The Ohio Hopewell Culture

 

 

View at the end of the 1976 season, excavations of Edwin Harness Mound remnant. CMNH. Note the asymmetric (egg shaped) outline of the large stones which formed the lower edge of the outermost mound stratum.

 

View at the end of the 1977 season, excavations of Edwin Harness Mound remnant. CMNH. Post holes, temporarily colored white for the photography, outline the floor plan of a large civic ceremonial structure.

 
Site model. Seip Mound State Memorial, Ohio Historical Society. Only the two largest mounds found at the site are shown: Seip Pricer and Seip Conjoined. Both of these mounds have also been called Seip Mound 1 and Seip Mound 2. Note the combination of square and circular enclosures. Variations on this pattern occur at four other Central Scioto sites including Liberty.

 

Aerial, Ross County 1976 survey, outline of Seip Earthworks superimposed. CMNH. Note the extent of the areas originally enclosed by the ancient walls and the effects of modern land use. Route 50 bounds the site on the north while a rectangular bend of Paint Creek forms boundaries on the east, west, and south. The state park is within the narrow fenced area in the middle of the Great Circle.

 

Excavations of Seip Pricer Mound. Ohio Historical Society, 1927 or 1928. A mechanical dragline and scraper in use. This was the first mechanical device used by OHS in excavating large mounds. When work began, Seip Pricer was over 30 feet high. Trenching and undercutting using hand tools had been used previously.

 

Excavations of Seip Pricer Mound. OHS, 1927 or 1928. Animal teams were still used in carrying away the many tons of mound fill removed by the mechanical drag line. These soils were later used to reconstruct the mound now within a state park. Note the spectators.

 

Floor features, excavations of Seip Pricer. OHS, 1927. A carefully prepared clay basin, which is a typical Ohio Hopewell feature, is flanked by a log and stone tomb (left) and the remains of a small log structure which was found empty. Note the outlines of two of the initial inner mounds. These relatively small mounds covered separate sections of the complex wooden structure which had originally occupied the site.

 

Excavations of Seip Pricer Mound. OHS, 1928. Terracing the excavations of the high profile, east end. Note the outline of the small mounds placed over the east and middle sections of the composite wooden structure in the profile. A layer of small gravels, a common feature of Ohio Hopewell mounds, covers both small mounds, and begins the sequence which culminated in a single large oval mound.

 

Seip Mound State Memorial, view facing south. OHS, 1974. Modem posts have been placed to show floor plans of Houses 1, 2, and 3 which are located approximately midway between the wall of the Great Circle and Seip Pricer Mound (in the background). The floors were exposed during excavations by OHS from 1971 to 1973.


Forward to the next page of this essay

Back to the previous page

Back to Online Essays

 
   Department of Anthropology
   copyright © 2002 University of Illinois, All rights reserved.
Questions and Comments to Brenda Farnell