Middle Woodland Period - The Hopewell Culture

The Middle Woodland period, which lasted from roughly 100 B.C. to 400 A.D., is perhaps best known in the Ohio River Valley as the era during which the Hopewell culture flourished. The basic traits which define the Hopewell culture are: more elaborate burial practices, larger and more complex earthworks which tended to grow horizontally rather than vertically over time; a greater variety of exotic material obtained through national trade networks; and a more complex artistic style than the Adena period.

Although the term “Hopewell” is used to describe many contemporary peoples throughout all of Eastern North America during the Middle Woodland, the Ohio Hopewell are regarded by most archaeologists to be the most extraordinary of all these various peoples. The Hopewell culture was named after Warren K. Moorehead’s excavations on farmland owned by Mordecai ‘Cloud’ Hopewell in Chillicothe to provide exhibits for Chicago’s World Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Like their Adena predecessors, the Hopewell culture built monumental and intricate earthworks which still astound archaeologists. Whereas the Adena buried their dead upon the bones of their ancestors, thus building their mounds vertically, the Hopewell moved away from extreme verticality and built their mounds horizontally. Generally, the Hopewell viewed their earthworks more typically as ceremonial centers. Although some earthworks were still used as mortuary sites, with associated conical burial mounds, the dead were more likely to be cremated and not always stacked atop each other in succession.

Two types of earthworks were particular Hopewellian favorites: geometric earthworks, often extremely large, and hilltop enclosures, which usually followed the contours of the landscape and were consequently often irregular in shape. Proportionally, geometric earthworks survive in greater numbers and seem, on the whole, to have been constructed more than hilltop enclosures. Such earthworks were often built in squares, circles, or, more rarely, octagons. The precision with which earthworks were typically built underlines the Hopewell culture’s intense familiarity with geometry and mathematics, and indicates that they created their own measuring system. Astronomy often played a particularly important role in the construction of earthworks, with many, such as Newark Earthworks, aligned to interact with solar or lunar movements.

Within the Hopewell culture, hilltop enclosures seem to have been a predominantly southwestern Ohio tradition. Great earthen walls, often reinforced with stone, were constructed around artificially flattened hilltops, often with specially constructed wells to catch rainwater for ceremonial purposes. Initially, archaeologists of the nineteenth century assumed such structures were defensive, and indeed many remaining sites are often called “forts”, but archaeologists today largely believe the enclosures were purely ceremonial. It is possible that such large ceremonial creations served as pilgrimage sites which united the diverse cultures of Ohio, and possibly beyond, and helped increase the demand for trade among cultures as they came into contact with each other.

The Hopewell culture vastly extended the trading infrastructure which the Adena culture had utilized. Some of the materials they acquired included copper from the upper Great Lakes; mica from the Carolinas; pearls, shells and alligator teeth from the Gulf of Mexico; galena, pipestone, flint, grizzly bear teeth, obsidian, and chalcedony flint from Illinois and Missouri; steatite; silver; hematite; and obsidian from the Rocky Mountains. Archaeologists still debate what reciprocal gifts the Hopewell exchanged; Flint Ridge flint from Ohio, with its characteristic swirled appearance, has been found in other areas of the United States but not in enough quantity to suggest a heavy trade. It is possible that, because many Hopewell earthworks seem to have been centers of pilgrimage and religious worship, the Ohio Hopewell traded knowledge and advice in return for material gifts.

Acquired materials were incorporated into elegant artworks. Hopewell art is characterized by an intricate use of positive and negative space; mirror symmetry; curvaceous or geometrical shapes; a seemingly increased use of animal motifs, particularly those of deer, bears, and birds; and, in pottery, thinner and more refined usage and new shapes such as bowls and jars, though the stacked coil preparation method was still utilized. The human form was a rare depiction in Hopewell art.

The Hopewell were more sedentary than the Adena and continued and extended the Eastern Agricultural Complex by expanding the range of crops grown, including tobacco, but still maintained the framework of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

By A.D. 400, the Hopewell culture and its earthwork building were all but over. What caused this is unknown, but there was a major shift in the succeeding Late Woodland period settlements and subsistence. People lived in larger villages often surrounded by walls or ditches. Corn became more important and the bow and arrow were introduced. Some archaeologists characterize the end of the Hopewell as a cultural collapse because of the abandonment of the monumental architecture and the diminishing importance of ritual, art, and trade. Yet the population seems to have increased and it simply may be that villages became more self-sustaining and inwardly focused.

This video, courtesy of CERHAS, discusses the history of Circlesville, Ohio, and its earthworks.

This video, courtesy of CERHAS, discusses the history of the Portsmouth area and earthworks.

This video, courtesy of CERHAS, discusses the history of Cincinnati, Ohio, and its earthworks.

This video, courtesy of CERHAS, discusses the history of the Paint Creek area and earthworks.

This video, courtesy of CERHAS, discusses the history of Fort Ancient.

The Harness Mound Group consists of a square and three circles which once featured walls 4 ft high. The largest circle encloses 40 acres in diameter and the square encloses 27 acres.

The Seip Earthworks, located in what is now the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, yielded an incredible amount of burial goods. The earthworks enclose 121 acres and have several mounds within them. Unfortunately the largest mound, once 240 ft long, 160 ft wide, and 30 ft high was destroyed due to enthusiastic archaeological digs.

The largest mound within the Seip earthworks, now destroyed.

A cross-section of the large Seip mound showing the initial cuts made by archaeologists.

A larger view of the area which now comprises the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park showing the placement of several mounds across the Scioto Valley.

The Hopeton earthworks feature a circle 1,500 ft in diameter and a square enclosing 900 ft. Initially the walls were c. 12 ft high but modern farming has rendered them, and the earthworks, almost invisible in some areas.

Circleville, Ohio, was first recorded in 1773 by the Reverend David Jones, who wrote: "North of this town are to be seen the remains of an old fortification, the area of which may be 15 acres. It lies near four square, and appears to have had gates at each comer, and in the middle likewise. From the west middle gate, went a circular entrenchment including about 10 acres."

Tremper Mound, excavated by William C. Mills in 1915, is a low-lying mound. Its shape was intially determined to be an animal effigy and was variously interpreted as a mastadon, wolf, and a bear, among others. However, scholarly opinion suggests that the mound was initially an oval which was extended to cover charnel houses, and that any appearance to an animal was probably unintentional.

An unusual Hopewell burial: a young couple is shown with their noses covered in copper.

A notable Hopewell figure, possibly a shaman, was buried with a headdress made from elk horns.

The Wray Figurine, discovered in 1881 near the Newark Earthworks, is carved from a solid block of stone. The figurine is commonly supposed to be Hopewell in origin due to its proximity to the Newark Earthworks, but its origin cannot be definitively determined. The figure, whose gender is unknown, is covered in a bearskin with the bear head resting atop its head. It is possible that this figurine depicts a shamanistic transition from a human to a bear spirit. On the figure's lap is a low-relief carving of a shape which is variously suggested to be a human head or a ritualistic bag.

In this video, courtesy of the Ohio Historical Center and CERHAS, archaeologist Dr. Brad Lepper analyzes the importance and the symbolism of the Wray Figurine.

In this video, courtesy of the Ohio Historical Center and CERHAS, Alex Davis, a Native American artist and member of the Seneca-Cuyahoga tribe, discusses the importance of the bear to many Native American tribes.

A selection of animal effigy pipes created by the Hopewell. Animals were important to the religious beliefs of the Hopewell.

In this video, courtesy of CERHAS, Gerard Baker, of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe, talks about the symbolism and significance of pipes.

The bird claw effigy is cut from a sheet of mica, a common material used for religious and ornamental purposes.

This double-sided amphibian effigy was found in the Ed Rutledge Mound in the 1930s. The effigy is made from copper and textile fragments were discovered within the bottom head.

Hopewell pottery