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new acquisition PROTECTING A HOPEWELL EARTHWORK
Protecting a Hopewell Earthwork
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In their book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Squier and Davis, in the mid-19th century, referred to the Portsmouth Works as a “singular and interesting series of works” situated on the “beautiful plain at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers.”
Today, two of the three mound complexes making up this monumental Hopewellian earthwork have disappeared beneath the sprawl of Portsmouth, Ohio. However, south of the Ohio River, one important complex remains remarkably intact. Kentucky’s Old Fort Earthwork is a 15-acre square enclosure with walls 820 feet long and up to 10 feet high. The southern and western walls are in pasture and remain nearly pristine, as are two parallel walls that stretch to the west. The northern and eastern walls of the square remain intact even though modest homes were built upon them beginning about 50 years ago.
In 1999, the Conservancy, having purchased two houses that were in disrepair, demolished them and restored a 150-foot section of the eastern wall. This year, through a bargain-sale-to-charity from Karen Kissinger and Barry Esham, the Conservancy purchased an additional property that includes a three-bedroom house along with a five-acre tract of land. This is the second-largest tract of land within the enclosure and spans the length of the earthwork from its north wall to its south. Since it contains a sample of all parts of the earthwork, the property’s research potential is especially valuable. The Conservancy’s goal is to preserve the entire earthwork, and this acquisition gives it ownership of about one-third of the earthwork’s interior.
As one of the largest prehistoric earthworks in Kentucky, the Old Fort has received much attention from archaeologists. It was first mentioned in a 1791 letter, and explored and mapped by Squier and Davis during their investigations of the mound-builder phenomenon. In the beginning years of the 20th century, Gerald Fowke of the Smithsonian Institution excavated there, and later it was the site of a Works Projects Administration excavation during the Great Depression.
The excavations indicate that the Old Fort is likely a construction of the early Hopewell period, circa A.D. 1 to 200. In addition, the work has documented a rather elaborate construction sequence. Rather than fitting the earthwork into the existing landscape, considerable effort was expended to fill ravines and level slopes prior to construction. Apparently the dimensions of the earthwork and its orientation—820 square feet and 45 degrees offset from the cardinal directions—were established beforehand and the landscape modified to accommodate it. —Paul Gardner
Conservancy Plan of Action
SITE: Old Fort Earthwork,Esham tract
CULTURE & TIME PERIOD: Hopewell, A.D. 1–200 STATUS: Threatened by residential development. ACQUISITION: The Conservancy is purchasing the house and five-acre property for $130,000 as a bargain-sale-to-charity.
Squier and Davis produced this map of the Portsmouth Works.
Old Fort
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn: Kentucky Project,5301 Central Ave. NE Suite 902,Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517
