The Etna Township Mounds are a pair of Native American mounds in Etna Township

Etna Township, Licking County, Ohio

Etna Township is one of the twenty-five townships of Licking County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 5,410 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the southwestern corner of the county, it borders the following townships and city:...

, Licking County

Licking County, Ohio

Licking County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 166,492. Its county seat is Newark and is named for the salt licks that were in the area....

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Located east of Reynoldsburg

Reynoldsburg, Ohio

Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area...

 near Interstate 70

Interstate 70

Interstate 70 is an Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a Park and Ride near Baltimore, Maryland. It was the first Interstate Highway project in the United States. I-70 approximately traces the path of U.S. Route 40 east of the Rocky...

, the mounds are built primarily of sand. Unlike typical Native American mounds, their location reveals nothing of their builders: they are not built atop hills or along a stream, as Adena

Adena culture

The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 1000 to 200 BC, in a time known as the early Woodland Period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system...

 mounds typically are.

Because the mounds have never been archaeologically excavated, virtually nothing is certain about them other than that they were constructed by one of the mound-building cultures that inhabited Ohio during the Woodland period

Woodland period

The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...

.

It has been proposed that the mounds are the work of a group of individuals isolated from the rest of their culture

Archaeological culture

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...

. Because excavation of the mounds is likely to yield valuable information about such isolated groups, the mounds are a potential archaeological site

Archaeological site

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...

. In recognition of their archaeological value, the Etna Township Mounds were listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1975.