Today was another beautiful day with lots to see and do. Because it is Columbus Day, many of the guided sites were closed. This was true with Fort Ancient. But just as we drove up, the site curator pulled up in his truck. Wayne 
May spoke with him for a minute and next thing we knew, we were inside the site and in the museum. The curator gave a rousing lecture on the history of the Fort along with a site archaeologist. Remember, this was their day off. The picture on the left is the Miamisburg Mound. Barb and I are standing with Rod Meldrum, the DNA guy. One person was buried here. No one has fully exca
vated the mound. It is not the tallest at 68 feet. Wayne suggests it is an Adena (Jaredite) mound because of it's size. The rendering on the right shows Fort Ancient. The guide suggests it was built by four families and never contained more than a few thousand people. He also described it as religious site. According to the on site experts, these are all sacred sites of idol worship. Wayne says this fort follows a pattern of being a defensive city. The bottom part of the map is the older Jaradite fort. There is a narrow connection to the top all built by the Nephities. There are 67 tower breaks in the burmed wall which had a wooden 15 foot fence around the parameter. The 67 breaks in the wall the guide described as gates. This fort is built on a flat hill with very steep sides. You decide who is right.
The picture in the middle is a famous Indian chief. There were more than 20 of these pictures in the museum at Fort Ancient. Each one is wearing a turban and European style clothes. Not one of these guys had ever been to nor had they ever met anyone from Europe. They just knew how to dress.
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