Historical Introduction to the 1971–1977 Ohio Historical Society Excavations at the Seip Earthworks

Abstract

This paper traces the Ohio Historical Society’s (OHS) varied research investigations at the Seip Earthworks. The early efforts focused on the mounds with the excavation of the Conjoined Mounds directed by William Mills and investigation of the large Seip/Pricer tumulus directed by Henry Shetrone. Beginning in 1966 and continuing through much of the 1970s, OHS switched the focus to the enclosure wall and the areas between it and the large mound. The excavations of a series of structure sites directed by Raymond Baby in the 1970s form the basis for the papers that follow.