THE EASTERN WOODLANDS:
MIDDLE AND LATE WOODLAND CULTURES—THE HOPEWELL
(MODULE 12C)
Read: Fagan (2000:417-438)
FILM: Myths and Moundbuilders (ODESSEY) (55 MIN.)
(Click here to go directly to the Lesson Overview for Module 12C)
(Click here to go directly to the Syllabus Daily Topics Schedule for this lesson)
A. In this section we will discuss both the Middle and Late Woodland cultures, primarily in the northern part of the
Eastern Woodlands.
1. We will begin with (and emphasize) the Hopewell Culture of the Middle Woodland period.
2. Later, we will touch upon the Late Woodland Culture—principally that of the ancestors of the Iroquois.
B. Hopewell Culture:
1. Hopewell Culture represents one of the most dramatic cultural florescences in the Eastern Woodlands—
as well as in the rest of North America!
2. Dates: ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 700
3. The exact origins of Hopewell Culture are confusing, with some suggesting some ancient cultural cross-
fertilization between:
a. An Illinois Adena group, and
b. An Ohio Adena group
4. Main florescence, though, occurred in Ohio
5. The Hopewell of southern Ohio came to constitute "the people to watch"
6. The Hopewell were some of the first archaeological peoples to be scrutinized by scientific archaeology:
a. First publication of the Smithsonian Institution was the work by Squier and Davis (1848) cataloging
maps of mound groupings (documented in the video Myths and Moundbuilders)
b. Were known simply as "The Mound Builders"
c. Many misunderstandings accompanied speculations
(1) To many early pioneers, the wonder of the extensive earthworks and the artifacts sometimes
encountered could not have been the product of the "industry" of the Indians they were
aware of, thus, non-Indian peoples were sought as responsible for these accomplishments.
(2) Remember the Postmaster General of Circleville, Ohio and the "Giant, Jewish,
Toltec, Vikings"!!
7. They are perhaps most noted for their monumental earthworks:
a. Forms of Hopewell Earthworks:
(1) Enclosures:
(a) Circular
(b) Rectangular
(c) Octagonal
(2) Processionals:
(a) Parallel connecting mounds connecting enclosures
(3) Internal moats and borrow pits were also part of such complexes
(4) Effigy Mounds:
(a) Not to be confused with the Effigy Mound Culture of Northeastern Iowa,
which is late, but which also has Hopewellian affiliations
(b) The great Serpent Mound of Southern Ohio is the best example
b. Functions of Hopewell Earthworks:
(1) Many mounds were burial mounds (sometimes containing hundreds of burials)
(2) Some mound complexes may reflect archaeoastronomic orientations
(3) Definitely not used as temple bases (such as later Mississippian and Mesoamerican forms)
8. Hopewell artifacts:
a. Represent some of the finest art in prehistoric North America
b. Display a competency in a wide variety of local and "exotic" media
(1) Local:
(a) Ceramic
(b) Freshwater mollusk
(2) Exotics:
(a) Copper
(b) Mica
(c) Obsidian
c. "Exotic" or "foreign" materials include:
(1) Six species of Gulf of Mexico marine shell
(2) Barracuda jaws
(3) Ocean turtle shells
(4) Alligator teeth
(5) Mica (from southwest North Carolina)
(6) Chlorite (a green stone from the southern Appalachians)
(7) Copper (from the Lake Superior area)
(8) Silver (cold-beaten; from Ontario)
(9) Nodular bluish flint (from Indiana)
(10) Obsidian (from Yellowstone, Wyoming)
(11) Chalcedony (from North Dakota)
(12) Grizzly bear teeth (from the Rockies?)
(13) Quartz (from Arkansas)
(14) Galena (from the Mississippi Valley)
(15) Meteoric iron (cold hammered, from who-knows-where?)
d. Copper artifacts:
(1) Sources (again): Lake Superior area
(a) Kewanaw Peninsula
(b) Isle Royale
(c) (Note Rip Rapp's work on sourcing metals)
(2) Essential two ways of making cold copper objects:
(a) Beaten
(b) Cutouts
(3) Copper artifact types:
(a) Ear spools
(b) Artificial noses
(c) Beads
(d) Gorgets
(e) Panpipes
(f) Relief drawings
(g) Breastplates
(h) Fake deer antlers
(i) Coverings for wooden artifacts (e.g., covering for a wooden representation of a
hallucinogenic or poisonous mushroom—the famous "Shaman's baton")
(j) Ax heads
e. Mica artifacts:
(1) Source: southwest North Carolina
(2) Mica is a sometimes almost perfectly transparent laminated mineral that can be carefully
separated into clear sheets that can then be cut into shapes:
(a) Serpents
(b) Animal claws
(c) Human heads
(d) Human hands
(e) Geometric forms
(3) As many as 3,000 sheets of worked mica have been recovered from one mound (at the
original Hopewell Site)
f. Obsidian artifacts:
(1) Source: appears to be Yellowstone, Wyoming
(2) Technology employed: developed pressure flaking
(3) Artifact types:
(a) Knives
(b) Projectile points
(c) Ritual, non-utilitarian forms of the above (too big and too brittle to have been used
practically)
g. Freshwater mollusks:
(1) Freshwater clamshell to make beads
(2) Freshwater pearl for beads, etc.
h. Ceramics:
(1) Vessels:
(a) Utilitarian
(b) Luxury/funerary
(2) Figurines:
(a) Distinct from those of the Southwest and Mesoamerica
(b) Illustrate:
i) Hairstyle
ii) Clothing
iii) Personal adornment
iv) Possibly particular occupations, i.e., shamans
i. Ground-stone artifacts:
(1) Probably the most famous Hopewell artifact is the platform pipe
(2) Platform pipes depict a wide range of animals forming the tobacco bowl—often in rather
whimsical forms
j. Bone artifacts:
(1) Wolf's upper palette with upper fangs still intact (may have been a mouth mask that was
held in the teeth of a shaman)
k. Wooden artifacts:
(1) Preservation of wood is often poor in the Eastern Woodlands, but luckily some of these
had been covered with thin sheets of copper
(a) Copper acids inhibit biological activity, thus sometimes preserving organic
material adjacent to it
(b) Copper sometimes remains long after wood has disappeared (requiring
careful excavation techniques!)
(2) Examples of copper-covered wooden artifacts include:
(a) Ear spools
(b) Wooden mushroom baton (described above)
9. Emphasis upon the large earthworks, burials, exotic artifacts with a consistent iconography—all may imply
a large-scale (geographically) distribution of a common world view
a. Some refer to this complex as the "Hopewell Cult" (analogueous to the "Adena Cult" discussed above)
(1) The spread of Hopewell culture may constitute the spread of religious notions (i.e., a cult),
rather than an emigration of Hopewell peoples.
(2) For comparison, consider the idea of an archaeological "Gothic Cult" reflecting a
"Gothic Culture" for an analogueue to this approach.
b. The commonality of cult and worldview may have facilitated interethnic trade with the cult
functioning as a form of "cultural common denominator."
c. This trade/exchange emphasis has been termed the "Hopewell Interaction Sphere" (again, as an
analogue, consider the interaction that occurred in Medieval Europe that led to the
archaeological/material-cultural Gothic phenomena )
C. So, if someone asks you, "What comes to mind when I say `Hopewell'?":
a. Dates: ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 700
b. Centered in central to southern Ohio
c. Mound-building culture producing both geometric and burial mounds
d. Produced an extensive artifact inventory (i.e., platform pipes) that depended upon long-distance trading linkages
e. Developed a distinctive iconography that reflected a geographically extensive, relatively common worldview
centered upon rituals associated with the dead—the "Hopewell Cult"
f. Involved in extensive trade—the "Hopewell Interaction Sphere"
D. Terms related to discussion of THE EASTERN WOODLANDS: MIDDLE AND LATE WOODLAND CULTURES -
THE HOPEWELL:
1. Squier and Davis's publication: significance?
2. "Mound Builders"
3. "Giant Jewish Toltec Vikings" (!?)
4. Hopewell Culture: basic characteristics
5. Geographical distribution of Hopewell Culture
6. Hopewell art: technology, style, and iconography
7. "Hopewell Interaction Sphere"
8. The "Hopewell Cult"
9. Platform pipes
10. Effigy mounds
11. Sacred enclosures
12. Woodland Tradition
13. Middle Woodland: the Hopewell
14. Hopewell: location of sites
15. Hopewell: nature of houses and settlements
16. Hopewell: nature of form and possible functions of earthworks?
17. Hopewell versus Mississippian mounds
18. Hopewell: artifacts: types, media, representations, significance
19. "Hopewell Interaction Sphere": meaning? significance?
20. Significance of "exotics" at Hopewell sites?
21. Hopewell copper artifacts and the Upper Midwest connection?
22. Copper_covered Hopewell shaman's mushroom baton: implications?
23. Mouth mask using wolf teeth on palate: significance?
24. Platform pipes: description of form
25. "Gothic Culture" as an analogue?: meaning and utility of analogy?
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