On the Age of Serpent Mound: A Reply to Romain and Colleagues

Radiocarbon dates reported by Romain and colleagues (2017) suggesting that Serpent Mound (33AD1) is an Adena effigy mound are problematic because they cannot be linked reliably to cultural activities associated with the original construction of the effigy mound. Additional arguments offered by Romain and colleagues (2017) in support of an Early Woodland age for Serpent Mound also are unconvincing. A Late Prehistoric age for Serpent Mound is supported by the radiocarbon dates reported previously, new radiocarbon dates, the relative abundance of serpent imagery in the Fort Ancient culture and the contemporaneous Mississippian Tradition, the virtual absence of serpent imagery in the Adena culture, and the fact that, whereas effigy-mound building is otherwise unknown in the Early Woodland period, it is well documented, if rare, for the Fort Ancient culture and in the not-so-terribly-far-away upper Midwest it is so common that it defines the broadly contemporaneous Effigy Mound culture.     

Debating the Age of Serpent Mound: A Reply to Romain and Herrmann’s Rejoinder to Lepper Concerning Serpent Mound

The debate over the age of Serpent Mound (33AD01) is important because without a cultural context it is impossible to make meaningful statements about what this monumental effigy mound might have meant to its builders. In this response to Romain and Herrmann’s rejoinder, we clarify the provenience of the samples, which yielded the radiocarbon dates that contribute to our argument for a post–Late Woodland age for the effigy. In addition, we extend our critique of Romain and colleagues’ arguments to include the results of an independent study of soil cores extracted from the Serpent and surrounding landscape, which fails to corroborate Romain and colleagues’ assertion that a buried A horizon underlies the mound. Finally, we suggest that the construction of Serpent Mound may be historically linked to droughts in the Mississippi Valley that began at around AD 1100, which resulted in an influx of Mississippian refugees into the region.     

Radiocarbon Dates Reveal Serpent Mound Is More than Two Thousand Years Old

Recent radiocarbon dating (Herrmann et al. 2014) found that Serpent Mound was likely built during the Early Woodland period—around 320 BC. Herrmann et al. (2014) also suggested that the effigy was repaired or restored during Fort Ancient times, thereby accounting for the late prehistoric radiocarbon-dated samples recovered by Fletcher et al. (1996). The present article presents new data in support of the Early Woodland construction date. These data include lidar analyses, electrical resistivity ground imaging (ERGI) studies, and iconographic assessments.     

Serpent Mound: Still Built by the Adena,and Still Rebuilt During the Fort Ancient Period

Radiocarbon dates from the base of Serpent Mound in Ohio demonstrate that it was built 2,100–2,300 years ago during the Adena period but was subsequently rebuilt or repaired about 900 years ago during the Fort Ancient period. We describe the basis for supporting the chronology of this building sequence, why it is the best and most complete explanation from the data at hand, and discuss the errors and misconceptions that critics of it have put forth. Our interest is in establishing a chronology of mound construction in order to address questions about cultural continuity/discontinuity, appropriation, and reuse of cultural monuments and religious/political symbols. We also plead that researchers jointly collect new data from Serpent Mound to end the back-and-forth questioning of chronological context and research competence.     

Book reviews

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE BRITISH LABOUR GOVERNMENT 1945–1951, by M. A. Fitzsimmons. University of Notre Dame Press, 1953.

DEMOGRAPHIC YEARBOOK, 1952; United Nations Statistical Office; New York, 1952.

SEARCH AFTER SUNRISE, by Vera Britain, 1951; London, Macmillan; pp. 271.

GOVERNMENTAL POLICIES CONCERNING UNEMPLOYMENT, INFLATION AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, 1951–2. United Nations publication, November, 1952; pp. viii and 135; price one U.S. dollar.

THE STATE THE ENEMY, by Sir Ernest Benn. Benn, London, 1953; pp. 175; price 12/6 (stg.).

CONGRESS. ITS CONTEMPORARY ROLE, by Earnest S. Griffith; New York University Press; New York, 1951; pp. vii and 191; 3.50 U.S. dollars.     

Book reviews

“AFTERMATH” (FRANCE, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, JUGOSLAVIA, 1945 and 1946). By Francesca M. Wilson. 1947. (Penguin series).

CO‐OPERATIVE COMMUNITIES AT WORK. By Hendrick F. Infield. 1948. (Kegan Paul & Co., London, pp. 182).

THE CHINESE IN MALAYA. By Victor Purcell. 1948. (Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, London, pp. 327 + xvi).

THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY THE ROLE OF THE DOMINIONS, 1919–1939. By Gwendolen Carter. Issued under the auspices of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. Ryerson Press, Toronto, pp. xx + 326).

OLD CHINA HANDS AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE. By Nathan A. Pelcovits. 1948. (King's Crown Press under the auspices of the American Institute of Pacific Relations, New York, pp. xiv + 349, one map).

POST‐WAR GOVERNMENTS OF THE FAR EAST. Edited by Taylor Cole and John H. Hallowell. 1947. (Reprinted from the Journal of Politics, ed. Taylor Cole, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 473–744).

THE BRITISH YEAR BOOK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 1946, Vol. XXIII —Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. (Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press).

RICHER BY ASIA. By Edmond Taylor. 1948. (Secker & Warburg Ltd., London, pp.432).     

Book reviews

THE SECOND WORLD WAR; Vol. 1: THE GATHERING STORM By Winston S. Churchill. (Cassell. pp. xv+640).

WORKSHOP OF SECURITY. By Paul Hasluck, 1948. (F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne and London. 121 pp.).

AUSTRALIA. Edited by C. Hartley Grattan. (University of California Press, 1947. 444 pages with index).

BURMESE ECONOMIC LIFE. By J. Russell Andrus. 1947 (Stanford University Press. $4.00).     

Book reviews

DEMOCRACY IN THE DOMINIONS: A Comparative Study in Institutions. By Alexander Brady, 1947. (University of Toronto, pp. 475).

POSTWAR PROBLEMS OF MIGRATION. Papers presented at the Round Table on Population Problems, 1946 Conference of the Milbank Memorial Fund. New York, 1947, pp 173.

BRITISH POLICY IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC (1786–1893). By John M. Ward. 1948. (Sydney, Australasian Publishing Company, pp xii+364, three maps).

NEW CYCLE IN ASIA: SELECTED DOCUMENTS ON MAJOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FAR EAST, 1943–47. Edited by Harold R. Isaacs. Issued under the auspices of the Institute of Pacific Relations, 1947. (New York: Macmillan, pp. xiii+212).

DIPLOMATIC PRELUDE, 1938–9. By Professor L. B. Namier. (London, Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1948).

AUSTRALIA'S COLOURED MINORITY, Its Place in the Community. By A. O. Neville. With an Introduction by Professor A. P. Elkin. (Currawong. 1948. 263 pages).

THE ALLIED MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY. By W. Fried‐mann. 1948. (London, Stevens, pp. 362).

LABOUR IN SOUTH‐EAST ASIA: Edited by P. P. Pillai, New Delhi, Indian Council of World Affairs, 1947.

LABOUR PROBLEMS IN SOUTH‐EAST ASIA: Virginia Thompson, New‐Haven, Yale University Press, 1947.     

Book reviews

JAPAN'S ECONOMY IN WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION. By Jerome B. Cohen. With a Foreword by Sir George Sansom (Issued under the auspices of the International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations. University of Minnesota Press, 1949).

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS. By H. Lauterpacht, K.C., LL.D., F.B.A. (London, Stevens and Sons Limited, 1950).

EMPIRE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC. By Gerald S. Graham, University of Toronto Press, 1950. xvii+338 pp.

KOREA TO‐DAY. By George M. McCune with the collaboration of Arthur L. Grey, Jr. (I.P.R.) (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1950. pp. 372–74 (Appendices)—16 (Bibliography)—6 (Indices) $5.00).

THE MAKING OF PAKISTAN: By Richard Symonds. London: Faber & Faber, 1950, pp. 227.

IMMIGRATION INTO NEW ZEALAND. Report of a Study Group of the Dunedin Branch of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, June, 1950, p.p. 22.

SEVEN FALLEN PILLARS, The Middle East, 1915–1950, by Jon Kimche. (London, Secker & Warburg, 1950, 316 pp. Appendix, Index).     

Book reviews

THL PHILIPPINES AND THE UNITED STATES: By Garel A. Grunder and William E. Livezey. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. 1951, pp. xi + 315.

POPULATION BULLETIN, No. 1, December, 1951. United Nations (Department of Social Affairs, Population Division). (U.N. Publications ST/SOA/Ser. N/1), pp. iv + 57.

THE MISTAKEN LAND: By Michael Ardizzone. London, The Falcon Press, 1951.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: By K. C. Wheare. London. Oxford University Press, 1951. pp. 278.

CURRENT RESEARCH IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (March 1952), Pp. v + 194. 8¾” × 5¼”.     

The Case of the Caldwell Mound: A Woodland Period Mound in the Central Scioto River Valley

ABSTRACT

This article presents a reconstruction and analysis of the Caldwell Mound located in the central Scioto River valley of southern Ohio. The mound contained a log tomb, at least four burials, and associated funerary objects. Four AMS radiocarbon dates place the Caldwell Mound within the last century BC and first century AD, and the mound contains evidence of practices historically associated with “Adena” and “Hopewell.” Few other records exist from this period in the region despite it experiencing perhaps some of the most dramatic socioreligious transformations in precolumbian North America. This analysis documents early evidence for the diversification and segregation of leadership roles based on the interpretation of three buried individuals. It also demonstrates the utility and efficacy of working with amateur-produced records and collections, even when incomplete, to reconstruct and glean insight from important Woodland period sites.     

Book reviews

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD HISTORY. By John B. Rae and Thomas H. D. Mahoney. xv+831 pages. (McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., New‐York, 1949).

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE AGE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND DICTAORSHP. By R. Strausz‐Hupé and Stefan T. Possony. xiv+947 pages. (McGraw‐Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1950.)

ISLAMIC SOCIETY AND THE WEST, by H. A. R. Gibb and Harold Bowen. Vol. I. Islamic Society in the Eighteenth Century, Part I. Oxford University Press. Published under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, pp. xi—313—53 (Appendices)—20 (Indices).

AMERICAN‐RUSSIAN RELATIONS IN THE FAR EAST. By Pauline Tompkins. (Macmillan, New York, 1949. pp. XIV, 426. Maps and bibliography. $5.00).

THE LEFT WING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. By Virginia Thompson & Richard Adloff (I.P.R.) (William Sloane Associates, New York. $4.00. pp. 298, map, illustrations).

MANCHURIA SINCE 1931. By F. C. Jones. (Oxford University Press, 1949).     

Costulatotheca schleigeri (Hyolitha: Orthothecida) from the Walhalla Group (Early Devonian) at Mount Pleasant,central Victoria,Australia

Earp, C., 29 January 2019. Costulatotheca schleigeri (Hyolitha: Orthothecida) from the Walhalla Group (Early Devonian) at Mount Pleasant, central Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa. Alcheringa 43, 220–227. ISSN 0311-5518

A number of hyolith fragments (including one operculum), found in Early Devonian marine turbidites at Mt Pleasant, near Alexandra, central Victoria, are described as Costulatotheca schleigeri gen. et sp. nov., the first confirmed record of the order Orthothecida in the Devonian of Australia. Index fossils found at this locality (Uncinatograptus sp. cf. U. thomasi and Nowakia sp. ex gr. N. acuaria) indicate an age of Pragian or earliest Emsian. The taphonomy of rare rafted shelly fossils indicates that flysch deposition occurred in a very-low-energy environment into which there were occasional bursts of high-energy turbidites carrying allochthonous fossils from shallower water.

Clement Earp [omaiosys@yahoo.com.au], 1 De Havilland Place, Onerahi, Whangarei 0110, New Zealand.     

Book reviews

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD AFFAIRS 1949. By Richard P. Stebbins and the Research Staff of the Council of Foreign Relations. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1950.

CONDITIONS OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS. By Colin Clark. 2nd Edition. London, Macmillan, 1951. xvi ‐J‐ 584 pp. 50/‐ stg.

INDIAN‐AMERICAN RELATIONS. Proceedings of the India‐America Conference held in New Delhi in December 1949. Issued under the joint auspices of the Indian Council of World Affairs and the American Institute of Pacific Relations. Oxford University Press. v + 79 pp.

THE STATE OF ASIA: A Contemporary Survey. By Lawrence K. Rosinger and Associates. Issued under the auspices of the American Institute of Pacific Relations. Alfred A. Knopf, 1951. 512 pp. Bibliography and index.

UNITED KINGDOM ADMINISTRATION AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS: A Report by a Study Group of the Institute of Public Administration. R.I.I.A., 1951. 55 pp. 4/‐.     

Book reviews

THE ADAPTABLE COMMONWEALTH. F. H. Soward, 1950 (London, O.U.P., pp. 62). 2/‐.

EUROPE IN DECAY: A STUDY IN DISINTEGRATION 1936–1940. By L. B. Namier. 1950. (London. MacMillan, viii+330. 16s.).

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY IN MODERN GERMANY. R. H. Samuel and R. H. Thomas. Routledge and Kegan Paul (Int. Lib. of Soc. & Soc. Recon.). London 1949.

THE IDEA OF CONFLICT. By Kurt Singer. (Melbourne University Press. pp. 181).     

Book reviews

AN AUSTRALIAN IN INDIA. By the Rt. Hon. R. G. Casey. 1947. (London: Hollis and Carter, p. 120.)

Arnold J. Toynbee: A STUDY OF HISTORY. Abridgment of Volumes I‐VI by D. C. Somervell, 1946. (Oxford University Press, pp. 617).

AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EVOLUTION OF PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. By T. P. Fry, 1947. (University of Queensland Papers; Faculty of Law, Volume I, No. 1, pp. 21).

EDUCATION IN FASCIST ITALY. By L. Minio‐Paluello. 1946. (Oxford University Press, pp. xiv and 236).

THE PROBLEM OF EDUCATION IN DEPENDENT TERRITORIES. (Journal of Negro Education. The Yearbook Number XV. Published for The Bureau of Educational Research, Howard University, by The Howard University Press, Howard University, ‘Washington 1, D.C.) 1946. pp. 263–578.

COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION BY EUROPEAN POWERS. A series of papers read at King's College, London, 14th November to 12th December, 1946; by Jose de Almada, Robert Godding, Lord Hailey, A. M. Joekes, and H. Laurentie, 1947. (Royal Institute of International Affairs, pp. xiii +96).

THE LOST WAR: A Japanese Reporter's Inside Story. By Masuo Kato. 1946. (New York: Knopf, pp. 264).

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF SOVIET RUSSIA: Volume I. 1929–36. By Max Beloff. 1947. (Oxford University Press, pp. xii +261 and map).     

Radiocarbon Dates on Textile and Bark Samples from the Central Grave of the Adena Mound (33RO1), Chillicothe,Ohio

The Adena Mound (33RO1) is the type site of the Adena culture, yet there have been no radiocarbon dates to place it reliably within a temporal framework. Fortunately, the artifact collection, curated by the Ohio Historical Society, includes objects that are highly suitable for radiocarbon dating, including fragments of textiles and tree bark associated with the central burial. We selected a textile fragment and two bark fragments for radiocarbon dating. The textile exhibits alternate pair twine with very fine yarns probably composed of cellulose bast fibers. The bark is from a black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) tree. The results of the radiocarbon dating indicate that the Adena Mound was constructed between the end of the second century B.C. and the beginning of the first century A.D., placing it near the midpoint in the sequence of radiocarbon-dated Adena culture sites. This study demonstrates the value of museum collections for gleaning new data from curated materials.     

Book reviews

STRENGTHENING THE FRAMEWORK OF PEACE. A Study of Current Proposals for amending, developing, or replacing present International Institutions for the Maintenance of Peace. By Alan de Rusett. (London and New York, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1950. xiii +225 pp.)

VOTING AND THE HANDLING OF DISPUTES IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL. By Eduardo Jiménez de Aréchaga. Carnegie Endowment, N.Y., 1950. This is a lawyer's study of the operations of the Security Council. The author, a Uruguayan, was an officer in the U.N. Secretariat for some time and is now Under Secretary of Foreign Relations in Uruguay.

IMMIGRATION. By W. D. Borrie, 1949. Sydney and London, Angus and Robertson, pp. 105 + viii.

THE BRITISH COMMONWEALTH SINCE 1815. By C. H. Currey. 2 vols. Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1950–51. Vol. I, pp. viii +471; Vol. II, pp. viii +287.

DEFENCE IN THE COLD WAR. By a Chatham House Study Group. London: R.I.I.A. 1950, pp. viii +123.

ASPECTS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. A Symposium edited by Sidney Bailey. London: The Hansard Society. 1950.     

Book reviews

WAR AND THE MINDS OF MEN: By Frederick S. Dunn. Published for the Council on Foreign Relations by Harper Bros., N.Y.

HOW CANADA FACES A NEW WORLD: A History of Canadian External Relations. By G. P. de T. Glazebrook. Oxford University Press.

THE BRITISH YEAR BOOK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 1949. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute, of International Affairs. Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 569 pp., including Table of Cases and Index.

CENTRAL AND SOUTH‐EAST EUROPE, 1945–1948. Edited by R. R. Betts, Masaryk Professor of Central European History in the University of London, Royal Institute of International Affairs. (Oxford University Press, pp. viii 227, index and maps).