ABSTRACT
A s European settlers spread westward across North America, they encoun-tered the remains of massive artificial earthworks (Silverberg 1986). These monuments of a remote and mysterious past fired the imagination of colonial Americans. The earthworks were astonishing in their size and density. One mound at Miamisburg, Ohio, was 20 meters high and 200 meters in circumference. In the Ohio River Valley alone, there were 10,000 mounds. The earthworks were found in a wide array of forms, including flat-topped mounds, conical mounds, and enclosures. Some of the earthworks, such as the Wisconsin effigy mounds, included human and animal forms. In Figure 8.1, we see the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, which has the figure of an undulating snake with a curled tail stretching over 200 meters along a hill overlooking Brush Creek (Squier and Davis 1848). At the open mouth of the snake is an oval mound.
