(By Judy Ann Fields from the People’s Defender 1967)
In the writings of Adams County, I think we should give credit to the Mound Builders that once inhabited this land. No doubt these prehistoric people loved our hills and valleys because much of their handywork have been discovered. Within the boundary of our county, 58 mounds, 13 enclosures, 10 village sites, 31 burials, two stone graves, one effigy and two petroglyphs of carvings or inscriptions upon rocks have been found. Pictographs mostly in the form of human footprints cut in the exposed rock surface can be seen in Green Township.
These primitive people lived in great numbers. They did some farming and a lot of fishing, which supplied them with fish and mussels. Sometimes pearls were found and made into necklaces. There was an abundance of forest game, wild fruit and honey from trees. These people were very well led by Mother Nature’s provisions. They were also workers of stone and bone and metal, very artistic and creative in their hard labor in art and tools.
The Mound Builders had no equipment except baskets to carry on their heads or shoulders loaded with earth to build the mounds and shells for their digging utensils. This seemingly endless, backbreaking labor was to these people a way of life and a purpose for existence. Some of the enclosures were once villages walled for safety from their enemies and others were temples for their gods and some were burial grounds. We sometimes seem to take our great Serpent Mound for granted. After all, it has been around a long time. The serpent is said to have been built between 1000 B.C. and 700 A.D. Serpent mound isn’t just any effigy or just any state memorial. It is an effigy and a memorial in our county.
We have breathtaking scenery and views, wildlife that is a hunter’s delight and wild flowers and ancient trees to awe any man, but our Serpent Mount is what the world knows about our county.
The embankment of earth, nearly a quarter of a mile long, represents an enormous serpent in the act of uncoiling. The maximum height is five feet. The head is triangular in shape and before the mouth is an oval figure of 120 long and 60 feet wide. The mound represents the open mouth of the serpent.
In the religious of the world, the serpent has played a prominent part. It has been the symbol of benevolent deities or of evil forces. It represented eternity to many ancient people, because the shedding of its skin annually seemed a renewal of life.
In the ceremonial practices and mythologies of the American Indians, the serpent sometimes stands for evil and at other times as beneficient. The feathered serpent was important to the ancient Mayans of Yucatan in their religion and art.
The plumed serpent as a mythological monster to the North American Indians, was in conflict with the thunder beings whose intentions toward mankind was essentially good. Some living tribes in the United States still have great respect for the serpent. As a prayer for rain, the Hopi Indians of Aiona preform the well-known Snake Dance.
No doubt the serpent symbolized some mystical religious principle for the Serpent Mound builders, but where it represented good or evil we don’t know.
Excavations of the serpent have revealed no implements, burials or ornaments from its builders. They did show, however, that the form of the serpent had been carefully planned before the mound was built. Lumps of clay and flat stones were laid on the ground surface as a guide, then basket loads of earth were piled over them. Small conical mounds plus one large one south of the effigy contained burial implements characteristic of the prehistoric Adena people, whom authorities have given the credit for the building of the Serpent.