(Reporting Information Paper) Serpent Mound, a mysterious and
ancient relic of a long-lost civilization, has fascinated modern
humans for over a hundred years. Who built it? For what reason?
What secrets does it hide? Was this quarter-mile sculpture of a
snake the site of ancient ceremonies? Does it have special
meaning for us today? As F. W. Putman, savior and excavator of
the mound wrote of his visit in 1883, “Reclining on one of the
huge folds of this gigantic serpent, as the last rays of the
sun, glancing from the distant hilltops, cast their long shadows
over the valley, I mused on the probabilities of the past; and
there seemed to come to me a picture as of a distant time, of
people with strange customs, and with it came the demand for an
interpretation of this mystery. The unknown must become known!”
(871) The Serpent, a giant snake built of clay, earth, and sod,
basks on a high, crescent-shaped prominence and looks over the
Brush Creek river valley. As George R. Milner, author of The
Moundbuilders des