The Great Serpent Mound: An Ancient Ohio Mystery - Paperback

by Jeffrey Alan John (Author)

Author Jeffrey Alan John explores the history, theories and fundamental Serpent Mound questions: What culture made it? Why? And when? Thousands of years ago, people in what would become southern Ohio encountered a vista they recognized as special. They couldn't know that their view overlooked a 300-million-year-old crater, but as time passed, they made the plateau a resting place for generations of societies that eventually raised--with considerable planning and effort--the Great Serpent Mound, a place where history and mystery coincide. Uninhabited and overgrown when early Ohio settlers found it, the preserved effigy inspired pioneering archaeology and continues to prompt increasingly elaborate thinking. Scientists say that it measures the calendar, while theologians and mystics ponder its spiritual meaning.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Alan John, PhD, is an professor emeritus at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He He became experienced in journalism as a daily newspaper reporter, magazine editor and historical society public relations writer, and his previous books are the true crime A Bird in Your Hand: A Story of Ambiguous Justice, the science fiction Lab Rats Can't Say No and the study Progressive and Prison Labor: Rebuilding Ohio's National Road During World War I. He and his wife, Karin, live in Kettering, Ohio.