Cedar-Bank Works | |
 | |
| Nearest city | Chillicothe, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Area | 32 acres (13 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001614 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | February 15, 1974 |
Cedar-Bank Works is group of Adena culture earthworks located in Ross County, Ohio in the United States. It is located approximately five miles north of the town of Chillicothe, Ohio.
Cedar-Bank is Adena in its design and style, and is believed to have been built before the sites at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. It remains unknown what the date is on the site. [2]
The site was surveyed in 1845 by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis. They reported about their survey in their 1848 publication, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley . They describe the site as consisting of a "wall and an outer ditch, which constitute three sides of a parallelogram. The fourth side is protected by a natural bank or bluff, 70 feet high, and so steep as to admit of no ascent, except at one point where it has been gullied by the flow of water." [3]
They surveyed the three walls as measuring at six feet high with 40 foot bases. The ditches were noted as being five feet by 40 feet wide. The eastern wall was reported as having a ditch that traveled for two-thirds of its length. This ditch was measured at ranging from eight to ten feet deep. The eastern wall itself was 1,400 feet long. The other built walls, the northern and southern walls, were both the same size, measuring in at 1,050 feet in length. They were placed on right angles. The south ended at the hill and the north stopped 25 feet from the southern wall. Squier and Davis believed that a fourth wall may have been built, only to have been destroyed by the natural elements. [3]
Two entrances were noted, one on the north side and the other on the south side, each placed in the center of each side. They describe a four foot tall "elevated square" as "covering the northern gateway and two hundred feet interior to it." The square is noted as being 250 feet by 150 feet wide. They compare the square to the pyramids located at the Marietta Earthworks. Squier and Davis described parallel walls, 300 feet away from the main site. The walls were measured at 870 feet in length and 70 feet apart from each other. The two walls merge and lack ditches. The two men noted that the walls were partially destroyed by the Chillicothe Turnpike that passed through the site. The undisturbed parts of the walls, which were in forested areas of the site, were two to three feet high. [3]
They surveyed, a third of a mile south of the main work, a truncated pyramid along with a small circle. The pyramid is measured at 120 feet square at the base and nine feet tall. The pyramid's location matches the cardinal directions. They excavated the pyramid, and no remains were found. The circle is measured at 250 feet in diameter with a gateway on the south side of it. The gateway is 30 feet wide. There is a ditch inside the circle and an embankment, which almost matches the height of the circle wall on the side without the gateway. Squier and Davis note that they have seen this type of build in other works, but do not name which sites. [3] This type of partially open circle would be described, by contemporary archaeologists as being a "C-form" earthwork. [4] They compliment the location of the pyramid and circle as having a "fine view" of the river and being "well chosen," by the builders. They believed that the land that the square and circle works were built on was intentionally smoothed out by the builders. They did note that they discovered "inconsiderable remains, consisting of small, low terraces, and little mounds and circles." No additional major mounds were discovered on the site. [3]
Upon completion of their survey, Squier and Davis could not easily determine the use of the earthworks. They believed that the main works appeared to be fortifications. However, the large gateways on the site were "hardly consistent with the hypothesis of military origin." The men reported that there must have been some type of significance in the placement of walls, suggesting that the space was used for "celebration of certain games" or religious ceremony. [3]
The Ohio Historical Society reported its findings on excavations at the site in the 1902 book, Archæological History of Ohio: The Mound Builders and Later Indians by Gerard Fowke. Fowke notes that when the site was built, the river most likely flowed high enough to be at the edge of the earthworks. He noted young white oak being found at the site and that, as of the time of publishing, no other excavations had taken place since Squier and Davis visited the site in 1845. Based on casual observation, Fowke noted that the "south wall had been worn away," but it is unknown what happened. He suggested that perhaps the river washed away the loose soil and gravel that the wall was built upon, causing it to fall apart. He also noted that the river was "much further away," than at the time Squier and Davis had visited. He theorizes that a ditch near "Prairie Run" may have been one source for the soil used to build the works. [5]
He cites cultivation as the source of the walls being destroyed in most areas, showing a considerable change from the time that Squier and Davis had been there in 1845. He also states that the pyramid that Squier and Davis describe was described incorrectly by them. Fowke states that the grounds were not purposefully smoothed out by the builders, and that the ground is naturally like that and that the ground is no more special than the ground that surrounds it without works built upon it. [5]
The Hopewell tradition describes the common aspects of an ancient pre-Columbian Native American civilization that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes. This is known as the Hopewell exchange system.
Fort Ancient is a Native American earthworks complex located in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio, along the eastern shore of the Little Miami River about seven miles (11 km) southeast of Lebanon on State Route 350. The site is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States with three and one-half miles (18,000 ft) of walls in a 100-acre (0.40 km2) complex. Built by the Hopewell culture, who lived in the area from the 200 BC to AD 400, the site is situated on a wooded bluff 270 feet (82 m) above the Little Miami. It is the namesake of a culture known as Fort Ancient who lived near the complex long after it was constructed.
A number of pre-Columbian cultures are collectively termed "Mound Builders". The term does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks erected for an extended period of more than 5,000 years. The "Mound Builder" cultures span the period of roughly 3500 BCE to the 16th century CE, including the Archaic period, Woodland period, and Mississippian period. Geographically, the cultures were present in the region of the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippi River valley and its tributary waters.
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is a United States national historical park with earthworks and burial mounds from the Hopewell culture, indigenous peoples who flourished from about 200 BC to AD 500. The park is composed of six separate sites in Ross County, Ohio, including the former Mound City Group National Monument. The park includes archaeological resources of the Hopewell culture. It is administered by the United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service.
Fortified Hill Works is a registered historic site near Hamilton, Ohio, listed in the National Register on July 12, 1974.
Mound Cemetery in Marietta, Ohio, is a historic cemetery developed around the base of a prehistoric Adena burial mound known as the Great Mound or Conus. The city founders preserved the Great Mound from destruction by establishing the city cemetery around it in 1801.
The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks. This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and 400 CE, contains the largest earthen enclosures in the world, and was about 3,000 acres in total extent. Less than 10 percent of the total site has been preserved since European-American settlement; this area contains a total of 206 acres (83 ha). Newark's Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks are managed by the Ohio History Connection. A designated National Historic Landmark, in 2006 the Newark Earthworks was also designated as the "official prehistoric monument of the State of Ohio."
The Hopeton Earthworks are an Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site consisting of mounds and earthwork enclosures. It is located on the eastern bank of the Scioto River just north of Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the Mound City Group and Shriver Circle on a terrace of the Scioto River. The site is a detached portion of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, along with the Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, Spruce Hill Earthworks and the High Bank Works. The site is open to the public.
The Portsmouth Earthworks are a large prehistoric mound complex constructed by the Ohio Hopewell culture mound builder indigenous peoples of eastern North America. The site was one of the largest earthwork ceremonial centers constructed by the Hopewell and is located at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, in present-day Ohio.
The Mount Horeb Earthworks Complex is an Adena culture group of earthworks in Fayette County, Kentucky. It consists of two major components, the Mount Horeb Site 1 and the Peter Village enclosure, and several smaller features including the Grimes Village site, Tarleton Mound, and Fisher Mound. The Peter Village and Grimes Village enclosures were mapped by Rafinesque and featured in Squier and Davis's landmark publication Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley in 1848 as Plate XIV Figures 3 and 4.
The Marietta Earthworks is an archaeological site located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers in Washington County, Ohio, United States. Most of this Hopewellian complex of earthworks is now covered by the modern city of Marietta. Archaeologists have dated the ceremonial site's construction to approximately 100 BCE to 500 CE.
Indian Mound Reserve is a public country park near the village of Cedarville, Ohio, United States. Named for two different earthworks within its bounds — the Williamson Mound and the Pollock Works — the park straddles Massies Creek as it flows through a small canyon.
Howard Baum Site is a Hopewell tradition earthworks site located in Ross County, Ohio, in the United States. The work is located near the north fork of Paint Creek. It was described, in 1848, as "one of the largest and most interesting in the Scioto valley."
The Junction Group is a site of earthworks located two miles southwest of Chillicothe, Ohio in the United States. The earthworks are associated with the Hopewell tradition. The site has been described as "unusual" by contemporary archaeologists. Excavations in the early 19th-century state that the site was not for fortification, but was used for religious purposes, including for burials.
The Dunlap Works are a group of Hopewell tradition earthworks located in Ross County, Ohio in the United States. It is located approximately 6 miles (9.7
The Piketon Mounds are a group of earthworks located in Piketon, Ohio in the United States. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The specific age of the site is unknown. Some mounds were created by the Adena culture, while other mounds were built by the Hopewell culture.
Cross Mound is an earthwork located near Tarlton, Ohio in the United States. The culture who built it and the time it was built remains unknown. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Contemporary archaeologists have described it as "one of the many enigmatic effigy mounds in Southern Ohio."
The Stubbs Earthworks was a massive Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site located in Morrow in Warren County, Ohio.
The Shriver Circle Earthworks are an Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site located in Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio. At 1,200 feet (370 m) in diameter the site is one of the largest Hopewell circular enclosures in the state of Ohio.
Media related to Cedar-Bank Works at Wikimedia Commons
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