Turpin Site
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Turpin Site
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Overview of the site
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| Location | On the Turpin farm property |
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| Nearest city | Newtown, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 39°7′22.8″N 84°22′19.2″W / 39.123000°N 84.372000°WCoordinates: 39°7′22.8″N 84°22′19.2″W / 39.123000°N 84.372000°W |
| Area | 9 acres (3.6 ha) |
| NRHP Reference # | 74001514 |
| Added to NRHP | December 27, 1974 |
The Turpin Site (33Ha28) is an archaeological site in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. Located near Newtown in Hamilton County, the site includes the remains of a village of the Fort Ancient culture and of multiple burial mounds. Detailed explorations of the site have revealed the bodies of many individuals in and around the mounds. The archaeological value of the site has resulted in its use in the study of similar locations and in its designation as a historic site.
Local residents began to explore the Turpin Site at the end of the eighteenth century. At this time, it appears that at least three mounds were located in the vicinity of the main village site, as well as a Native American cemetery. This cemetery was a primary focus of an excavation in 1800, which resulted in the unearthing of fifty skeletons.
In 1881, the premier mound at the site — then on the farmstead of Philip Turpin — was recorded as being known as one of the principal prehistoric sites in Anderson Township; at that time, it stood 10 feet (3.0 m) high, and its base had a circumference of 175 feet (53 m). Due to its size and location along the road between Cincinnati and Batavia, it was a local landmark. Surrounding the mound was the densest portion of the cemetery; a local historian noted that "human remains may be exhumed with almost every lift of spade or shovel." Other mounds at the site included a stone mound believed to have been built during the Late Woodland period and an earth mound dating from the Fort Ancient period. During the late nineteenth century, two of the smaller mounds at the site were excavated under the direction of Charles Metz, and the Fort Ancient mound (the primary mound at the site) was investigated in 1947 by an expedition sponsored by the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. Charles Metz had reported that this mound had apparently been reduced by the Turpin family, and a scholar writing in 1997 has proposed that it once was large enough to cover the burials found around it. This is not to say that the mound was found to be empty of burials; over sixty bodies were found to have been interred within it. While both adults and children were buried within many Fort Ancient mounds, the presence of many infant bodies in the Turpin mound distinguishes it from some other mounds of the period. Unlike many Fort Ancient mounds, this mound was found to include no structures underneath the actual mound, and few bodies were accompanied by grave goods.
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