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All the United States Ohio Peebles The Great Serpent Mound

The Great Serpent Mound

The largest earthwork effigy in the world.

Peebles, Ohio

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An aerial view of Serpent Mound in the fall.   Tom Till / Alamy
An aerial view of Serpent Mound in the fall.   Tom Till / Alamy
Serpent Mound with people walking in distance for scale   CassFam / Atlas Obscura User
Serpent Mound from viewing platform   CassFam / Atlas Obscura User
Ground view from ‘mouth’ end.   Maharaji Rastafari / Atlas Obscura User
Original dedication stone   Maharaji Rastafari / Atlas Obscura User
Serpents Mound   megmodesigns / Atlas Obscura User
Birthing Cave on the cliff face near the tails end   PalmyraArchive / Atlas Obscura User
From reviewing stand   Maharaji Rastafari / Atlas Obscura User
Serpents Mound   megmodesigns / Atlas Obscura User
Aerial view of the The Great Serpent Mound, one of the most important prehistoric effigy mound od Adema Culture.   Timothy A. Price and Nichole I./CC BY 2.5
Historical Marker, OH   Maharaji Rastafari / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The “mound builders” of early North America lived throughout what are now the Ohio Valley and Mississippi regions. The earliest group was probably the Adena people, who flourished from 1000 B.C. to 200 B.C. They built mounds throughout North America, from Wisconsin to Mississippi.

The Great Serpent Mound—a 1,330-foot-long, three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound in southern Ohio—is one of the few surviving relics from the mound builders. The earliest records say it depicts a serpent swallowing an egg, though another interesting theory suggests that the snake is swallowing the moon. In 1909, local German Baptist minister Landon West proposed another possibility: The serpent, he said, is writhing in its death throes as punishment for tempting Adam and Eve, in what West believed was the original Garden of Eden.

It is unclear who built the Great Serpent Mound. Though the Adena people built structures like it, as well as burial grounds near the mound, charcoal from the mound has been dated to later in history, around 1000. So the mound may have been built by the Fort Ancient peoples, who lived in the Ohio Valley from 1000 to 1550.

The effigy is located within the Serpent Mound State Memorial and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 2023, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. A nonprofit organization called Arc of Appalachia maintains a museum near the mound.

Related Tags

Burial Places Mounds Indigenous Native Americans Rites And Rituals Long Now Locations Sacred Spaces Ruins

Know Before You Go

You can find the museum's hours here.

 

Community Contributors

Edited By

Afjsdoiuqnnn, Cohnjena, Meg, Maharaji Rastafari...

  • Afjsdoiuqnnn
  • Cohnjena
  • Meg
  • Maharaji Rastafari
  • PalmyraArchive
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • megmodesigns
  • CassFam
  • jennifersekera

Published

September 7, 2009

Edit this listing

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Sources
  • http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/serpent-mound.htm
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_Mound
  • http://greatserpentmound.com/
  • http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw16/index.shtml
  • https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1689/
The Great Serpent Mound
3850 OH-73
Peebles, Ohio, 45660
United States
39.025241, -83.430198
Get Directions

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Ohio

Ohio

United States

Places 240
Stories 22

Nearby Places

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Hillsboro, Ohio

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Ohio

Ohio

United States

Places 240
Stories 22

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