Stubbs Earthworks

The Stubbs Earthworks (33 WA 1) (also known as Bigfoot Earthworks[2] and Warren County Serpent Mound) was a massive Ohio Hopewell culture (100 BCE to 500 CE) archaeological site located in Morrow in Warren County, Ohio. [3]

Stubbs Earthworks
33 WA 1
Location within Ohio today
Alternative nameBigfoot Earthworks, Warren County Serpent Mound
LocationMorrow, Ohio,  USA
RegionWarren County, Ohio
Coordinates39°21′24″N 84°9′36″W
History
Founded100 BCE
Abandoned500 CE
CulturesOhio Hopewell culture
Site notes
ArchaeologistsFrank Cowan
Architecture
Architectural stylesearthworks, timber circle
Architectural details
Stubbs Earthworks
NRHP reference No.78002205[1]
Added to NRHPApril 4, 1978[1]
Responsible body: private

Site description
Aerial view of the "W" taken in 1951

The site was a ceremonial center consisting of an earthen enclosure with circular and rectangular elements and a separate smaller circular enclosure that contained the remains of a timber circle. 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 similar to the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio; although archaeologists do not currently think this was the case.[3]

Timber circle

In September 2005 archaeologist Frank Cowan conducted excavations at the smaller circular enclosure; discovering a timber circle 240 feet (73 m) 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.[4]

Modern history

Although ignored by Edwin Hamilton Davis and E. G. Squier for inclusion in their seminal archaeological and anthrolopological work Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley in 1847; the site was visited and mapped by Charles Whittlesey in 1851.[5] Since that time much of the site has been destroyed by farming, gravel quarrying, and encroaching development. The Little Miami High School was constructed over part of the earthworks in 2000; although some of the site is still preserved on its grounds.[3] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1]

See also

References
  1. "National Register of Historic Places-Ohio". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-06-02.
  2. Woodward, Susan L.; McDonald, Jerry N. (1986). Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley: A Guide to Mounds and Earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient People. Blacksburg, VA: McDonald & Woodward Publishing. p. 246–249. ISBN 978-0939923724.
  3. "Stubbs Earthworks". Ohio History Central. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  4. Cowan, Frank (2005). "Stubbs Earthworks : An Ohio Hopewell "Woodhenge"". In Lepper, Bradley T. (ed.). Ohio Archaeology : An illustrated chronicle of Ohio's Ancient American Indian Cultures. Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press. p. 148–151. ISBN 978-1882203390.
  5. Lynott, Mark (2015). Hopewell Ceremonial Landscapes of Ohio: More Than Mounds and Geometric Earthworks. Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781782977551.
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