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A Serpent's Tale: Discovering America's Ancient Mound Builders
The Fascinating Story of the Enigmatic Monuments that Inspired American Archaeology
When American settlers first crossed the Appalachian Mountains they were amazed to discover that the wilderness beyond contained ancient ruins—large man-made mounds and enclosures, and impressive earthen sculptures, such as a gigantic serpent. Reports trickled back to the eager ears of President Thomas Jefferson and others. However, most did not believe these earthworks had anything to do with Native Americans; rather, given the intense interest in the history of Western Civilization at the time, it became popular to speculate that the ruins had been built by refugees from Greece, Rome, Egypt—or even the lost continent of Atlantis. Since their discovery, the mounds have attracted both scholars and quacks, from the early investigations sponsored by the then new Smithsonian Institution to the visions of the American psychic Edgar Cayce.
As Lorett Treese explains in her fascinating history A Serpent’s Discovering America’s Ancient Mound Builders , the enigmatic nature of these antiquities fueled both fanciful claims and scientific inquiry. Early on, the earthworks began to fall to agricultural and urban development. Realizing that only careful on-site investigation could reveal the mysteries of the mounds, scholars hastened to document and classify them, giving rise to American archaeology as a discipline. Research made it possible to separate the Mound Builders into three distinct pre-contact Native American cultures. More recently, Mound Builder remains have attracted the practitioners of new disciplines like archaeoastronomy who suggest they may have functioned as calendars. There is no doubt that the abandoned monuments that made the Midwest’s Ohio Valley the birthplace of American archaeology have yet to reveal all the knowledge they contain on the daily lives and world views of persons of North American prehistory.
When American settlers first crossed the Appalachian Mountains they were amazed to discover that the wilderness beyond contained ancient ruins—large man-made mounds and enclosures, and impressive earthen sculptures, such as a gigantic serpent. Reports trickled back to the eager ears of President Thomas Jefferson and others. However, most did not believe these earthworks had anything to do with Native Americans; rather, given the intense interest in the history of Western Civilization at the time, it became popular to speculate that the ruins had been built by refugees from Greece, Rome, Egypt—or even the lost continent of Atlantis. Since their discovery, the mounds have attracted both scholars and quacks, from the early investigations sponsored by the then new Smithsonian Institution to the visions of the American psychic Edgar Cayce.
As Lorett Treese explains in her fascinating history A Serpent’s Discovering America’s Ancient Mound Builders , the enigmatic nature of these antiquities fueled both fanciful claims and scientific inquiry. Early on, the earthworks began to fall to agricultural and urban development. Realizing that only careful on-site investigation could reveal the mysteries of the mounds, scholars hastened to document and classify them, giving rise to American archaeology as a discipline. Research made it possible to separate the Mound Builders into three distinct pre-contact Native American cultures. More recently, Mound Builder remains have attracted the practitioners of new disciplines like archaeoastronomy who suggest they may have functioned as calendars. There is no doubt that the abandoned monuments that made the Midwest’s Ohio Valley the birthplace of American archaeology have yet to reveal all the knowledge they contain on the daily lives and world views of persons of North American prehistory.
- GenresHistory
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 14, 2016
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33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 31, 2024
Good intro to the pre-Columbian civilizations in Ohio.
May 9, 2018
I enjoyed the book, though it did have its shortcomings. These began with the title and cover which led me to believe that the book was about the Serpent Mound. It was mostly about Hopewell culture and the destruction of the Indian Mounds in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I found the first chapter and the last chapter to be the most interesting. I do agree with other reviewers that more work needs to be done on ancient North American culture.
This is not a bad book by any means but it has a rather narrow audience. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for information on the Hopewell Culture or mound builders in the Midwest.
This is not a bad book by any means but it has a rather narrow audience. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for information on the Hopewell Culture or mound builders in the Midwest.
April 29, 2018
Excellent book as an introduction to the ancient Mound Builders of America. I wish more of this was taught in schools to give a clearer picture of just how old the history of humans in North America is. My one disappointment was that it did not cover the Serpent Mound in Ohio much beyond the first chapter. For a book titled "The Serpent's Tale," it would have been nice to read more about the present day research at the site perhaps at the end of the book at least.
September 3, 2017
Your history books barely scratch the surface, America. We have to study the Mound Builders. This is a good start.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews