National Park Service
Date of this Version
4-1999
Citation
Hopewell Archeology: The Newsletter of Hopewell Archeology in the Ohio River Valley Volume 3, Number 2, April 1999.
Abstract
1. Correlating Maps of the Hopewell Site, 1820-1993 By N'omi B. Greber, Ph.D. Curator of Archaeology Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Introduction
Eight maps, covering nearly two hundred years of research at the Hopewell site, were used to make a "best guess" reconstruction of the site as it was seen in 1800, just before human activities considerably accelerated erosion and other natural processes that altered the original Hopewellian landscape. Information from extant associated field notes, publications, museum curation records, modern aerial photographs, and limited ground survey provided additional data. Using both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and old fashioned paper maps, correlations have been estimated among the maps.
The Site
The Hopewell site (33R027), the type site for the Hopewell culture, covers extensive areas of the second and third terraces above the active flood plain of the North Fork of Paint Creek. In 1800, more than three kilometers of earthen and stone walls formed a two-part enclosure: the Great Enclosure, encompassing more than 40 hectares, and the adjoining Square Enclosure, which could hold the entire Mound City monument with room to spare. Inside the Great Enclosure were two smaller enclosures: the D-Shaped Enclosure and the Circular Enclosure. At least 40 mounds were scattered within and outside the enclosures. They ranged in size from the largest constructed by any Hopewellian people to some of the smallest. Overall, the quality and quantity of cultural remains recovered from, and extant at, the site form the most striking representation of the Hopewell culture in eastern North America. Three major excavations at the site were separated by many decades: Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis in 1845, Warren K. Moorehead in 1891 and 1892, and Henry C. Shetrone from 1922 to 1925. Six maps based on their findings have been used in this project.
2. Book Review By John E. Kelly
Staging Ritual: Hopewell Ceremonialism at the Mound House Site, Greene County, Illinois; by Jane E. Buikstra, Douglas K. Charles, and Gordon F. M. Rakita. Kampsville Studies in Archeology and History No. 1. Center for American Archeology Press, Kampsville, Illinois. 216 pages, 60 illustrations, 1998.
Archeology of the Middle Woodland Mound House site is presented within a broad context using an interpretative framework that derives its models from traditional, small-scale societies, where notes of "the sacred" are pervasive rather than circumscribed. Interdisciplinary studies are used to strengthen interpretations, and newly discovered complexities in the structure of the site are explored here along with data from other Illinois Valley mortuary sites.
3. Notes on Research at Goodall, 1998 Mark Schurr University of Notre Dame
For the past three years, the University of Notre Dame archeology field school has conducted geophysical surveys and excavations at the Goodall site in northwestern Indiana. The Goodall tradition, a northwestern extension of Havana Hopewell, was one of the first archeological cultures defined in Indiana.
The Goodall site has been central to archeological ideas about Hopewell in northwestern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. However, most of what we know about the site comes from amateur excavations conducted in the nineteenth century, so the site remains poorly known by modern standards.
4. Announcement.
Dr. Bret Ruby has accepted a position with the U. S. Army at Fort Bliss, Texas. Look for additional information in the next issue of this publication.