Art-Worlds Jeffers Mound - Worthington, Ohio
Site: Jeffers Mound
Location: Plesenton Dr, Worthington, OH 43085
Google Maps Link
Date of visit: July 2024
The second stop on my July 2024 mini-mound tour was Jeffers Mound. Dr. Greg Little had commissioned me to do an archaeological reconstruction illustration of the site for his upcoming The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds and Earthworks. I was looking forward to seeing it in person. I had decided to draw it in the early morning sunlight, which would allow shadows to highlight the rectangular enclosure. The area was covered with trees when I looked at it with Google Maps, but from topography maps, I saw it sat on a bluff with creeks on each side and the Olentangy River to the east. Driving there, it was quite a steep incline to reach the neighborhood. The enclosure is thought to have been built by the Ohio Hopewell people. The Olentangy River is a tributary of the Scioto River, and the Scioto River Valley has many Ohio Hopewell mound complexes.
The enclosure was included in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, one of three on Plate XXIX. It's labeled Ancient Works, the Worthington, Franklin, Ohio. Jeffers Mound, like many others, is named for the landowner. In the 1950s, a sub-division was built, but owner Herman Jeffers insisted on preserving the larger mound, and the land was later donated to the Worthington Historical Society.
Site Excavations
The first excavation was in 1866; William Heath dug a shaft from the top of the mound and a tunnel from the east side. He found ash, pottery fragments, two skeletons aligned east to west, and many layers of wood. In the late 1970s, Ohio Historical Society archaeologists found the postholes, now seen as white-painted markers on the ground. In the 1980s, an Ohio State University group found some projectile points and other items but did not find evidence that the area was used for long-term habitation. Now, researchers think the postholes were from a temporary structure that could have been used as a charnel house to prepare bodies for burial and that the site was maintained by people living in villages nearby.
Links to more information
- WorthingtonHistory.org This site has lots of information about Jeffers Mound.
- www.WorthingtonMemory.org This is a link to a photo of the artifacts found at Jeffers Mound.
References
- Squier, E.G and Davis, E.H. (1988) Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley
(Paperback Edition: 978-1-56098-725-3) Smithsonian Books; 150th anniversary ed edition (October 17, 1998)
Available as a PDF at the U.S. Library of Congress Website.