Hopewell culture

Hopewell culture is known for its flamboyant^[clarify] burial ceremonialism, diversified material culture, and most importantly, exchange between other communities. Evidence for exchange can be found in exotic artifacts not native to the Hopewell region. In this exchange network, raw materials, as well as finished products were exported and imported.

It was thought that the distinctive Hopewellian artifacts were crafted specifically for mortuary ritual...however, many of the kinds of artifacts associated with human remains under the mounds were found also in settlement debris" (Dancey, p.117).

Other features of Hopewell culture include the predominance of agriculture as opposed to hunting and gathering. Chief crops included squash, sunflowers, and various grasses, though maize, which would later become a dietary staple in the region, was only rarely cultivated. The Hopewell employed native copper, silver, mica, meteoric iron, obsidian and a large variety of exotic materials in their tools, weapons and material goods. Many of the exotic materials utilized by the Hopewell were obtained via a vast network of trade.

Mounds

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Hand carved in mica by the Hopewell

Today, the best-known feature of Hopewell culture is the mounds that they built for religious/ burial purposes. It is known to be one of the most considerable achievements of Native Americans throughout the ancient past. These mounds, especially along the Ohio River valley, could take various geometric shapes and rise to impressive heights. Samples of these mounds can still be seen today, especially in the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, Ohio. The Rock Eagle and Rock Hawk Effigy Mounds, in Putnam County, Georgia are sometimes attributed to members of the Hopewell or Adena cultures, but may have been created by a distinct group. Determining the function of the mounds is still under debate.

One popular proposition for the shapes of the earthworks is that they were laid out to record astronomical observations, such as the movement of the sun through the seasons, or of the Moon and Venus. (Dancey, p.123).

Due to lack of evidence and poor condition of the mounds, little more information can be obtained. Bradley T. Lepper, Curator of Archaeology, Ohio Historical Society, has argued that the Octagonal mound complex at Newark, Ohio is actually a lunar observatory which records the 18.6 year cycle of 'moonrises' and 'moonsets'. William F. Romain, Ph.D. has written a book on the subject and several articles.^[1]

There are many ideas about the collapse of the Hopewellian culture. Apparently, they ceased to exist around 400 A.D. Some suggest that probability of their fall was their society dissolved, rather than crashing. Breakdown in societal organization could have been a result of full-scale agriculture. Scholars Dunnell and Greenlee suggest an idea of waste behavior. "They argue that energy was diverted from biological reproduction during a period when climate irregularities favored small families. As climate became predictable from year to year, energy was turned from waste behavior to food production" (Dancey, p.131). Still, the true reasoning of their evident dispersal is yet to be discovered, and much more knowledge is needed.

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The Hopewell shared some features with the Mississippian culture that arose c. 900-1000 A.D. in the Eastern United States. It is unclear how much continuity there was between the two cultures.

The Center for American Archeology specializes in Hopewell culture.

References

^ Newark Earthwork Cosmology.

Sources

Dancey, William. “The Enigmatic Hopewell of the Eastern Woodlands.” North American Archaeology. Ed. Timothy R. Pauketat and Diana Dipaolo Loren. Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2005. 108-137.