Fort Ancient Mounds

Ohio History

Earthen Wall

Now it was time to see the Fort Ancient mounds themselves. We drove down the length of the enclosure from the museum to the more narrow central area. Up close, the walls of earth looked almost like small hills; they were overgrown with grass and trees. Inside are conical and crescent-shaped mounds, flagstone pavements, and stone circles, some of which you can see in the aerial view below. There are also 67 "gateways" or openings in the wall of the enclosure, turning down the possibility of the wall being built for military defense. Instead, archaeologists believe the site was used as a religious and social center for the Hopewell Indians who built it. Some of the walls and mounds may even function as astronomical calendars. The Fort Ancient people who came after the Hopewell may have used it for similar purposes. These people likely lived in villages along the Little Miami River and possibly within Fort Ancient itself. Below is an aerial map of Fort Ancient that we saw on a sign: