A United Nations official says the world body is considering some Ohio sites for inclusion on an exclusive list.
The U.N Cultural group is looking closely at Ohio’s ancient Hopewell serpent mounds and earthworks for possible inclusion on its Heritage list. That would put the Ohio sites on par with sites like the Great Wall of China or the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.
The U.N’s George Papagiannis says it could still take three years to determine whether the Ohio sites meet the international criteria. “And that is that a site be of outstanding, universal value to humanity. That is... the bar,” says Papagiannis.
Papagiannis says Ohio’s scaled earthworks show evidence that ancient cultures in the region looked “beyond the treetops” because they show evidence of astronomical events.
He made his remarks at the Ohio History Connection during a recent visit to Ohio.