Bear Spirit Mountain facts for kids
Bear Spirit Mountain is an ancient Native American ceremonial site in West Virginia. It was discovered in 2016 by Matthew "Massaw" Howard. This special place is also known as Great Serpent Mountain. In the Cherokee language, it's called Adonvdo Yona, which means Bear Spirit. This site dates back to the Pleistocene Era, a time when huge animals like mammoths roamed the Earth.
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Discovering an Ancient Site
Matthew Howard bought the land in 2016, planning to build a home. Instead, he found an amazing ancient site. It holds thousands of clues about the Paleo and Pleistocene periods in America. This discovery helps experts learn more about early Native Americans.
What Was Found at the Site?
The property has many interesting features:
- Carved and painted stones with pictures.
- Long walls made of stacked stones shaped like serpents.
- Stones shaped like the sun.
- Hundreds of rock mounds and earthen mounds, possibly burial sites.
- Petroglyph ceremonial circles, which are patterns carved into rocks.
Some carvings show animals that lived a very long time ago. These include the woolly mammoth, mastodon, lions, camels, horses, and short-faced cave bears. These animal carvings helped experts guess the age of the site.
How Old is Bear Spirit Mountain?
Virginia archaeologist Jack Hranicky believes the site is 15,000 to 30,000 years old. He specializes in Paleo history and rock art. Mr. Hranicky first called it "Great Serpent Mountain" because of a 91-yard-long stacked stone serpent wall. Later, after Matthew Howard wrote his first book, "Adonvdo Yona, An Ancestral Awakening," the site's name changed to Bear Spirit Mountain.
Special Features and Meanings
Matthew Howard has found stones and serpent walls that mark the winter and summer solstices. These are special days when the sun is at its highest or lowest point in the sky. He also found symbols of fertility from the Pleistocene period. This shows that people were using these symbols over 11,000 years ago.
The mountains at Bear Spirit Mountain were chosen for a sacred reason. Three mountain ridges are naturally positioned. Two ridges form an arrow pointing to a third, pyramid-shaped mountain. On top of this pyramid mountain, Howard found an altar, a split stone, and a single burial mound. This suggests the person buried there was very important. Many rock structures with petroglyphs and pictographs (rock paintings) are also present. Three ceremonial circles form a pyramid shape at the main ceremony site.
Studying Bear Spirit Mountain
Research continues at Bear Spirit Mountain. Matthew Howard keeps making new discoveries. He uses scientific tools like ground-penetrating radar and electric resistivity. These tools help him learn what is hidden underground without digging. Howard believes this site is a sacred ancestral place. He does not allow digging to protect its history and connection to his own Cherokee roots.
Sharing Discoveries
In October 2017, the site's importance was mentioned in a book called Paleo American Archaeology in Virginia. News about the site in local media led Matthew Howard to write his own book in August 2018. This book explained how he found the site and the mysteries he uncovered, with the help of a black bear. This is why the site is named Bear Spirit Mountain.
In October 2018, Howard gave a talk in Winchester, Virginia. He spoke to the Archeological Society of Virginia about the petroglyphs, pictographs, and rock structures at the site. He continues to give lectures and write more books about Bear Spirit Mountain. In April 2019, tests were done on rock mounds using electric resistivity and ground-penetrating radar. These tests aimed to find evidence that the rock mounds were ancient burial tombs.
Ongoing Research and Teamwork
Matthew Howard and his team of volunteers are still observing the site. This team includes geologists, anthropologists, and archaeologists. Many photos and recent discoveries are shared on the official Bear Spirit Mountain website. This includes results from the ground-penetrating radar tests on the rock mounds, two serpent walls, two ceremonial circles, and a large earthen mound. This mound is 203 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 40 feet tall.
Images for kids
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Rock carvings at Bear Spirit Mountain show animals from the Ice Age.
