I am generally of the persuasion that culture is integrated, that is, cultural behavior is influenced by many different factors. I generally disagree with one-dimensional interpretations. Some may see an orientation of the mound to a constellation, but I don't think that this tells us much about the people who built the mound. Most the streets in the US, and probably in your town, are oriented north-south or east-west. And most of the houses are oriented north-south or east-west. I don't think that we orient our houses this way because of some Polaris (North star) thing.

Archaeological investigations at Serpent Mound (Adams County, Ohio) completed in the early 1990s have produced a calibrated radiocarbon date of A.D. 1075. Keep in mind that radiocarbon dates are samples, are subject to error, and calibrated dates have more than one solution. This eleventh century date is strikingly different than what speculation had been for most of the twentieth century. Most people had thought that Serpent Mound would date to the Middle Woodland Period, or about A.D. 400. The A.D. 1075 date fits better with the rest of the data on this site, in my opinion. At this time, during the Late Prehistoric Period, we find relatively large villages near major streams with evidence indicating that the inhabitants practiced fairly extensive horticulture (gardening). The primary crops were corn, beans, and squash, with lots of other plant species mixed in. And they also still did some hunting, fishing and gathering. As with all horticulture or agriculture based systems, including our own, there must be mechanisms for exchange. And, we generally find a good deal of concern with understanding nature. How do you make sure that your gardens get enough water, but not too much, and avoid frosts, and avoid pests, and so forth? It is not surprising to find in human societies efforts to control the forces of nature and the supernatural, often through rituals the unite and integrate the members of the society. And efforts to control the supernatural often involve looking to the heavens. So, I think that it is likely that Serpent Mound was part of a ceremonial center that was integrated within a much larger set of social institutions. Today we only see a mound of earth with what we perceive as a serpentine shape. We have very little information about the associated villages or other associated activity areas. I think that we need to be very cautious in reaching for conclusions.

I am skeptical about interpretations that see an archaeological feature oriented to an astronomical feature. The earth mound known as Serpent Mound has been very much modified over the past several centuries. It is very doubtful that it had straight walls when it was first built. Without a line-of-sight that is carved in stone, it is possible to view alignments that vary by many degrees. Finally, remember the dating considerations, the constellations that we see today were not in the same form or at the same relative positions 1,000 years ago, or at 2,000 years ago. Still, it seems likely that one of the factors influencing the construction of Serpent Mound was probably an astronomical event. In 1066 the people of earth witnessed one of the brightest occurrences of Halleys Comet. It is not uncommon for historical references to note this occurrence and to picture the comet as a serpent. If I am correct and the people living in Adams County, Ohio, at the end of the eleventh century were very concerned with controlling nature and supernatural forces in securing the raising of garden crops (on which they depended for food), then it would not be surprising if one of the responses to the 1066 siting of Halleys Comet resulted in a construction that we see today as the Serpent Mound. Note that I am not stating that Halleys Comet caused the construction or that Serpent Mound functioned only as a religious symbol. I do think that knowing something about astronomical events helps in a small way to interpret a large and complicated cultural manifestation.

David Snyder
Ohio Historic Preservation Office
567 E. Hudson Street
Columbus, OH 43211-1030
Phone: (614) 298-2000
FAX: (614) 298-2037
Email: dsnyder@ohiohistory.org

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