Another earthworks...

So I guess we won't name todays Indian earthworks, they aren't really open to the public and well aren't exactly eyepopping. Located on a plateau above the Great Miami River buried in the woods there is a small mound eroded down to a couple feet high with a foot and a half tall spiral around it and one to two foot tall walls extending out to each side barely noticeable in the heavy woods. They show up even less thru the camera lens. My first impression when finally finding them in the woods was "well, Ft Ancient it aint". But still like any Native American site it does get the imagination going. Plus one side of the walls ran right along a very very steep ravine that ran back to the river.
Unfortunately it had taken a bit to find the earthworks after work and this time of year there just isn't much time till dark after work. So there really wasn't much more time left than to just walk too fast down the creek back to the car. But I'm excited about the possibilities of coming back with more time and walking the creek slowly. Who knows I might just find some tools or an arrowhead. I did spot some cool fossils while walking out so I'll have a nice walk in the creek either way

Seip!

So my hunting property lies in Scioto County and this fall with a few zigs and zags on the way there and back I've been visiting some of the amazing native American sites along the way. I posted yesterday the amazing petroglyphs from Leo Petroglyph and Nature preserve. Today I'll post another. I think Southern Ohio and around Chillicothe especially has more mound builder sites than anywhere on earth.
One of the most impressive was the huge Seip Mound. This is the largest part left of what was once an incredible complex. Not only did it rival Ft. Ancient in size with over two miles of walls but it also included several huge mounds. Unfortunately the site was prime farmland and the first settlers just plowed over the earthen walls which caused them to erode down to where they are barely visible today. You can see a pretty good section of it still intact close to the small parking lot because it was protected from plowing by being inside the farm yard where the chickens were kept. But the huge Seip mound is still there. Wow is it impressive. 240 feet by 160 feet and thirty feet tall! This mound was excavated in the early 1900"s and then put back together.
The mound covered a wooden structure in which the remains of several people were placed that must have been high up in Hopewell society for inside their crypt were literally thousands of pearls, finely worked copper, sheets of mica cut into shapes, and the famous clay mask you can see in the photo I took of a sign at the site. Some of these things came from thousands of miles away and all over the United States. All this was covered with a fine cloth staked down with deer antlers. I know we picture Indians as wearing only deer skins and living in tiny bands. The Hopewell, Adena, and Ft Ancient cultures here in Ohio were nothing like this. Along with the two photos that I shot I've posted two old photographs of the excavation of the mound and an old map drawn up before the walls were destroyed. The entire Seip Complex was found to contain the remains of at least 120 people! With much of their site destroyed and with so many bodies buried here I can't imagine anywhere that should be more haunted than these river bottoms.  

Ohio petroglyphs

I'm hesitant to even talk about this place really. It's almost my own private secret instead of a park and nature preserve complete with it's own tiny parking lot off a one lane road in rural Jackson County Ohio. The last time I was there the fallen leaves weren't as beaten down on the hiking trail as those on the small path used only by me and the deer on my own property.
The place is the Leo Petroglyph and Nature Preserve. Here a 1/2 mile trail winds through a small gorge as pretty as any in Hocking Hills or Clifton Gorge. Within the gorge are several small waterfalls and numerous cliffs and rock shelters. Hemlocks, yes hemlocks grow alongside the little stream. And, and, the petroglyphs. Yes petroglyphs in Ohio. Petroglyphs.
A weird almost smiley face with deer antlers and some sort of demonic figure or winged space alien are part of the 37 figures carved into the sandstone. I can only imagine some ancient shaman performing strange rites here. Experts in rock weathering estimate these petroglyphs to be around a thousand years old!
It's a tiny place without even restrooms in the middle of nowhere. Don't go there. The drive is terrible the roads terrible there isn't a decent restaurant for miles. Don't go there, I'll post some photos every now and then to save you the trouble.