Portsmouth Earthworks

Portsmouth Earthworks
History
Location	Portsmouth, Ohio, Southern Ohio and Northeastern Kentucky, USA
Region	Southern Ohio and Northeastern Kentucky
Founded	100 BCE
Abandoned	500 CE
Cultures	Adena culture, Hopewell culture
Architecture
Architectural styles	earthworks
Architectural details	Number of monuments:

Horseshoe Mound
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	Scioto County, Ohio
Nearest city	Portsmouth, Ohio
Coordinates	38°44′35.70″N 82°58′38.39″W / 38.7432500°N 82.9773306°W / 38.7432500; -82.9773306
Built	499-0 BCE, 499-0 CE, 1000-500 CE
NRHP Reference #	74001621
Added to NRHP	1974^[1]


Portsmouth Earthworks, Group A
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	Greenup County, Kentucky
Nearest city	South Portsmouth
Coordinates	38°43′17.76″N 83°1′22.98″W / 38.7216000°N 83.0230500°W / 38.7216000; -83.0230500Coordinates: 38°43′17.76″N 83°1′22.98″W / 38.7216000°N 83.0230500°W / 38.7216000; -83.0230500
Built	499-0 BCE, 499-0 CE, 1000-500 CE, 1499-1000 CE, 1749-1500 CE, 1750-1799 CE
NRHP Reference #	80001534^[1]
Added to NRHP	December 4, 1980

The Portsmouth Earthworks are a large prehistoric mound complex constructed by the Ohio Hopewell culture mound builder indigenous peoples of eastern North America (100 BCE to 500 CE).^[2] The site was one of the largest earthwork ceremonial centers constructed by the Hopewell and is located at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, in present-day Ohio.

The majority of the mound complex site is now covered by the city of Portsmouth in Scioto County, Ohio.^[2] Several individual sections of the complex have been included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Description

Originally, the Portsmouth Earthworks consisted of three sections extending over twenty miles of the Ohio River valley, crossing from Ohio to Kentucky in several places. It was surveyed and mapped by E. G. Squier in 1847 for inclusion in the seminal archaeological and anthrolopological work Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.^[3]

Portsmouth Earthworks, Group B

Overview of the Horseshoe Mound

The northern most section was made up of a number of circular enclosures, two large horseshoe-shaped enclosures, and three sets of parallel-walled roads leading away in different directions. One set of walled roads extends across the Ohio River into South Portsmouth, Kentucky to the southwest to Portsmouth Earthworks, Group A. Another set of walled roads lead to the southeast where it also crossed the Ohio River and lead to Portsmouth Earthworks, Group C.^[3] The third set of walled roads lead to the northwest for an undetermined distance, and may point to Tremper Mound and Works, some 5 miles away. The City of Portsmouth maintains a public park which includes one of the remaining horseshoe-shaped enclosures, known as Mound Park, it is the only publicly accessible part of the complex.^[2] Under the name Horseshoe Mound it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.^[2]

Portsmouth Earthworks, Group A

One of the surviving walls

Also known as the Old Fort Earthworks (15Gp1) it is a series of rectangular enclosures near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky. Group A is a large square enclosure with two series of parallel walls extending from the northeast and southwest corners. The Old Fort Earthworks consist of several sites, including the Old Fort Earthworks (15Gp1), Mays Mound (15Gp16), Hicks Mound (15Gp265), Stephenson Mound (15Lw139), and several other unnamed mounds and enclosures. It is also the location of Lower Shawneetown, a protohistoric/historic Fort Ancient and Shawnee settlement and colonial trading post which are all part of the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District,^[4] along with the Thompson and Hansen Sites

Portsmouth Earthworks, Group C

Also known as the Biggs Site (15Gp8), Group C was a large series of concentric circles surrounding a central cone mound, believed to have been built by the Adena culture. This section of the earthworks is located in Greenup County, Kentucky several miles to the east of South Shore, but connected to Group B by a causeway.

Gallery of Squier and Davis maps

References

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
1 2 3 4 "Portsmouth Earthworks-Ohio History Central". Retrieved 2009-06-06.
1 2 Ephraim George Squier; Edwin Hamilton Davis (1848). Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 179–187.
↑ Applegate, Darlene (2008), "Chapter 5:Woodland period", in Pollack, David, The Archaeology of Kentucky:an update (PDF), 1, Kentucky Heritage Council, pp. 524–525, ISBN 978-1-934492-28-4

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portsmouth Earthworks.

Adena Culture

List of Adena culture sites Woodland period Mound builder (people) List of archaeological periods (North America)

Ohio sites	Adena Austin Brown Arledge Beam Farm Clemmons Conrad Coon Hunters George Deffenbaugh Enon Fortner Great Mound Highbanks Metro Park Hillside Haven Hodgen's Cemetery Horn Hurley Jackson Karshner Kinzer Luthor List McDaniel Miamisburg Mound Cemetery Odd Fellows' Cemetery Old Maid's Orchard Orators Carl Potter Raleigh Reeves D.S. Rose Ross Trails Circle Short Woods Park Snead Spruce Run David Stitt Story (Cincinnati) Story (Chillicothe) Williamson Wolf Plains Wright-Patterson Zaleski

Kentucky sites	Biggs Gaitskill Mound Hill Mount Horeb Ramey Round Hill

West Virginia sites	Criel Grave Creek

Indiana sites	Mounds State Park

Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley burial mound Eastern Agricultural Complex Hopewell tradition

Hopewellian peoples

Woodland period List of Hopewell sites Mound builder (people) List of archaeological periods (North America)

Ohio Hopewell	Beam Farm Benham Mound Cary Village Site Cedar-Bank Works Dunns Pond Mound Ellis Mounds Ety Enclosure Ety Habitation Site Fort Ancient Fortified Hill Works Great Hopewell Road High Banks Works Hopeton Earthworks Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Indian Mound Cemetery Keiter Mound Marietta Earthworks Moorehead Circle Mound of Pipes Nettle Lake Mound Group Newark Earthworks Oak Mounds Orators Perin Village Site Pollock Works Portsmouth Earthworks Rocky Fork Enclosures Rocky Fork Mounds Seip Earthworks and Dill Mounds District Shawnee Lookout Tremper Mound and Works Williamson Mound Archeological District

Crab Orchard culture	Carrier Mills Archaeological District Cleiman Mound Hubele Site Mann Site O'byams Fort site Wilson Site Yankeetown Site

Goodall Focus	Goodall Site Norton Mound Group

Havana Hopewell culture	Albany Mounds State Historic Site Dickson Mounds Duncan Farm Golden Eagle-Toppmeyer Site Kamp Mound Site Mound House site Naples Archeological District Naples Mound 8 Ogden-Fettie Site Rockwell Mound Sinnissippi Mounds Toolesboro Mound Group

Kansas City Hopewell	Cloverdale archaeological site Renner Village Archeological Site Trowbridge Archeological Site

Marksville culture	Crooks Mound Grand Gulf Mound Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site Mott Archaeological Preserve

Miller culture	Bynum Mound and Village Site Ingomar Mound Miller Site Pharr Mounds Pinson Mounds

Point Peninsula Complex	Lewiston Mound Serpent Mounds Park LeVescounte Mounds

Swift Creek culture Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture	Crystal River Archaeological State Park Etowah Indian Mounds Leake Mounds Kolomoki Mounds Historic Park Miner's Creek site Pierce Site Swift Creek mound site Third Gulf Breeze Yearwood site Yent Mound

Other Hopewellian peoples	Armstrong culture Copena culture Fourche Maline culture Laurel Complex Saugeen Complex Old Stone Fort (Tennessee)

Exotic trade items	Copper Galena Mica Fresh water pearls Obsidian Pipestone Sea shells

Related topics Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley Black drink burial mound Ceremonial pipe Effigy mound Hopewell pottery Horned Serpent Eastern Agricultural Complex Underwater panther

Pre-Columbian North America

Periods Lithic Archaic Formative Classic Post-Classic

Archaeological cultures	Adena Alachua Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) Baytown Belle Glade Buttermilk Creek Complex Caborn-Welborn Calf Creek Caloosahatchee Clovis Coles Creek Deptford Folsom Fort Ancient Fort Walton Fremont Glacial Kame Glades Hohokam Hopewell List of Hopewell sites Leon-Jefferson Mississippian List of Mississippian sites Mogollon Monongahela Old Cordilleran Oneota Paleo-Arctic Paleo-Indians Patayan Plano Plaquemine Poverty Point Red Ocher Santa Rosa-Swift Creek St. Johns Steed-Kisker Tchefuncte Tocobaga Troyville

Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds Anzick Clovis burial Bandelier National Monument The Bluff Point Stoneworks Cahokia Casa Grande Chaco Canyon Coso Rock Art District Crystal River Archaeological State Park Eaker Effigy Mounds National Monument Etowah Indian Mounds Eva Folsom Site Fort Ancient Fort Center Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Glenwood Grimes Point Holly Bluff Site Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Kimball Village Kincaid Mounds Kolomoki Mounds L'Anse aux Meadows Marksville Marmes Rockshelter Meadowcroft Rockshelter Mesa Verde Moaning Cavern Moorehead Circle Moundville Mummy Cave Nodena Site Ocmulgee National Monument Old Stone Fort Parkin Park Pinson Mounds Portsmouth Earthworks Poverty Point Pueblo Bonito Recapture Canyon Rock Eagle Rock Hawk Russell Cave National Monument Salmon Ruins Serpent Mound Spiro Mounds SunWatch Taos Pueblo Toltec Mounds Town Creek Indian Mound Turkey River Mounds Upward Sun River site West Oak Forest Earthlodge Winterville Wupatki National Monument

Human remains	Anzick-1 Arlington Springs Man Buhl Woman Kennewick Man La Brea Woman Leanderthal Lady Minnesota Woman Spirit Cave mummy

Miscellaneous	Black drink Ceremonial pipe Chunkey Clovis point Container Revolution Eastern Agricultural Complex Eden point Effigy mound Falcon dancer Folsom point Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Kiva Medicine wheel Metallurgy Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing Mound Builders N.A.G.P.R.A. Norse colonization of the Americas Piasa Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stickball Three Sisters agriculture Thunderbird Underwater panther Water glyphs

Related Genetic history Portal of Indigenous peoples of North America Pre-Columbian era

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types

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Other areas	District of Columbia Morocco

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