Act of Vandalism on UNESCO World Heritage nominated 'Serpent Mound': Must turn in research paper!

Fortunately the 2,000-year-old Adena mound is still in good condition, and just needs some new sod. Nevertheless, the ignorance and carelessness is astounding.

A 19-year-old man who has confessed to taking a joy ride over an ancient earthwork near Serpent Mound could face prison time, more than $3,000 in damages, community service, and a research paper.

I'm finding their punishment ever-so reasonable. To actually make him do a full research paper on the mound is quite brilliant, in my opinion. His actions seemed to simply stem from a total lack of knowledge of the site itself, and he comes off as being pretty remorseful. Hopefully these reasonable charges against him will lead him into a better future.

“He has been cooperative, so we’re working with him. But I don’t think he appreciates the significance of the site, the gravity of what he’s done,” Adams County Assistant Prosecutor Ken Armstrong told Cincinnati.com. The young man allegedly jumped the curb of the parking lot at the monument and drove his pick-up truck over a 2,000-year-old Adena mound. Park Manager Tim Goodwin says the tire marks will be repaired by replacing the sod. Acts of vandalism at the site are rare, but Goodwin explained that additional security cameras will be installed. Serpent Mound has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. “It deserves the respect of the world,” said archaeologist Brad Lepper.

Source

Damm kids....... GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!!!!!

a reply to: Ghost147

Pfft....

Make him fix it.

I think I read that the mounds themselves are reproductions, so it's like selling cheese to cows. The idiot who rode his ride up amongst them though, stupider than a low-information spider monkey.

a reply to: Ghost147

OMG! For many years, my family's yearly reunion was held at Serpent Mound. Brings back memories to see it. Very cool place!

I think the research paper is an excellent idea!

originally posted by: infolurker
a reply to: Ghost147

Pfft....

Make him fix it.

They are making him fix it. Part of his punishment is community service, and site maintenance is part of that

originally posted by: Aleister
I think I read that the mounds themselves are reproductions, so it's like selling cheese to cows. The idiot who rode his ride up amongst them though, stupider than a low-information spider monkey.

Everything I have seen is the mounds aren't a reproduction but the real thing. Its already listed in the national register. The Adena Culture-

Mounds[edit]

Lasting traces of Adena culture are still seen in their substantial earthworks. Once Adena mounds numbered in the hundreds, but only a small number of Adena earthen monuments still survive today. These mounds generally ranged in size from 20 feet (6.1 m) to 300 feet (91 m) in diameter and served as burial structures, ceremonial sites, historical markers and possibly gathering places. These mounds were built using hundreds of thousands of baskets full of specially selected and graded earth. According to archaeological investigations, Adena mounds were usually built as part of burial ritual, in which the earth of the mound was piled immediately atop a burned mortuary building. These mortuary buildings were intended to keep and maintain the dead until their final burial was performed. Before the construction of the mounds, some utilitarian and grave goods would be placed on the floor of the structure, which was burned with the goods and honored dead within. The mound would then be constructed, and often a new mortuary structure would be placed atop the new mound. After a series of repetitions, mound/mortuary/mound/mortuary, a quite prominent earthwork would remain. In the later Adena period, circular ridges of unknown function were sometimes constructed around the burial mounds.[1] Adena mounds stood in isolation from domestic living areas.[6]

The mound in question is considered a type site -

A type site contains artifacts, in an assemblage, that are typical of that culture. Type sites are often the first or foundational site discovered about the culture they represent. The use of this term is therefore similar to that of the specimen type in biology (see biological types) or locus typicus (type locality) in geology.

As for the punishment I would have to agree it seems fitting and fair, especially the research paper.

a reply to: Ghost147

I'm lad that the community service involves repair and maintenance at the site in question and hopeful that the research paper will perhaps give the fool at least an understanding of the sites significance of not an appreciation for what he could have irreparably destroyed. Especially as there are so few of these mounds left intact at this point in time. It's a shame that such ignorance and anti intellectualism leads to such behavior but here's to hoping the experience gives the kid a new perspective on the importance of preserving our past.