Long-overlooked marvel of ancient Indigenous engineering gets validation in Ohio - PBS NewsHour

[SouthBayDem]

Nov 28, 2025
On Native American Heritage Day, we examine a long-overlooked marvel of ancient engineering that had been tucked away beneath a golf course in Ohio. It is a place some archaeologists say is on par with Stonehenge. But its struggle for recognition spanned decades, ending only recently with validation as the state’s only World Heritage site. Stephanie Sy has more.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. I read about this place a couple of years ago, and I can't remember where.

Smithsonian magazine, maybe.

Thanks.

[Dear_Prudence]

2. Eight monuments comprise the World Heritage Site

²I have visited Serpent Mound many times and I watched a summer solstice sunrise thru a notch in the earthwork at Fort Ancient. I haven't been to the Octogon part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to UNESCO, "This property is a series of eight monumental earthen enclosure complexes built between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago along the central tributaries of the Ohio River. They are the most representative surviving expressions of the Indigenous tradition now referred to as the Hopewell culture. Their scale and complexity are evidenced in precise geometric figures as well as hilltops sculpted to enclose vast, level plazas. There are alignments with the cycles of the Sun and the far more complex cycles of the Moon. These earthworks served as ceremonial centres and the sites have yielded finely crafted ritual objects fashioned from exotic raw materials obtained from distant places."

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1689

[pansypoo53219]

3. wisconsin has a lot of mounds. also dipshits destroyed the only 'innie' mound. i took a drive + the map

said there were some mounds down a side road. the elderly dane who was visiting me + i drove to check it out. mounds hidden by trees + such, but the wi river bank was right there + arne explored the area. we have a native earthworks park too.