Graham Hancock on history: what the evidence says · JRE #1284
“there have been arguments that there is a group of archaeologists who would like it to be just 1,000 years old, and they attribute it to a culture called the Fort Ancient culture. There's another group of archaeologists”
What the evidence says
Serpent Mound's age has been the subject of a genuine, unresolved scholarly dispute between two archaeological camps, matching Hancock's description. A 1991 site excavation used radiocarbon dating on charcoal samples to determine the mound was approximately 900-1000 years old, attributing construction to the Fort Ancient culture (A.D. 1000-1500). In 2014, a different team of archaeologists presented new radiocarbon dates arguing the mound was instead built roughly 2,300 years earlier by the Adena (Hopewell) culture, with the Fort Ancient-era material reflecting later remodeling rather than original construction. As of a 2019 summary of the literature, the dispute remained unresolved, with future work expected to clarify the mound's true age. This confirms both halves of Hancock's claim: a Fort Ancient camp favoring a ~1,000-year age, and an opposing camp (which Hancock aligns with) favoring an older, Adena-era origin.