| Fort Hill State Park | |
| Nearest City: | Sinking Spring, Ohio |
| Coordinates: | 39.1131°N -83.4063°W |
| Added: | November 10, 1970 |
| Refnum: | 70000500 |
Fort Hill State Memorial is a Native American earthwork located in Highland County, Ohio, United States. Built by the Hopewell culture, it is maintained by the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System and the Ohio History Connection.[1]
The earthwork, built about 2,000 years ago, is a walled enclosure made of soil on top of a flat summit. It is higher than nearby portions of Ohio Brush Creek and higher than the Ohio River.[2] It was made by the Hopewell people. It is over 1 miles in circumference, enclosing . Thirty-nine "man-made openings" occur throughout the enclosure: thirty-six that are verified as being made by Indians and three others still unknown as to how they were made. The wall is high and its total length is . It is wide at its base in most areas. Archaeologists believe it was not used as a fort, but instead as a religious site.[1]
In 1846, it was excavated by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis. It was featured in their book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, which was published in 1848.[2]
Fort Hill State Memorial contains excellent outcrops of Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian sedimentary bedrock and a natural bridge. The site is also an example of glacial stream reversal. It was named a National Natural Landmark in 1974.[3]