Ancient Stone Work Near Jacksontown, Ohio (Licking County)

Ancient Stone Work Near Jacksontown, Ohio (Licking County) 

    

     This work is situated eighty rods north of the National Road, and two miles east of Jacksontown, Licking County, Ohio. The ground here is elevated, the enclosure surrounding the summit of a hill, not very abrupt; the soil is a mass of broken sand-rock. From the top of the inner wall, e, in the section a b, to the bottom of the ditch between the walls, the distance is three feet, generally less; both the height of the wall and depth of the ditch, varying at different points. Of the entrances, c, c, c, the northern is the widest, being forty feet; the eastern twenty-eight, and the other twenty-two feet, and without mounds or barriers. The circles at figures 1, 2, 3, 4, represent mounds of stones, such as one, or at most, two men might carry, loosely thrown together. No. 1 was eighteen feet high, with a base of ninety feet diameter. No. 2, fifteen feet height and seventy feet base. No. 3, the same. Their bases are not regular circles, and all of them are now (May, 1838) much injured by the inhabitants of Jacksontown, who use the stone for cellar walls. This consists of the coarse-grained sandstone of the coal series, and constitutes an excellent material for rough walls. I did not observe any permanent supply of water in the neighborhood, or any reservoirs within the enclosures, which might otherwise be regarded as defensive work. The largest diameter is seven hundred and fifty feet; the shorter six hundred. The interior space rises above the well and ditch several feet, in an oval or rounded form. One-fourth of a mile to the north-east is another stone mound, like those within the work, which is fifteen feet high, and composed of loose sandstone.

Large Adena Burial Located South of Newark, Ohio

Large Adena Burial Located South of Newark, Ohio 

Burial mound situated on a high bluff in Perry County, Ohio looking north towards Newark, Ohio and the many mounds and earthworks.

This Adena mound is located just south of Licking County, Ohio in Perry County.  It could have been seen in the winter months from Glenford Fort.

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Adena Burial Mound Near Newark, Ohio - Tippit Mound

Adena Burial Mound Near Newark, Ohio - Tippit Mound

 A little south of Newark, Ohio is the ruins of the what has been called the Tippit Adena Mound.

It is located in the Dawes Arboretum in Jacksontown. See the video of Ohio's largest Adena Hopewell burial mounds here https://youtu.be/H5NN9nNRQKg

The Tippit mound is located off of one of the hiking trails. It was excavated and only a fraction of its original size.  Another smaller mound is also located in the park.

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Early Description of the Newark, Ohio Ancient Earthworks

Early Description of the Newark, Ohio Ancient Earthworks

The immediate vicinity of Newark seems to have been a sort of headquarters, or great central city. Newark, indeed, is built upon the ruins of the works of this mysterious people, many mounds having been leveled to make way for streets and buildings, and the city has extended into the Great works, of which a cut is here given. This drawing is taken from a survey by David Wyrick, in 1860, and gives a faithful outline of the Old Fort, and the connecting works within a radius of one mile. The outlying works are nearly obliterated, with the exception of some of the parallel lines and the Octagon fort and its connecting circle. The larger circle in the drawing marked "thirty acres," represents the most prominent and best preserved of all this series of works and is now owned and used by the Licking County Agricultural society; its preservation being thus assured. The portions of the cut represented by a square, and parts of the lines of an oblong, are nearly obliterated by the growth of the city of Newark in that direction. The octagon and circle marked respectively "fifty acres" and "thirty acres," have been partially subjected to the leveling processes. The whole plain between the South and Raccoon forks of Licking river, and covering an area of several square miles, bears traces of occupation by the "lost race." It is evident from the remains here found, that this section was densely populated, and the character of the works, too, bear out the assumption that this people passed through the different stages of existence that fall to the changing experience of nations at the present day. The following description of the Old Fort is probably the most accurate as to measurements and other particulars yet given, being the result of actual surveys made by Colonel Charles Whittle sey, of Cleveland, and Isaac Smucker, esq., of Newark : "The Old Fort is situated a mile and a half in a southwesterly direction from the court house in Newark, and belongs to the class of Mound Builders' works known as inclosures. It is not a true circle, the respective diameters being eleven hundred and fifty, and twelve hundred and fifty feet. Its banks, nearly a mile in length, were formed by throwing up the earth from the inside, which left a ditch of sloping sides, ten feet (in many places more) in depth, and ranges, in perpendicular height, measuring front bottom of ditch to top of bank, from twenty to thirty feet. This inclosure, which embraces within it about twenty-seven acres of land, was constructed on level ground, and the ditch above described was often seen, during the earlier decades of the present century, partially, and sometimes wholly, filled with water all around the circle. From some cause it has not held water of later years to any great extent. Viewed from the outside, the embankment does not rise more than ten to fifteen feet above the surface of the surrounding ground, but observed from its top, the eye taking in the depth of the ditch, it seems, of course, much higher, so as to correspond in height, at least, to the figures above given. "The Old Fort has an entrance or gateway, which is flanked by a high bank or parapet on either side of it, running outward forty yards. The gateway and parallel walls or parapets are on the eastern side, of the circle, and the ditch which follows it also extends to the termination of the parallel banks that cover the entrance. Mere the banks are highest; the parallel walls, as well as those which form the circle immediately adjoining them at the gateway, reaching, for a short distance, a perpendicular height of at least thirty feet, measuring from the bottom of the ditch, or twenty feet, measuring on the outside. The gateway or entrance measures seventy-five feet between the ditches or moats, and between the parapets or banks of earth that flank the entrance, one hundred and thirty feet around the circle, as well as upon the parallel walls at the     entrance. They are equal in size to those that are yet found on the outside of the inclosure and \\ within it and of the same varieties. Some of them measure ten feet in circumference and are still thrifty, giving no indications of decay. One of the largest trees that stood on this embankment was cut down in 1815, and its concentric circles showed that it had attained to the venerable age of over one hundred and fifty years.
     In the middle of the Old Fort is an elevation, evidently artificial, which never fails to attract the attention of the observing, and is generally designated as Eagle mound. It is full six feet high, and is in the form and shape of an eagle in flight, with wings outspread, measuring from tip to lip two hundred and forty feet, and from head to tail two hundred and ten feet, and is clearly of the effigy class of the works of the Mound Builders. It faces the entrance, and therefore lies in an east and west direction, its wings extending north and south. Excavations made many years ago into the center of this earthen figure, where the elevation is greatest, developed an altar built of stone, upon which were found ashes, charcoal and calcined bones, showing that it had been used for sacrificial purposes. "Many have held the opinion that the Old Fort was a military work, constructed for defence, but its location on a level plain, its symmetrical form and inside ditch, and the indications of the presence of fire, seen on the altar, and its sacrificial uses, so clearly suggested, all go to render this opinion to be erro neous, or, to say the least, one highly improbable. All the known facts pertaining to it go to raise the presumption that within this inclosure were conducted by Mound Buiders, the rites and ceremonies of their religion, they having manifestly been a religious and superstitious race, given to the practice of offering up human as well as animal sacrifices. "Others have believed that the Old Fort was the seat of government of the Mound Builders, and that their monarch resided here
    "It was in October. 1800, when Isaac Stadden. a pioneer settler in the Licking valley, discovered it. One of the most astonishing and incomprehensible things about this great earthwork is the ditch inside of it. This, as Mr. Smucker says, is yet ten feet deep, and is, probably, fifteen or twenty feet wide at the top. If it were not for the immense trees that yet stand on the embankment, one would be inclined to place the construction of this work within the last century, from the fact that other wise this ditch should have long since disappeared, having been filled, by the yearly drift of leaves, etc, to the surface of the ground. When the fact is considered that this ditch has stood in the midst of the forest for centuries, and has thus been a safe receptacle for the yearly fall of leaves that would naturally drift into it, that the storms of centuries have been washing its banks, that, as Mr. Smucker says, water once stood a good portion of the year in it, with its relaxing and dissolving tendencies, the absorbing questions are, how deep must this ditch have been at first, and what tools could the workmen have used to raise the dirt to such a height, and for what purpose was it constructed ; why, especially, was it made so deep? Supposing that from all the causes above     enumerated, the ditch had filled one inch per year for six hundred years; even that would give it a depth of fifty feet at first. It would seem more probable that it would fill five or six inches every year, instead of one inch; and it is thought these works are a thousand years old instead of six hundred. This being true, would make this ditch very much deeper, and only increases the mystery that already surrounds these works. Here is an opportunity for scientific investigation that should not he lost. A shaft sunk in the bottom of this ditch would probably reveal its original depth. The immensity of these works is truly wonderful and awe-inspiring. The stranger visiting them for the first time can only look and wonder. The pyramids of Egypt are counted among the "seven wonders of the world," but in what particular are they so much more wonderful than this earthwork? Both are equally mysterious and incomprehensible. The "Eagle Mound" in the center of this inclosure, is somewhat disappointing at first sight, and does not appear to have much resemblance to an eagle. It more resembles the shape and form of a honey-bee, and might more appropriately have been called the "Honey-Bee mound." The wings are not pointed, like those of a bird, but circular, like those of a bee, and the body is shaped much like that of the bee. Samuel Park, esq., thus writes concerning these works: •' Mr. Atwater says that many of the writers on these antiquities never saw the works themselves, or if they did. it was only from some public conveyance in hasty flight through the coun try; and consequently they know nothing about them, and their representations are not reliable. This, no doubt, in some instances is true. But those newspaper correspondents, and other persons seeking literary renown, are not the only persons chargeable with having arrived at conclusions, and published opinions, based upon observations quite too superficial. Mr. At water himself, with all his care, is not safe from this charge, for in his report on the antiquities of Licking county, though he made a personal survey of them, seems to have but little knowledge of their extent and diversity of character. He gives us very correct diagrams of a portion of the works in Cherry Valley, and speaks of one or two mounds, south of Newark, and some pits below Newark, and south of Licking river. These he calls the works in Licking county, while they constitute but a very small proportion of them.
   The mathematical skill manifest in the construction of some of these works, as well as the fine topographical engineering shown in the location of these signal mounds, indicate a pretty high degree of culture, for that age of the world, and. I think, conclusiw evidence that they were not erected by the ancestors of our native Indians, as it is not probable that they ever advanced bevond the hunter-grade of civilization in which we found them, while our Mound Builders must have been much in advance of this. These signal mounds are not always found on the highest hills, but where they will command the most complete view of the whole land, whether below or above their location, and where they can be seen by the greatest number of other mounds, by views through valleys, or between distant hill- lops. This feature is an important one, and cannot be the result of accident. On the contrary, it shows a careful economy in locating them, so as to attain the object of their erection with the least amount of labor possible. This would have been needless had their design been other than that we have assigned them. They would, in many instances, have much belter suited the theory of 'worship in high places,' or of 'monuments for the dead," if they had been differently situated from that in which we find them. 

Granville, Licking County, Ohio's Alligator Mound Alignments and Numerology

Granville, Licking County, Ohio's Alligator Mound Alignments and Numerology

Early map of the Alligator mound. It may have been some other kind of reptile. It shares an alignment with the large Newark Circle or henge, as they are both aligned to the May 1st sunrise.May 1st was the emergence of frogs and other reptiles and a sign that life was returning to the landscape.

The traveler between Newark and Granville will observe many of these mounds, a few yet pretty well preserved, even on the extensive and rich bottoms of the Raccoon ; but the better preserved works, and those probably the most interesting, are located upon the hills that shut in the valley. Captain M. M. Munson, who occupies a beautiful farm in the midst of these mounds, and who has made them something of a study, is confident that around the great alligator mound, located not far from his house, is a complete system of mounds and earthworks that point to it as a common center. However this may be, there is certainly a large circle of works in this vicinity, extending several miles in every direction, and seemingly connected with each other and with the "Old Fort" near Newark and its contiguous works. The Alligator mound is situated upon the summit of a hill nearly two hundred feet high, about six miles west of Newark; near Granville. The shape and form of this reptilian monster are distinctly presented, so that all admit, at the first; glance, that it was undoubtedly intended to represent the alligator or American crocodile. His enitire length is two hundred feet and ten feet. The greatest  breadth of his body is twenty feet, and his length  between the fore legs and hind legs is fifty feet.

The length of the Alligator of 210 feet is a good clue that this work had a solar reference. Sun temples or henges at Mounds State Park and Cambridge City, Indiana, Athens Ohio, Chillicothe, Ohio were all 210 feet in diameter or 660 feet in circumference.

Two henges from the Junction Group near Chillicothe, Ohio with a diameter of 210 feet.

The limbs are each twenty-five feet long. The head, fore shoulders and back have an elevation varying from three to six feet, while the remainder of the body averages considerably less. The head, limbs and tail gradually taper off to their termination. The scholarly author of "Historic Man" visited this effigy in 1876, just before the issue of the third edition of his work, and he expresses the belief that it "symbolizes some object of special awe and veneration, thus reared on one of the chief 'high places' of the nation, with its accompanying altar, upon which these ancient people could witness the celebration of the rites of their worship, its site having been obviously selected as the most prominent feature in a populous district abounding in military, civic and religious structures." It is probable this effigy was an object of worship, as the Mound Builders were certainly a superstitious and idolatrous race. 

The stone cairn that was next to the effigy is very similar to that found at the Tarleton Cross.

The Tarleton Cross with an adjoining stone mound.  In the center of the cross is a deep basin where it is believed that fires were made during solar events.

     It probably belongs to the same class of mounds as the "Eagle mound" in the "old fort." The hill upon which the Alligator mound is situated, is a "spur" jutting into the level bottom, and not far from the foot of the hill, and to the east of it perhaps one fourth of a mile, on the level bottom, is the curiously shaped mound called the "Crescent." It is an "immense pile of dirt," which seems to lie upon top of the ground as if it had been transported from a distance, thrown down there and fashioned into the shape of a half-moon or crescent. It is composed largely of gravel and in its composition differs largely from the dark, loamy earth around it. This mysterious crescent-shaped pile has been plowed over for fifty years or more, and of course is much reduced in height, but is yet probably six or seven feet high. It is large and thick in the center, and tapers in either direction to a point. It is located on lot number eight of the Granville purchase, now owned by D. M. Knapp.

Ohio's Lost Stone Pyramid Mound: Near Newark, Ohio

Ohio's Lost Stone Pyramid Mound: Near Newark, Ohio

The Mound Builders by J.P. McLean 1879

Licking County, Ohio

    Perhaps the largest and finest stone mound in Ohio was that which stood about eight miles south of Newark, and one mile east of the reservoir on the Licking Summit of the Ohio canal. It was a composed of stones found on the adjacent grounds, laid up, without cement, to the height of about fifty feet, with a circular base of one hundred and eighty-two feet if diameter. It was surrounded by a low embankment of an oval form, accompanied by a ditch, and having a gateway at the east end. When the reservoir, which is seven miles long, was made, in order to protect the east bank, so that it might be used for navigation, the stones from this mound were removed for that purpose. During the years 1831-32 not less than fifty teams were employed in hauling them, carrrying away from ten thousand to fifteen thousand wagon loads. Near the circumference of the base of the mound were discovered fifteen or sixteen small earth mounds, and a similar one in the center. These small mounds were not examined until 1850, when two of them were opened by some of the neighboring farmers. In one were found human bones with some fluviatile shells, and in the other, two feet below a layer of hard, white fire clay, they came upon a trough, covered by small logs, and in it was found a human skeleton, around which appeared the impression of coarse cloth. With the skeleton were found fifteen copper rings and a breastplate or badge. The wood of the trough was in a good state of preservation, the clay over it being impervious to both air and water. The central mound was afterwards opened and found to contain a great many human bones, but no other relics of any note. All of these mounds, so far as they have been explored, contain earth from a distance- the fire clay having been brought from Flint Ridge, six or eight miles distant.

Ohio Mounds: Adena Henge and Enclosure in Licking County, Ohio

Adena henge and earthwork near Granville, Ohio in Licking County.

EXPLORE ANCIENT OHIO

      The work here represented is situated two miles below the town of Granville, Licking county, Ohio. It encloses the summit of a high hill, and embraces an area of not far from eighteen acres. The embankment is, for the most part, carried around the hill at a considerable distance below its brow, and is completely overlooked from every portion of the enclosed area. Unlike all other hill-works which have fallen under notice, the ditch occurs outside of the wall; the earth in the construction of the latter having been thrown upwards and inwards. This is observed equally at the points where the hill is steepest; and the result has been, in the lapse of time, that the ditch is almost obliterated, while the accumulating earth has filled the space above the wall, so that the appearance of the defence, at these points, is that of a high, steep terrace. The height of the wall varies at different places; where the declivity is gentle and the approach easy, it is highest,—perhaps eight or ten feet from the bottom of the ditch; elsewhere it is considerably less. The embankment conforms generally to the shape of the hill. It is interrupted by three gateways, two of which open towards springs of water, and the other, or principal one, upon a long narrow spur, which subsides gradually into the valley of Raccoon creek, affording a comparatively easy ascent.

     Upon the highest part of the ground enclosed in this work, is a small circle, one hundred feet in diameter, within which are two small mounds. There is also another truncated mound, a little distance to the northward of the circle. The mounds within the circle, upon excavation, were found, in common with all similar structures occurring within enclosures, to contain altars. No enduring remains seem to have been deposited upon these altars, which were covered with ashes, intermixed with small fragments of pottery. This is the only hill-work which has been observed to embrace a minor work of the description here represented. The character of the principal enclosure can hardly be mistaken; it is palpably a defensive work, although deficient in that grand essential, a supply of water. If we concede, what can hardly admit of doubt, that the minor structure had a sacred or superstitious origin, we must of necessity arrive at the conclusion that the altars of the ancient people sometimes accompanied their defences.