Frederic W. Putnam, the Harvard University archaeologist who studied Serpent Mound in the late 1800s, identified this area as two overlapping village sites, one earlier and one later. He found sites of dwellings, hearths, animal bones, stone tools, broken pottery, and many thousand chips of flint, which he believed proved that an ancient village had once stood here. Artifacts near the surface belong to the Fort Ancient culture and date to around 1100 CE, while artifacts from deeper layers belong to the Adena culture and date to around 300 BCE. Although he called it a village site, one or both of these places may instead have been used only during ceremonies or community events focused on the mounds.