Following in Ancient Footsteps: The Hopewell in Ohio

FAIN: BH-50620-14

Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH 43211-2474)
Elizabeth Hedler (Project Director: March 2014 to June 2016)

Two one-week workshops for seventy-two teachers on the Hopewell, an American Indian civilization that flourished in Ohio between 100 BCE and 400 CE.

The Creative Learning Factory at the Ohio Historical Society offers a six-day program for teachers to explore the Hopewell landscape at the Newark Earthworks, Fort Ancient, and the five earthworks included in Hopewell Cultural National Historical Park: Mound City, Hopeton Earthworks, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, and High Bank Works. The Hopewell culture reached its fullest expression in the valleys of the major streams that flowed southward into the Ohio River in southern Ohio and neighboring Indiana during the Middle Woodland period, which spanned between 100 BCE and 400 CE. The Hopewell culture is best known for its monumental earthworks and the broad range of exotic raw materials its artisans acquired and crafted into distinctive works of art. Hopewellian earthworks, such as the sprawling Newark Earthworks and Fort Ancient, represent a florescence of art, architecture, ritual, and interregional interaction that was unparalleled in North America up to that time. The workshop immerses teachers in the Hopewell culture of ancient America through field study opportunities and scholarly presentations. Director Elizabeth Hedler (historian, Ohio Historical Society) is joined by lead faculty Bradley Lepper (curator of archaeology, Ohio Historical Society), Terry Barnhart (historian, Eastern Illinois University), Steven Warrant (historian, Augustana College), Robert Riordan (anthropologist, Wright State University), Bret Ruby (archaeologist, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park), Richard Shiels (historian, Ohio State University), Glenna Wallace (Chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma), and Linda Pansing (curator, Ohio Historical Society). Specific themes to be covered in the presentation and discussion sessions include "Early Efforts at Surveying and Mapping the Mounds"; "Hopewell Sites and Artifacts in American Popular Culture"; "Ancient Life and Hunting Strategies," "Building the Hopewell Landscape: Fort Ancient and the Earthworks of Southern Ohio"; "Octagon Earthworks and Hopewell Astronomy"; and " 'A Ranging Sort of People': Slavery and Diaspora in Early America." In addition, participants engage in a simulated archaeological dig, visit major excavations, hike interpretive trails, and watch interactive videos to expand their understanding of the sites. Readings for the workshop include Ray Hively and Robert Horn's description of the lunar alignments found at the Newark Earthworks; papers by James Brown and Robert Hall regarding Hopewell culture and ritual; and Peter Nabokov's study of American Indian sacred places.

Media Coverage

Teachers Learn On Vacations (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Christine Sampson
Publication: The East Hampton Star
Date: 9/3/2015
Abstract: provided description of different summer professional development trips by local teachers, including one Summer Scholar who participated in the Following in Ancient Footsteps: The Hopewell in Ohio grant.
URL: http://easthamptonstar.com/Education/2015903/Teachers-Learn-Vacations

When a pirogue is a state artifact and not a dumpling (Media Coverage)
Author(s): David Rutter
Publication: Lake County News-Sun
Date: 4/18/2016
Abstract: This story is about the effort to make the pirogue the state artifact of Illinois. The teacher involved attended week 2 of the Hopewell workshop and was inspired by the story of another teacher in the workshop who was instrumental in having the Adena Man declared the state Prehistoric Artifact in Ohio.
URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/ct-lns-rutter-state-artifact-st-0419-20160418-story.html