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Hopewell Ceremonial
Complexes of southeastern Ohio
Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and
Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying
the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved
re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French
exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide
AccessGenealogy with some of his work. As we add to these articles we will
also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions
of Richard.
A new people moved into the Ohio
Valley region around 200 BC. They are labeled today the
“Hopewell People” after a site near Chillocothe, Ohio.
The Hopewell’s tended to be taller than the Adena people
and was long-headed. Whereas communities with Adena-like
characteristics appeared in not only Ohio, but the
entire middle & upper Ohio River Valley, the tributary
river valleys of the Ohio, and even the Chesapeake Bay
region, large Hopewell sites are concentrated in central
and Southern Ohio - particularly, the Scioto River
Valley around Chillocothe, Ohio.
Although their daily lifestyle of hunting, gathering,
and fishing were initially identical to that of the
Adena, their architecture and community planning was
different. The Hopewell houses were rectangular with
vertical side walls formed by posts set in ditches.
Their villages were transient and generally located on
terraces overlooking river bottom lands. In fact, very
few Hopewell village sites have even been excavated
because their locations are unknown! Burial mounds and
grounds were usually NOT located within villages, but in
regional ceremonial centers. However, many ceremonial
centers seem to have always had some permanent
residents, who were perhaps priests, guardians or
caretakers.
The Hopewell’s often practiced cremation and probably
stored cadavers for mass reburial on special occasions.
Eventually, the Hopewell’s also acquired knowledge of
the cultivation of squash, beans and a primitive form of
corn-perhaps from trade contacts with contemporary
peoples in the Southeast. They never practiced
agriculture on a large scale and seem to have always
been primarily hunters and gatherers. However, nature
was so bountiful in their region, that there was plenty
of food to go around, at least until nears the end of
the Hopewell’s construction activity.
The number and scale of primary Hopewell Ceremonial
Centers are mindboggling. There were probably, well over
a 100 primary Hopewell ceremonial centers in Ohio,
Kentucky, West Virginia and Indiana. Some were Adena
sites taken over by the Hopewell’s. Others were Hopewell
from the beginning. Apparently, after a ceremonial
center had been utilized for a certain period of time,
it was abandoned and a new one begun nearby. Several
Hopewell ceremonial centers cover over 200 acres and
over 1000 feet in diameter: containing several million
cubic feet of soil, rocks and detritus.
It is obvious that populations from many villages worked
together for many generations to construct these public
works projects. No architectural evidence has been found
that there was hereditary elite, which forced the people
to work on the sites. Either there was a very strong
community value that all should work on the ceremonial
sites, or perhaps a religious belief that work on a
ceremonial site guaranteed a good afterlife in the
spiritual world. The full ramifications of Hopewell
religious beliefs and social values will probably never
be known. The Hopewell obsession with the buzzard might
be the reason that buzzards always return each spring to
Hinkley, Ohio in the heart of the former Hopewell
territory.
Hopewell Ceremonial Complex, Ohio
Copyrighted VR images by Richard Thornton architect
Notes About this Material
Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and
professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with
permission.
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