thursday, february 25, 2010

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Why the serpent?

I envoke the metaphor of the serpent to account for my absence of the past year. Like the people of the serpent, I was on... call it the latest phase of an ongoing journey...

Atop a plateau overlooking the Brush Creek Valley, Serpent Mound is the largest and finest serpent effigy in the United States. Nearly a quarter of a mile long, Serpent Mound apparently represents an uncoiling serpent.

In the late nineteenth-century Harvard University archaeologist Frederic Ward Putnam excavated Serpent Mound and attributed the creation of the effigy to the builders of the two nearby burial mounds, which he also excavated. We now refer to this culture as the Adena (800 BC-AD 100). A third burial mound at the park and a village site near the effigy's tail belong to the Fort Ancient culture (AD 1000-1550).

A more recent excavation of Serpent Mound revealed wood charcoal that could be radiocarbon dated. Test results show that the charcoal dates to the Fort Ancient culture. This new evidence of the serpent's creators links the effigy to the elliptical mound and the village rather than the conical burial mounds.

The head of the serpent is aligned to the summer solstice sunset and the coils also may point to the winter solstice sunrise and the equinox sunrise. Today, visitors may walk along a footpath surrounding the serpent and experience the mystery and power of this monumental effigy. A public park for more than a century, Serpent Mound attracts visitors from all over the world. The museum contains exhibits on the effigy mound and the geology of the surrounding area.

The serpent of Serpent's Mound in Adams County of south-western Ohio is probably the work of the Adena people. The best guesses of archeologists link the Adena both to the Serpent Mound and to the epic journey depicted in the creation myth of the Hopi, who emerged from the fourth world in the general vicinity of four corners, and then migrated under the direction of the Great Spirit, one element of the people in each of the four directions to follow the path of their destiny, established by the Creator.  The prophecy of the Hopi elders called for a future in which the people of the four directions are reunited; the myth looks to a future of uncertainty for the human beings, but is ultimately optimistic for those who respect the earth and listen to the wisdom of the sky.

As with the Hopi, my journey is not over...I follow the path where it leads.

DHL