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From Primedia Publications

As Old as the Hills

By The Editors of HistoricTraveler.com


Man-made hills shaped like bears, birds, a snake or simply round or oval can be found in at least 17 states from Florida to West Virginia to Minnesota to Texas. Some were used for burial of the dead, some as platforms for ceremonies, and others had no purpose we can determine. Though many have been destroyed by people and the elements, those that remain tell tales of the enormous effort needed to build them and give us clues to the lives of those who made them rise from the earth long centuries ago.

Maybe the most visually compelling is Serpent Mound State Memorial near Peebles, Ohio. It wriggles distinctly and unmistakably for a quarter mile along a bluff in an area where the Adena Indians lived sometime between 800 B.C. and A.D. 1 and the Fort Ancient Indians lived about 1,000 years later. Excavations of the snake form in the late 1880s failed to turn up any evidence of burials or other artifacts.



In Iowa, along the Mississippi River, earthen bears and birds share hilly terrain with simple round and oblong mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument. The oldest and simplest are burial mounds; later ones may have had ritual significance.

Many Native American cultures revered the earth as the mother of humankind, so it's easy to understand why they would create special images on and of the earth. But these images are so huge as to appear shapeless from close by, so who was the intended viewer?

Your guess is as good as anybody's.

Where to Go

Moundville Archaeological Park and Museum
Moundville, AL 35474
(205) 371-2572

Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park
Scott, AR 72142
(501) 961-9442

Hampson Museum State Park
Wilson, AR 72395
(501) 655-8622

Indian Temple Mound Museum
Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32549
(850) 833-9595

Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site
Cartersville, GA 30120
(770) 387-3747

Ocmulgee National Monument
Macon, GA 31201
(912) 752-8257

Kolomoki Mounds State Park Museum
Blakely, GA 31723
(912) 724-2151

Dickson Mounds Museum
Lewistown, IL 61542
(309) 547-3721

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
Collinsville, IL 62234
(618) 346-5160

Effigy Mounds National Monument
Harpers Ferry, IA 52146
(319) 873-3491

Wickliffe Mounds
Wickliffe, KY 42087
(270) 335-3681

Poverty Point State Commemorative Area
Epps, LA 71237
(318) 926-5492

Grand Mound History Center
International Falls, MN 56649
(218) 285-3332

Grand Village of the Natchez Indians
Natchez, MS 39120
(601) 446-6502

Winterville Mounds State Park and Museum
Greenville, MS 38703
(662) 334-4684

Town Creek Indian Mound State Historic Site
Mount Gilead, NC 27306
(910) 439-6802

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Chillicothe, OH 45601
(740) 774-1125

Moundbuilders State Memorial & Museum
Newark, OH 43055
(740) 344-1920

Serpent Mound State Memorial
Peebles, OH 45660
(937) 587-2796

Fort Ancient
Lebanon, OH 45036
(513) 932-4421

Spiro Mounds Archaeological State Park
Spiro, OK 74959
(918) 962-2062

Pinson Mounds State State Area
Pinson, TN 38366
(901) 988-5614

Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site
Alto, TX 75925
(936) 858-3218

Grave Creek Mound State Park
Moundsville, WV 26041
(304) 843-1410

Several sites in and around Madison, WI; call the State Historical Society Museum, (608) 264-6555, for information.