

Gematria Numerology of the Portsmouth Square

The two core numbers of the ancient numerological codex of Gematria were 666 or 660 as representative of the Sun Father and 1080 as the Lunar or Earth Mother. 

The Portsmouth, Ohio mound earthwork complex was the largest constructed by the Adena. It represents a large Serpent that spans the Ohio River into Kentucky. The southwest portion of the work contains a square earthwork with two sacred vias.  The measurements used in the construction are identical to those of henges  across the Ohio Valley.

The two sacred vias eminating from the Square are 210 feet wide and 2100 feet in length.  This length repeats in many of the Adena Sun Temples in the Ohio Valley. 

Two henges at the Junction Group near Chillicothe, Ohio were 210 feet in diameter or 660 feet in circumference. Henges at Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana, Cambridge City, Indiana and at Athens, Ohio were also 210 feet in diameter or 660 feet in circumference.

The Winchester, Indiana rectangular earthwork was constructed the gateway would align with the summer and the winter solstice sunrise and sunsets. The length of the east - west walls were 1320 feet ir 660 X 2. The north, south walls were 1080 feet; a number that represented the Lunar or earth Mother.

Rare Early Photographs of the Newark, Ohio Earthworks

Rare Photographs of the Newark, Ohio Earthworks

Two photographs of the Newark, Ohio earthworks prior to the ceremonial center being converted in to a golf course. The Newark Earthworks are believed to have been constructed around 100 B.C. The Newark Earthworks demonstrate the knowledge of mathematics and geometry that was demonstrated in the construction of this ancient work.

The two photos featured are the circle and octagon in left portions of this map.  the Neark works also included the large henge and a square earthwork.

This photo shows the sacred via that connected the octagon and the circular earthwork.  This via nows serves as golf tee.

This is the southwest portion of the circle that features a mound and on the back end what appears to have been the beginning of two parallel walls of a sacred via.  

Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky and Tennessee Shell Mounds Were Early Dakota Sioux Hopewell

Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky and Tennessee Shell Mounds Were Early Dakota Sioux Hopewell

  Pre-Hopewell are called the Shell Mound Tradition. Shell mounds are found most extensively in southern Ohio and Indiana and in northern Kentucky. In Louis F. Burns book “The History of the Osage” he writes, “Recent archaeological findings seem to indicate that both the Dhegiha Sioux and Chewere Sioux were the Indian-Knoll and Shell Mound culture of Kentucky and Tennessee.” Skeletal remains found in these shell mounds are identical to the later Hopewell showing that they had inhabited the Ohio and Wabash Valleys for hundreds of years. The shell mounds in the interior reveal Laurentian type artifacts, however, they were different skull types than the shell mounds in the coastal regions, the Dakota Sioux having long heads and the Laurentian/Adena round.

According to Native Americans, the only people that have claimed heredity to the Hopewell mounds and earthworks are the Dakota Sioux Nations. The descendants of the Hopewell are the Dakotan or Siouan family comprised of these known Nations. The Winnebago, Omaha, Osage, Issati, Mandan, Missouri, Dakota, Iowa, Ottoe, Hidatsa (Crow), Blackfeet, Ogala, Ponka, Assinboin, Akansea, Kansa and others. There is also evidence that the Cherokee and the Iroquois may have a common origin with the Dakota. No records and only one tradition exist of war between the Iroquois and the Sioux, west of the Alleghenies, but both of these people maintained bitter and hereditary war against the Algonquin. The prehistoric Siouan people were neighbors in the Carolinas of the prehistoric Iroquois, and the two people more or less allied in language and having similar customs.

Historian, George Catlin Places the Mandan Sioux at the Serpent Mound in Ohio in Ancient Times

Historian, George Catlin Places the Mandan Sioux at the Serpent Mound in Ohio in Ancient Times

The Dakota Sioux not only built mounds for their dead, but also constructed Serpent Mounds in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

“Prehistoric America,” Vol. II. Stephen Peet, 1892 

    “It is well known that Catlin, the celebrated painter maintained that the Mandan’s, who were a branch of the Dakotas, originally were located in Ohio, the very region in which the great serpent is found, but that they migrated from that region, passing down the Ohio River, and up the Missouri, and that they became nearly extinct by the time they reached the headwaters of the Missouri.  I think there may be a pretty fair deduction drawn, that they formerly occupied the lower part of the Missouri, and even the Ohio and Muskinghum, and have gradually made their way up the Missouri to where they are now.”