Located near Newtown in Hamilton County,[1] the site includes the remains of a village of the Fort Ancient culture and of multiple burial mounds.

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.

Surrounding the mound was the densest portion of the cemetery; an 1877 history of the area said that "human remains may be exhumed with almost every lift of spade or shovel.

[5]: 303 The professional excavations of the twentieth century revealed that the Turpin site was primarily a Fort Ancient village, although some Late Woodland influence was also present.

[3] Writing in 1966, archaeologist James Griffin classified Turpin and the nearby Sand Ridge site within the Madisonville Focus of the Fort Ancient culture.

[5]: 122  Writing in 1986, Wesley Cowan proposed Turpin as a type site for a phase of the Fort Ancient culture in southwestern Ohio, lasting from AD 1000 to 1250.