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Hopewell Culture (approximately 100 BC - 500 AD)
The Hopewell Culture got its name for the group of mounds found on land once owned by Captain Mordecai C. Hopewell in Ross County, just north of Chillicothe. Although these mounds were described in earlier surveys of the land, the mounds themselves were first excavation in 1891. Today this mound group is called the Hopewell Mound Group.
The Hopewell Culture were also mound builders like the Adena Culture. The main difference from the Adena is that their earthworks were much larger with more complex and varied shapes including circles, squares, octagons and lines. The Adena Culture mounds were primarily conical-shaped mounds used exclusively for burial purposes. The Hopewell Culture also had burial mounds, but they more often were contained inside extremely large earthen walls.
How these earthworks were used is not known for sure. Some earthworks seemed to be connected as unique gathering places where members of the culture would come together at specific times during the year.
It is believed that the Hopewell Culture people lived in small villages that dotted the Ohio landscape from around central Ohio, south, extending all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, mostly along major rivers.
From artifacts recovered from their characteristic earthworks, it is believed that the Hopewell's were hunters, but also farmers. Also from the intricately detail artifacts, it suggests that each community would have divided responsibilities, much like today's society according to their skills. Craftsmen built, hunters hunted, farmers farmed, and they had artisans that crafted jewelry. Many of the artifacts recovered from diverse sites, seemed to have been created by the same individuals. This further suggests that there was specialized responsibilities within their culture. They also had businessmen that went out on expeditions to bring trade for exotic materials used in their art. The image at left is a stylized hand carved in mica by the Hopewell.
The Hopewell Culture was most likely the same people that composed the Adena Culture. Like any culture, over time, they refined their craftsmanship and their ideas. The Hopewell Culture displayed a more refined artistic style compared to the Adena Culture. They also expanded the idea of the burial mounds by building much larger complexes using earth walls.
Who were the Mound Builders?
We have no way of knowing who made up these ancient cultures. What archeologists have done is classify their history into periods of time which had similarities, such as the way the built communal areas, buried their dead, and ways they created pottery. Whether these ancient cultures are related to contemporary Native cultures can not be determined. Perhaps in time, DNA tests will be able to further identify the Ancient cultures.
What we do know is that they stopped building the massive earthworks that were so predominant throughout the southern half of the Ohio country. Why they stopped, we don't know. Contemporary archeologists have never recovered any written historical references to this activity. That is not to say that there is none, only that we haven't discovered it.
Just as the pyramid builders in the Mid-East stopped building pyramids, just as the Stonehenge builders stopped erecting great earthworks and stone circles, so too, did the mound builders of Ohio stop. Only the pyramid builders left a recognizable language that helped identify their history.
Where did the Mound Builders come from?
Again, because of the lack of written evidence, it is difficult to make any definitive conclusions as to their origins. But archeological evidence might suggest that these ancient cultures came up the Mississippi Valley from the Gulf of Mexico. There are also similarities between artifacts recovered from Ohio that mimics similar artifacts found in the Mayan Culture of Central America.
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