Highbank Park Works | |
Nearest city | Delaware, Ohio |
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Coordinates | 40°8′27.6″N83°1′51.6″W / 40.141000°N 83.031000°W |
Area | 13 acres (5.3 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 74001466 [1] |
Added to NRHP | February 15, 1974 |
The Highbank Park Works (also known as the Orange Township Works) is a complex of earthworks and a potential archaeological site located within Highbanks Metro Park in Central Ohio in the United States. The park is in southernmost Delaware County on the east bank of the Olentangy River. The site is a semi-elliptical embankment, consisting of four sections, each 3 feet (0.91 m) high, and bordered by a shallow ditch. Two ravines and a 100-foot-high shale bluff surround the earthworks. It is thought to have been constructed sometime between 800 and 1300 CE by members of the Cole culture. [2] The earthworks have seen little disturbance since the first white settlement of the region; agriculture has never been practiced on their vicinity, and no significant excavation has ever been conducted at the site. One small excavation and field survey, conducted in 1951, yielded a few pieces of pottery and flakes of flint from a small midden. [3] Another excavation was conducted in 2011 that focused mainly on site usage and constructing a timeline for the mounds. [4]
The Highbank Park Works is one of several wall-and-ditch earthworks in central Ohio. Unlike Highbank, most of these complexes are known to be the work of people of the Hopewell tradition; however, the similarity between the works of the Hopewell and Cole peoples has led archaeologists to propose that the Cole were descended from the Hopewell. [3] New research on the Cole culture suggests this was not a separate peoples, but in fact part of the larger Hopewell group.
Also located in Highbank Park are two subconical Adena era mounds. These two mounds are known as the Highbanks Park Mound I (also known as the Muma Mound) and Highbanks Park Mound II (also known as the Orchard Mound or the Selvey Mound). The two mounds are not located within the embankment, but are about 0.5 and 1 mile away. [2]
In 1974, the Highbank Park Works were listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of their archaeological significance. [1] Three other Delaware County archaeological sites are listed on the Register: the Ufferman Site, the site of a former Cole village; [5] the Highbanks Park Mounds, [1] and the Adena Spruce Run Earthworks. [6]
The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures 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.
The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-foot-long (411 m), three-foot-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. It was built on what is known as the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. The mound is the largest serpent effigy in the world.
The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system. The Adena culture was centered on the location of the modern state of Ohio, but also extended into contiguous areas of northern Kentucky, eastern Indiana, West Virginia, and parts of extreme western Pennsylvania.
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.
Mounds State Park is a state park near Anderson, Madison County, Indiana featuring Native American heritage, and ten ceremonial mounds built by the prehistoric Adena culture indigenous peoples of eastern North America, and also used centuries later by Hopewell culture inhabitants. It is separate from the similarly named Mounds State Recreation Area. The park receives about 400,000 visitors annually.
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 Native American Adena and Ohio Hopewell cultures 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.
Prehistory of Ohio provides an overview of the activities that occurred prior to Ohio's recorded history. The ancient hunters, Paleo-Indians, descended from humans that crossed the Bering Strait. There is evidence of Paleo-Indians in Ohio, who were hunter-gatherers that ranged widely over land to hunt large game. For instance, mastodon bones were found at the Burning Tree Mastodon site that showed that it had been butchered. Clovis points have been found that indicate interaction with other groups and hunted large game. The Paleo Crossing site and Nobles Pond site provide evidence that groups interacted with one another. The Paleo-Indian's diet included fish, small game, and nuts and berries that gathered. They lived in simple shelters made of wood and bark or hides. Canoes were created by digging out trees with granite axes.
The Ufferman Site is an archaeological site in the central part of the U.S. state of Ohio. Located north of the city of Delaware, it occupies approximately 2 acres (0.81 ha) of land near Delaware Lake on property near to the boundaries of Delaware State Park. It appears to have been the location of a village of the Cole culture, which inhabited the region during the later portion of the Woodland period. Ufferman lies only 0.6 kilometres (0.37 mi) south of the W.S. Cole Site, the type site for the culture, and approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) north of the Highbank Park Works, which are believed to have been built by peoples of the Cole culture.
The Highbanks Metropolitan Park Mounds I and II are two archaeological sites located within Highbanks Metro Park in Central Ohio in the United States. The park is in southernmost Delaware County on the east bank of the Olentangy River. The subconical mounds are believed to have been built by the Adena culture.
The Spruce Run Earthworks is an archaeological site located in the central part of the U.S. state of Ohio, in Delaware County. It is believed to have been built by the Adena culture.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Highbanks Metro Park is a metropolitan park in Central Ohio, owned and operated by Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks. The park is named for its steep banks along the Olentangy River, the park's most unique feature. Highbanks also features ten trails, picnic space, a nature center, sledding hill, and nature preserve. It also includes numerous ancient burial mounds and earthworks from the indigenous Adena culture.