What is "fort ancient"

Fort Ancient is a name for a Native American culture that flourished from 1000-1750 CE among a people who predominantly inhabited land along the Ohio River in areas of modern-day southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana and western West Virginia. They were a maize-based agricultural society who lived in sedentary villages and built ceremonial platform mounds. The Fort Ancient culture was once thought to have been an expansion of the Mississippian cultures. It is now accepted as an independently developed culture that descended from the Hopewell culture (100 BCE–500 CE). The Fort Ancient Cultures most famous mound is called the serpent mound

Fort Ancient ( 33 WA 2) is a collection of Native American earthworks located in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio, along the eastern shore of the Little Miami River about seven miles (11 km) southeast of Lebanon on State Route 350. The site is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States with three and one-half miles (18,000 ft) of walls in a complex. Built by the Hopewell peoples, who lived in the area from the 1st century BC to the 6th century AD, the site is situated on a wooded bluff above the Little Miami. It is the namesake of a culture known as Fort Ancient, who lived near the complex long after it was constructed.

Maintained as a state historical park, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark for its significance. In addition, this is part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, one of 14 sites nominated in January 2008 by the U.S. Department of the Interior for potential submission by the United States to the UNESCO World Heritage List.