wo small stone serpent
effigies laying on the ground in the valley on the west bank of the mighty Miami River at it’s
junction with SR 350 seem meager in comparison to the great stone-walled Fort Ancient edifice
hovering above it, to the east just across the river. So they were ignored by those in awe
of the great fort and in their haste to solve its mystery.
Dr. John White of Youngstown State University is credited with their discovery. From
1981 through 1983 he excavated Kern # 1 site with the help of his university students and teens
from the nearby YMCA Camp Kern. Kern # 1 is over 80 feet in length of irregular width and
height but mostly straight with a discernible head and tail1. Radio-carbon dating is circa AD
1200 making it fall into the Fort Ancient Culture time period.
In 1985 Dr. White excavated the other effigy, the nearby Kern # 2 that lays in the tree
line of the Miami River. This effigy is of uniform 8-10 inches in height, 18-24 inches in width
and over 109 feet in length. Like its counterpart the serpent is relative straight but with
consistent, shallow sinusoidal undulations2. Both sites are listed in the National Register of
Historic Places. MES made two trips here this summer, April 9 and July 2.
Kern # 1, now reburied, is an astronomical alignment marker for the
Summer Solstice and Kern # 2 is the marker for the Winter Solstice. This chart summarized these
solar events.
