Moorehead Circle facts for kids
 Location in Ohio
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| Location | Lebanon, Ohio, Warren County, Ohio,  USA |
|---|---|
| Region | Warren County, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 39°24′27.22″N 84°5′16.8″W / 39.4075611°N 84.088000°W |
| History | |
| Cultures | Ohio Hopewell culture |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2009 |
| Archaeologists | Robert Riordan |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural styles | timber circle, |
The Moorehead Circle is an ancient structure made of wood. It was built about 2,000 years ago. This special site is located at the Fort Ancient Earthworks in Ohio, United States. It is known as a "woodhenge" because it was a circle of wooden posts.
Contents
What is Moorehead Circle?
Moorehead Circle was a "triple woodhenge." This means it had three circles of wooden posts. These circles were built by people of the Ohio Hopewell culture. This culture lived in the area long before the Fort Ancient culture.
Discovery and Size
The outer circle of Moorehead Circle was found in 2005. An archaeologist named Jarrod Burks discovered it. The circle is very large, about 60 meters (nearly 200 feet) across.
Robert Riordan, a professor of archaeology, led the research at the site. He first thought that about 200 wooden posts made up the outer circle. However, after more digging in 2009, they found many more holes. These holes, called "post-molds," are where the wooden posts once stood. This suggests there might have been even more posts than first thought.
When Was It Built?
Scientists used a method called radiocarbon dating to find out how old the wood is. They found charcoal from a post that showed it was built between 40 BC and AD 130. Other burned wood pieces from the site were dated to AD 250 to AD 420. Both of these time periods fit within the time of the Hopewell culture. This means the Moorehead Circle was built and used by the Hopewell people.
What Was It Used For?
Archaeologists are not completely sure what the Moorehead Circle was used for. However, they believe it was likely a place for special ceremonies or important events. Many ancient circular structures around the world were used for religious or community gatherings.
Who Was Warren K. Moorehead?
Dr. Riordan named the circle after Warren K. Moorehead. He was a very important archaeologist in the early 1900s. Moorehead was the first curator of archaeology for the Ohio Historical Society. He played a big part in making sure the Fort Ancient site was protected and preserved.
Other Ancient Wood Circles
Moorehead Circle is not the only woodhenge found in the central United States. Other similar sites include:
- The Cahokia Woodhenge in western Illinois.
- The Mound 72 Woodhenge, also at the Cahokia site in Illinois.
- The Stubbs Earthworks, which is another Hopewell culture site in Warren County, Ohio.
These other woodhenges show that building large circles of wooden posts was a practice shared by different ancient cultures in the region.
