Hopewell Culture National Historical Park

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Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.jpg
Restored mounds in the Hopewell Culture NHP
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Location Ross County, Ohio, United States
Nearest city Chillicothe, Ohio
Coordinates 39°22′33″N83°00′23″W / 39.37583°N 83.00639°W / 39.37583; -83.00639
Area1,170 acres (4.7 km2)
EstablishedMarch 2, 1923
Visitors33,834(in 2011) [1]
Governing body National Park Service
Website Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Criteria Cultural: i, iii
Reference 1689
Inscription2023 (45th Session)
Area320.7 ha
Buffer zone561.8 ha

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is a United States national historical park with earthworks and burial mounds from the Hopewell culture, indigenous peoples who flourished from about 200 BC to 500 AD. The park is composed of four separate sites open to the public in Ross County, Ohio, including the former Mound City Group National Monument. The park includes archaeological resources of the Hopewell culture. It is administered by the United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service.

Contents

In 2008, the Department of the Interior included Hopewell Culture National Historical Park as part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, one of 14 sites on its tentative list from which the United States makes nominations for the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. [2] UNESCO inscribed the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as a World Heritage Site on September 19, 2023, comprising the park and related sites.

Location

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park consists of four geographically separated units open to the public: [3]

  1. Mound City Group is the site of the visitor center and the only fully restored Hopewell site. It is located at 16062 State Route 104, Chillicothe, OH 45601.
  2. Seip Earthworks, located at 7078 US Route 50, Bainbridge, OH 45612.
  3. Hopewell Mound Group, located at 4731 Sulphur Lick Rd., Chillicothe, OH 45601.
  4. Hopeton Earthworks, located at 990 Hopeton Rd., Chillicothe, OH 45601.

History

Hopewell culture

1840s map of Mound City Ancient Works Squier and Davis Plate XIX.jpg
1840s map of Mound City

From about 200 BC to AD 500, the Ohio River Valley was a central area of the prehistoric Hopewell culture. The term Hopewell (taken from the land owner who owned the land where one of the mound complexes was located) culture is applied to a broad network of beliefs and practices among different Native American peoples who inhabited a large portion of eastern North America. The culture is characterized by its construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns, and mounds of various shapes. Visible remnants of Hopewell culture are concentrated in the Scioto River valley near present-day Chillicothe, Ohio.

The most striking Hopewell sites contain earthworks in the form of squares, circles, and other geometric shapes. Many of these sites were built to a monumental scale, with earthen walls up to 12 feet (3.7 m) high outlining geometric figures more than 1,000 feet (300 m) across. Conical and loaf-shaped earthen mounds up to 30 feet (9.1 m) high are often found in association with the geometric earthworks. The people who built them had a detailed knowledge of the local soils, and they combined different types to provide the most stability to the works. It required the organized labor of thousands of man hours, as people carried the earth in handwoven baskets.

Entry sign at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park Hopewell Culture NHP entry sign - 2017-05-10.jpg
Entry sign at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park
Mound City Site Mound City Chillicothe Ohio HRoe 2008.jpg
Mound City Site

Mound City, located on Ohio Highway 104 approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Chillicothe along the Scioto River, is a group of 23 earthen mounds constructed by the Hopewell culture. Each mound within the group covered the remains of a charnel house. After the Hopewell people cremated the dead, they burned the charnel house. They constructed a mound over the remains. They also placed artifacts, such as copper figures, mica, projectile points, shells, and pipes in the mounds.

Discovery and protection

European Americans first mapped the site in the 1840s. The archaeologists Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis were the first excavators of the site and amassed a large collection of Mound artifacts that is now preserved at the British Museum. [4] Much of it was destroyed during World War I when the United States Army constructed a military training base, Camp Sherman, on the site. After the war, they razed the camp. The Ohio Historical Society conducted an archaeological excavation of the site from 1920–1922, followed by reconstruction of the mounds. [5] In 1923, the Department of Interior declared the Mound City Group a National Monument, to be administered by the Federal government.

In 1992, Mound City Group was renamed and expanded as Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Its definition included remnants of four other nearby earthwork and mound systems. Two Ross County sites are within a few miles of Mound City and open to the public. Seip Earthworks is located 17 miles (27 km) west of Chillicothe on U.S. Route 50. Hopewell Mound Group is the site of the 1891 excavation on the land of Mordecai Hopewell (for whom the culture is named). Hopeton Earthworks located across the Scioto River from Mound City and High Bank Works, which is closed to the public.

The Ohio Historical Society also maintains a number of mound systems and elaborate earthworks in the southern Ohio area, including the National Historic Landmarks of Fort Ancient, Newark Earthworks, and Serpent Mound. Fifteen mound complexes earlier identified in the county have been lost to agriculture or urban development.

The national park contains nationally significant archaeological resources, including large earthwork and mound complexes. These provide insight into the sophisticated and complex social, ceremonial, political, and economic life of the Hopewell people. [6]

The park visitor center features an orientation film, book sales area, and self-guided tours.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross County, Ohio</span> County in Ohio, United States

Ross County is a county in the Appalachian region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 77,093. Its county seat is Chillicothe, the first and third capital of Ohio. Established on August 20, 1798, the county is named for Federalist Senator James Ross of Pennsylvania. Ross County comprises the Chillicothe, OH Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH Combined Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopewell tradition</span> Ancient North American indigenous civilization

The Hopewell tradition, also called the Hopewell culture and Hopewellian exchange, describes a network of precontact Native American cultures that flourished in settlements along rivers in the northeastern and midwestern Eastern Woodlands from 100 BCE to 500 CE, in the Middle Woodland period. The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society but a widely dispersed set of populations connected by a common network of trade routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serpent Mound</span> Prehistoric effigy mound in Ohio, United States

The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-feet-long (411 m), three-feet-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. It was built on what is known as the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. The mound is the largest serpent effigy known in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Ancient (Lebanon, Ohio)</span> United States historic place

Fort Ancient is a Native American earthworks complex located in Washington Township, Warren County, Ohio, along the eastern shore of the Little Miami River about seven miles (11 km) southeast of Lebanon on State Route 350. The site is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in the United States with three and one-half miles (18,000 ft) of walls in a 100-acre (0.40 km2) complex. Built by the Hopewell culture, who lived in the area from the 200 BC to AD 400, the site is situated on a wooded bluff 270 feet (82 m) above the Little Miami. It is the namesake of a culture known as Fort Ancient who lived near the complex long after it was constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adena culture</span> Pre-Columbian Native American culture

The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, 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. The Adena culture was centered on the location of the modern state of Ohio, but also extended into contiguous areas of northern Kentucky, eastern Indiana, West Virginia, and parts of extreme western Pennsylvania.

<i>Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley</i> Book by Ephraim George Squier

Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (1848) by the Americans Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis is a landmark in American scientific research, the study of the prehistoric indigenous mound builders of North America, and the early development of archaeology as a scientific discipline. Published in 1848, it was the Smithsonian Institution's first publication and the first volume in its Contributions to Knowledge series. The book had 306 pages, 48 lithographed maps and plates, and 207 wood engravings. The book was reissued in 1998 in paperback, with an introduction by David J. Meltzer, professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newark Earthworks</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks. This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and 400 CE, contains the largest earthen enclosures in the world, and was about 3,000 acres in total extent. Less than 10 percent of the total site has been preserved since European-American settlement; this area contains a total of 206 acres (83 ha). Newark's Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks are managed by the Ohio History Connection. A designated National Historic Landmark, in 2006 the Newark Earthworks was also designated as the "official prehistoric monument of the State of Ohio."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopeton Earthworks</span> United States historic place

The Hopeton Earthworks are an Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site consisting of mounds and earthwork enclosures. It is located on the eastern bank of the Scioto River just north of Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio, about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the Mound City Group and Shriver Circle on a terrace of the Scioto River. The site is a detached portion of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, along with the Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, Spruce Hill Earthworks, and the High Bank Works. The site is open to the public.

The Oak Mounds is a large prehistoric earthwork mound, and a smaller mound to the west. They are located outside Clarksburg, in Harrison County, West Virginia. These mounds have never been totally excavated but they were probably built between 1 and 1000 CE by the Hopewell culture mound builders, prehistoric indigenous peoples of eastern North America. The larger mound is about 12 feet high and 60 feet in diameter. A number of burials of important persons of the culture probably occurred in these mounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tremper Mound and Works</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

The Tremper Mound and Works are a Hopewell earthen enclosure and large, irregularly shaped mound. The site is located in Scioto County, Ohio, about five miles northwest of Portsmouth, Ohio, on the second terrace floodplain overlooking the Scioto River. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portsmouth Earthworks</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

The Portsmouth Earthworks are a large prehistoric mound complex constructed by the Native American Adena and Ohio Hopewell cultures of eastern North America. The site was one of the largest earthwork ceremonial centers constructed by the Hopewell and is located at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers, in present-day Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Hamilton Davis</span> American archaeologist and physician (1811–1888)

Edwin Hamilton Davis was an American physician and self taught archaeologist who completed pioneering investigations of the mound builders in the Mississippi Valley. Davis gathered what, at that time, was the largest privately held collection of prehistoric Indian artifacts in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mann site</span>

The Mann site is a Crab Orchard culture site located off Indian Mound Road in Mount Vernon, Posey County, Indiana. It was placed on the National Historic Register on October 1, 1974. Exotic ceramics and other artifacts found at the site reflect contact with Ohio Hopewell people, in addition to more distant peoples in the Southeast of the Swift Creek culture of the Georgia Piedmont and Gulf Coastal Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biggs site</span>

The Biggs site (15Gp8), also known as the Portsmouth Earthworks Group D, is an Adena culture archaeological site located near South Shore in Greenup County, Kentucky. Biggs was originally a concentric circular embankment and ditch surrounding a central conical burial mound with a causeway crossing the ring and ditch. It was part of a larger complex, the Portsmouth Earthworks located across the Ohio River, now mostly obliterated by agriculture and the developing city of Portsmouth, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta Earthworks</span>

The Marietta Earthworks is an archaeological site located at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers in Washington County, Ohio, United States. Most of this Hopewellian complex of earthworks is now covered by the modern city of Marietta. Archaeologists have dated the ceremonial site's construction to approximately 100 BCE to 500 CE.

Howard Baum Site is a Hopewell tradition earthworks site located in Ross County, Ohio, in the United States. The work is located near the north fork of Paint Creek. It was described, in 1848, as "one of the largest and most interesting in the Scioto valley."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cedar-Bank Works</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

Cedar-Bank Works is group of Adena culture earthworks located in Ross County, Ohio in the United States. It is located approximately five miles north of the town of Chillicothe, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piketon Mounds</span> Archaeological site in Ohio, United States

The Piketon Mounds are a group of earthworks located in Piketon, Ohio in the United States. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The specific age of the site is unknown. Some mounds were created by the Adena culture, while other mounds were built by the Hopewell culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stubbs Earthworks</span>

The Stubbs Earthworks was a massive Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site located in Morrow in Warren County, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shriver Circle Earthworks</span> Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site

The Shriver Circle Earthworks are an Ohio Hopewell culture archaeological site located in Chillicothe in Ross County, Ohio. At 1,200 feet (370 m) in diameter the site is one of the largest Hopewell circular enclosures in the state of Ohio.

References

  1. "National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics". National Park Service. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
  2. "Secretary Kempthorne Selects New U.S. World Heritage Tentative List", Dept. of Interior, 25 Jan 2008, accessed 28 Oct 2018
  3. "Places - Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)".
  4. British Museum Collection
  5. "Mound City Group", Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, National Park Service, accessed 23 Sep 2009
  6. Withrow, Brandon (December 5, 2022). "The US' 2,000-year-old mystery mounds". BBC Travel. Retrieved January 16, 2023.

Further reading