Twists in the Tale of the Serpent Mound

Ohio's Serpent Mound seems to be the only serpent mound selected for tourism. Thu 03 February 2022

Adams County Serpent Mound, Ohio, US. Source

Warren County Serpent Mound, Stubbs Earthwork, Ohio, US. Source: Stubbs Earthworks

More on Warren County Serpent Mound/Stubbs Earthwork...

Loch Nell serpent mound, Oban, Scotland. Source: In the Hebrides, Constance Gordon-Cummin

Observations:

Serpent mounds tend to be near water: lake shore, sea shore, river.
Despite all known serpent mounds being found quite recently, locations and descriptions of an alleged dozen more serpent mounds are no longer available.
Modern western writers promote serpent mounds as spiritual and/or astronomical tools. Earlier western writers reported them as sacrifice sites. Where known, locals claim they were built by giants, sometimes cannibalistic giants.
Serpent mounds tend to be close to complexes of mounds containing body parts and artifacts used for butchery and cooking.
Loch Nell and Grimsby serpent mound are both near settlements with names that sound like 'Clee' (Cleigh and Cleethorpes, respectively).
The serpent mounds in Boyd County in Kentucky, Loch Nell in Scotland, and Grimsby in England, are near places with 'Ket' or 'Cat' in their name:
- Boyd County: Cattlesberg
- Loch Nell: Catrail
- Grimsby: Ket Bank.
Where construction techniques are known, serpent mounds were built with similar construction techniques:
- ash, sand, clay, and originally capped with stones

The discovery-date problem:

Earliest dates serpent mounds are documented:

1754: Carn Brae, Cornwall, England
1815: Ohio, US
1825: Grimsby, England
1837: Warren County, Ohio, US
1870: Greater Cambrae, Scotland
1871: Loch Nell, Scotland
1871: Skelmorlie, Scotland
1896: Keene, Ontario
1930: Ortona, Florida
1937: Glenelg, Scotland
1960s: Boyd County, Kentucky

Why not earlier?

America and Canada are 'new' countries in terms of western written records. Their serpent mounds are mostly recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Scotland and England are 'old' countries in terms of western written records. They also have long histories of churches competing with - and building on - pagan sites. Yet all but one of Britain's serpent mounds are also documented only in the 19th century. Apparently soon after discovery.

Serpent mounds blip into the records in the early-mid 19th century and then mostly disappear almost immediately. This is similar to the problem with English mounds and tumuli which often looked new when first described - again in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It suggests one of the following is nearer to the truth. That:

All the serpent mounds were new in the early 19th century or had been recently reconfigured.
Interest in documenting serpent mounds was new. Hard to believe given the alleged long church history in Britain.
Serpent mounds were old but new people were re-discovering them. New people in north America, England, Scotland and Israel.
Serpent mounds were old but were being given a new past; one in which their previous role was reduced to occasional 'sacrifices' and to 'astronomy'. Except in the British Isles, where memories of the dreaded serpent-shaped structures were rewritten as corny folktales:

The final twist. Source: AMI Tour of a Beef Packing Plant

Known British serpent mound locations

Construction Techniques

The gap between horns and head shows up in some of Britain's 'Norman' motte and bailey castles. As a ditch between bailey and motte:

Military? Or cattle management? Source: The Motte and Bailey Castle

Serpent mound materials techniques also show up in motte and bailey construction.

Durham's The Motte and Bailey Castle says:

Mottes were artificial mounds constructed by piling consecutive layers of earth and stones and then compacting them. The stones were essential to ensure that the motte would remain solid and also helped with drainage. The sides of the motte were often covered with a thick layer of clay – this prevented erosion and made it even harder for invaders to get up to the keep at the top,

This page about other Ohio mounds shows:

American mound construction technique
Supports Mike Parker Pearson's diagram of a bowl/barrow

Other possible serpent mounds

Reported Lost Serpent Mounds in the UK:

Clenamacrie, Scotland. Looking for more details.
West of Bute, Scotland. Looking for more details.
Possibly Glen lonan, Scotland. Looking for more details.

Source: TheHazelTree

Possibly Murkle, Scotland
Also in Argyleshire, Roxburghshire, and
Arran
Possible serpentine barrow arrangement, Mendip Hills, England
'The Avenue' at Avebury (Guglielmo Stukeley's interpretation of The Avenue) and The Worship of the Serpent, John Bathurst Deane, 1833, p375

Source: Reptile Tumuli: A Lecture, John Samuel Phené, 1871

Stanton Drew, Oxfordshire: The Worship of the Serpent, John Bathurst Deane, 1833, p383
Merivale Bridge, Dartmoor: The Worship of the Serpent, John Bathurst Deane, 1833, p386
Shap, Westmorland: The Worship of the Serpent, John Bathurst Deane, 1833, p389

Reported serpent mound in Ireland:

Possibly in Dowth, Ireland, p8

Reported Lost Serpent Mounds in the US:

Wisconsin Serpent Mound
serpent intaglio in Rice County, Kansas

Reported serpent mounds in the middle east:

Gilgal Rephaim

Proposed serpent mound is top centre

Stone pavements - possible serpent mounds:

Rotherwas, Herefordshire, UK

More complex Ohio earthworks

Archeological Atlas of Ohio maps and diagrams of Ohio mounds, including serpent mounds and uncategorised mound complexes.

Which includes:

Marietta
Shefneld, Lorain County (riverside)
The Cross, Pickaway County
Ross County Another riverside enclosure with possible 'chapel'
Portsmouth Works mound, Scioto County

More in category: Serpent Mounds
More by tag: #mounds, #giants