INTRODUCTION
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Although the Hopewell mounds and earthworks
of Ross County, Ohio have been well known
to the scientific community for more than
150 years, many basic questions have yet to
be answered about the sites, and about the
people and culture who built them. Early archeological
research focused on mounds and mortuary behavior
(e.g., Squier and Davis 1848; Thomas 1894;
Mills 1922; Moorehead 1922) and yielded a
great deal of information about the artistic
and ritual aspects of Hopewell life. |
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Engraving showing overview of Hopeton Earthworks,
from Antiquities of the State of Ohio, by
Henry A. Shepherd , 1887
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Recent trends in
Hopewell research have emphasized
settlement pattern analysis and the relationships
of the larger mound and earthwork sites
to smaller villages and hamlets (Dancey
and Pacheco 1997; Pacheco 1996). Comparisons
among the large mound and earthwork sites
have demonstrated some broad general similarities,
but the structure and configuration of most
sites are surprisingly diverse. The most
thoughtful attempts to build broad explanatory
models about the Hopewell world continue
to be plagued by a lack of understanding
about the chronology, structure, and function
of individual earthwork sites. We believe
this can be overcome with sustained, multi-year
studies of individual earthwork sites.
The Midwest Archeological Center
has initiated a long-term study of the Hopeton
Earthworks, beginning research in 1994 with
a combination of geophysical surveys and
strategic testing. Subsequent research was
conducted in 1997 and 1998 (Lynott 2001).
The 2001 and 2002 investigations, described
here, are a continuation of that work. This
work is intended to answer specific questions
about the site and to develop a model to
better interpret the nature and significance
of the archeological resources at this location.
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