The Stubbs Earthworks ( 33 WA 1) (also known as Bigfoot Earthworks and Warren County Serpent Mound) was a massive

Ohio Hopewell culture The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 1 ...

(100 BCE to 500 CE)

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located in

Morrow wikt:morrow, Morrow is a word meaning "the next day" in literary English. It also means "morning" in archaic English Morrow may also refer to: Places in the United States and Canada United States *Morrow, Arkansas *Morrow, Georgia *Morrow, Louis ...

Warren County, Ohio Warren County is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 242,337. Its county seat is Lebanon, Ohio, Lebanon. The county is ...

Site description

The site was a ceremonial center consisting of an earthen

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

with circular and rectangular elements and a separate smaller circular enclosure that contained the remains of a

timber circle In archaeology, timber circles are rings of upright wooden posts, built mainly by ancient peoples in the British Isles and North America. They survive only as gapped rings of post-holes, with no evidence they formed walls, making them distinct fro ...

. To the east of the main enclosure on a high terrace overlooking the site was a large W-shaped earthwork. This was once thought to be a snake

effigy mound An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. The Effigy Moundbuilder culture is primarily associated with the years 550-1200 CE during the Late Woodland Peri ...

similar to the Great

Serpent Mound The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot-long (411 m), three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. The mound itself resides on the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. ...

Adams County, Ohio Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,477. Its county seat is West Union. The county is named after John Adams, the second President of the United States. Geography According to the ...

; although archaeologists do not currently think this was the case.

Timber circle

In September 2005 archaeologist Frank Cowan conducted excavations at the smaller circular enclosure; discovering a timber circle in diameter and composed of 172 large posts. Carbon dating of charcoal found in post molds at the site have dated the structure to 200-300 CE.

Modern history

Although ignored by

Edwin Hamilton Davis Edwin Hamilton Davis (January 22, 1811 – May 15, 1888) was an American physician and self taught archaeologist who completed pioneering investigations of the mound builders in the Mississippi Valley. Davis gathered what, at that time, was the ...

and

E. G. Squier Ephraim George Squier (June 17, 1821 – April 17, 1888), usually cited as E. G. Squier, was an American archaeologist, history writer, painter and newspaper editor. Biography Squier was born in Bethlehem, New York, the son of a minister, Joel S ...

for inclusion in their seminal archaeological and anthrolopological work ''

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley ''Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley'' (full title ''Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley: Comprising the Results of Extensive Original Surveys and Explorations'') (1848) by the Americans Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton ...

'' in 1847; the site was visited and mapped by Charles Whittlesey in 1851. Since that time much of the site has been destroyed by farming, gravel quarrying, and encroaching development. The

Little Miami High School Little Miami High School is the only high school in the Little Miami Schools school district. It is located in Morrow, Ohio, Morrow, Ohio, in the United States. It serves the Morrow, Hamilton Township, Maineville, and Butlerville areas of Warren C ...

was constructed over part of the earthworks in 2000; although some of the site is still preserved on its grounds. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

References

External links

The Stubbs Earthwork: Serpent Effigy or Simple Embankment
{{National Register of Historic Places Ohio Hopewell Mounds in Ohio Ohio History Connection National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, Ohio

Site description

Timber circle

Modern history

See also

References

External links