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The article recounts the acquisition of a rare Hopewell monitor pipe from Waupaca County, Wisconsin, and explores the implications of its origin in a region not typically associated with Hopewell artifacts. It mentions the possible cultural exchanges and religious significance of the pipe, shedding light on the complexities of its history and use.

The article focuses on the Intrusive Mound culture of the Midwest, which existed from 650 AD to 1000 AD, known for burying their dead in earlier Hopewell mounds. Topics include their distinctive artifacts, such as platform pipes, ceremonial stone picks, and Jack's Reef projectile points, and the cultural significance of these items in the context of burial practices and regional archaeology.

The article focuses on a Catlinite Hopewell platform pipe found in Kankakee County, Illinois, dating back to approximately 50 BC. The significance lies in its rarity, as Hopewell pipes were infrequently made of catlinite pipestone and the analysis of regional Hopewell pipes reveals diverse materials, challenging previous assumptions.

The article discusses the archeological finings regarding the Woodland Period and its cultures, which might have existed from approximately 1000 BC to AD 1000 in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and surrounding areas in the U.S. Topics include Adena Culture, the earliest Woodland peoples famous for their grit-tempered pottery and artificial conical mound building, and Late Woodland period, signified by the absence of Hopewell culture traits and first defined by archeologist James B. Griffin.

The article focuses on fine art enjoyed by prehistoric people and tracing of prehistoric cave painting back to Indonesia. Topics discussed include lack of evidence on appearance of stone effigy artwork in North America until Archaic Period, birdstone designs changed by Early Woodland people of the Adena Culture to formulated Great Pipe efficacy art form and Hopewell Culture that took art to prehistoric metal and stonework.

Elaborate Middle Woodland (ca. cal 200 BC–cal AD 500) mounds and exotic artifacts traded over long distances provide evidence for institutions that helped coordinate the gathering of large communal groups on the ancient midcontinent. However, the material heterogeneity archaeologists have documented for these societies suggests diverse material, historical, and social forces motivated communal gatherings. In this article, we introduce Middle Woodland Ceremonial Situations in the North American Midcontinent, our guest-edited issue of the Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology. Contributions to this issue wrestle with the notion of "situations," as developed by sociocultural anthropologists, to better understand the archaeological record of the Middle Woodland midcontinent. In doing so, the contributors propose new ways to frame the scalar and temporal diversity of Middle Woodland ceremonialism by focusing on the material evidence for situations where people, earth, and things converged in different ways and times to shape the ceremonial landscape of the midcontinent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of earthen enclosures changed how the Middle Woodland landscape was monumentalized in central Kentucky. Archaeologists have long associated these monuments with important social changes, leading to modern interpretations of these mounds as material evidence for cooperative labor, large kin-based coalitions, and pan-regional ritual practices and cosmological beliefs. We conducted research at nine enclosures in central Kentucky that allowed us to examine the evidence for their potential correlation with astronomical phenomena and identify variability in how enclosures were constructed. In this article we present archaeoastronomical and geoarchaeological data from these nine sites to explore how local groups built and used geometric enclosures. Our data led us to consider the diverse ceremonial situations under which these monuments were constructed. We suggest that the variability present in, and the spread of, small enclosures reflects both the simultaneous reinterpretation and adoption of pan-regional institutions during local manifestations of a Middle Woodland situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a reconstruction and analysis of the Caldwell Mound located in the central Scioto River valley of southern Ohio. The mound contained a log tomb, at least four burials, and associated funerary objects. Four AMS radiocarbon dates place the Caldwell Mound within the last century BC and first century AD, and the mound contains evidence of practices historically associated with "Adena" and "Hopewell." Few other records exist from this period in the region despite it experiencing perhaps some of the most dramatic socioreligious transformations in precolumbian North America. This analysis documents early evidence for the diversification and segregation of leadership roles based on the interpretation of three buried individuals. It also demonstrates the utility and efficacy of working with amateur-produced records and collections, even when incomplete, to reconstruct and glean insight from important Woodland period sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional information has been identified concerning a fired-clay human figurine analyzed and reported by Bebber and colleagues (2018). Despite this figurine having been discovered within a box labeled "Hopewell Figurine—Hopeton Earthworks," they argue against a Hopewellian affiliation based on Thermoluminescence (TL) dating, a comparative study, and the inability to firmly establish the specimen's provenience. A rediscovered letter from Olaf Prufer offers a new site of origin and a more complete chain of custody, which is partially corroborated by photographs curated at the Ohio History Connection and a 1925 Boston Evening Transcript article. With this new information, we dispute Bebber and colleagues' (2018) interpretation of the figurine's acquisition, its alleged site of origin, and the conclusions of their comparative analysis. This case study does not support their call for more rigorous authentication of collector-acquired objects; rather, it documents the difficulty in reestablishing the provenience of objects once they have become disassociated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article author discusses about having a V-Shaped Havana Hopewell pipe, which find in Posey County, Indiana.

The article informs on Early to Middle woodland period of 1000 BC to AD 200 clash of cultures in the U.S. It mentions about how did the Hopewell culture come to dominate the Adena culture. It also mentions about copper ornaments and implements that are found in late Copena burial mounds that give evidence of Hopewell culture.

Hopewell bladelets may be the most common diagnostic artifact of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere. As such, they are often recognized as a Middle Woodland “index fossil” and a key materialized indication of Hopewell ceremonialism. However, few formal analyses of their occurrence across space and time exist. Drawing on published reports, as well as an extensive review of the unpublished gray literature, I present a Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon-dated, bladelet-bearing features from across Ohio. The Bayesian model provides insight into previously unrecognized temporal variation in this element of Hopewell material culture. Results indicate that bladelets are present from around the BC/AD switch to nearly AD 500 in certain portions of the state. Analysis by major drainages indicates that bladelets occur earliest in southern and central Ohio before subsequently spreading north to the Lake Erie region. Understanding the spatial and temporal variation in artifact classes such as Hopewell bladelets is essential to explaining prehistoric cultural processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Seip-Pricer Mound was one of the largest mounds in the Hopewellian world. Among the many features at the mound’s base, there was a massive, clay-lined, oval basin known as the “Burnt Offering.” This basin contained a large quantity of artifacts that had been subjected to intense burning. Five small spheres of black steatite were among the remarkable objects recovered from this deposit, each of which had been engraved with abstract designs. Shetrone interpreted these objects as marbles. More recently, Carr suggested they were shamanic paraphernalia. We propose an alternative interpretation based on the premise that conversations with contemporary, indigenous descendant communities may provide improved contextualization of archeological materials. Our conversation involving traditional Shawnee people and their ceremonial practices suggests a more parsimonious identification of the Seip-Pricer Mound spheres. The Shawnee drum uses spherical stones to attach the drum head to the shell. In contemporary practice, these stones are not engraved, but similarities between the Shawnee drum stones and the Hopewell steatite spheres, including size, color, and number, suggest the intriguing possibility that the Hopewell spheres were parts of a drum. This would be the first direct evidence for a drum in the Middle Woodland period, and our proposed interpretation is strengthened by the fact that it derives from firsthand knowledge of the ceremonial practices of an indigenous Eastern Woodlands tribe that could be among the direct descendants of the Hopewell culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaic and Woodland period communities in eastern North America domesticated a suite of annual seed crops referred to the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC), some of which subsequently fell out of cultivation and were lost. Recently, a domesticated sub-species of one of these lost crops, erect knotweed ( Polygonum erectum ) has been described. This paper reports the earliest example of this domesticated sub-species, which was recovered from a sub-mound context at an Adena/Hopewell site in central Kentucky (Walker-Noe, 15Gd56) dating to c. 1 AD. Contemporary Middle Woodland erect knotweed assemblages from habitation sites in western Illinois are not domesticated. A review of the paleoethnobotanical record suggests that farmers on the western front of the Appalachian Mountains developed several innovative agricultural practices, beginning around 1000 BC, that subsequently were adopted across the core area of EAC cultivation. The ethnography and sociology of 20th and 21st century farmer networks suggests that Adena/Hopewell exchange and community integration at mounds and earthworks may have been instrumental to this process. Additional analyses of botanical assemblages from mounds and earthworks, especially morphometric analyses of crop seeds, are necessary to test this hypothesis. The dynamics of social learning involved in this process may also be implicated in the spread of crop varieties and agricultural techniques in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Middle Woodland period, from 200 BC to AD 600, southeastern societies erected monuments, interacted widely, and produced some of the most striking material culture of the pre-Columbian era, but these developments are often overshadowed by the contemporaneous florescence of Hopewell culture in Ohio. I argue that the demonstrable material links between the Middle Woodland Southeast and Midwest demand that we cease to analyze these regional archaeological records in isolation and adopt multiscalar perspectives on the social fields that emerged from and impacted local Middle Woodland societies. In synthesizing recent research on Middle Woodland settlement, monumentality, interaction, and social organization, I make explicit comparisons between the Middle Woodland Southeast and Ohio Hopewell, revealing both commonalities and contrasts. New methodological approaches in the Southeast, including geophysical survey techniques, Bayesian chronological modeling, and high-resolution provenance analyses, promise to further elucidate site-specific histories and intersite connectivity. By implementing theoretical frameworks that simultaneously consider these local and global dimensions of Middle Woodland sociality, we may establish the southeastern Middle Woodland period as an archaeological context capable of elucidating the deep history of the Eastern Woodlands as well as long-standing issues surrounding middle-range societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mound City, located at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in south-central Ohio, USA, is a prehistoric earthwork (200 BC–500 AD) that consists of 24 mounds enclosed in a square embankment wall and is surrounded by eight pits. Recent excavation of two of these pits resulted in the discovery of a clay loam liner that appears to have been placed on the floor of the pits by a prehistoric society known as the Hopewell. The aim of this study was to determine the spatial pattern of this liner in one of the pits using non-invasive geophysical techniques, specifically electrical resistivity and ground-penetrating radar. Minimally invasive soil augers and a test trench yielded information that was used to corroborate interpretations of the geophysical data. The geophysical methods proved to be useful in locating and defining the remnants of the prehistoric clay loam liner, and the results of our investigation indicate that almost 50% of the liner still remains in the pit today. This discovery supports a new interpretation that the Hopewell excavated and preserved the pits at the Mound City site because they served as cultural landscape features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raised archaeological features form an abundant part of the prehistoric record, and come in many forms, from earthen mounds to shell middens. To calculate the volume of these features, archaeologists have relied on multiple strategies from simple geometric formulae to the use of aerial photogrammetry, typically to create energetic estimates of construction. No matter the technique, an undeveloped application of such volume estimates has the potential to inform our understanding of erosional processes and feature degradation. The largest of these earthen structures are typically best mapped and studied, leaving a paucity of data on the smaller, ubiquitous and often peripheral earthworks presently understudied at major archaeological sites. Using case studies from the Mound City and Newark mounds of the United States, we compare traditional methods of calculating mound volume for the purposes of ascertaining erosional processes with new photogrammetric protocols. Prior to this, the methodology is checked using artificially constructed earthworks of known volume, which are modified in controlled ways. The results presented here have implications not only for understanding prehistoric energetics more accurately in commonly overlooked portions of archaeological sites, but can also be used in the protection and potential reconstruction of archaeological mound features. While these sites are often afforded better protection than in the past, they are still exposed to natural and man-made erosional processes which warrants their detailed recording. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Elizabeth site is a bluff-top mortuary mound group constructed and primarily used during Hopewellian (Middle Woodland) times. Recent reanalysis of nonhuman skeletal remains from the site reveals that an intentional burial previously identified as a dog ( Canis familiaris) is actually an immature bobcat ( Lynx rufus). As a result of this discovery, we reevaluated eight other purported animal burials from Illinois Middle Woodland mounds, including seven dogs and a roseate spoonbill ( Platalea ajaja). The dogs all appear to be intrusive or unrelated burial events, but both the bobcat and the roseate spoonbill were definite Hopewellian mortuary interments. The roseate spoonbill was decapitated and placed beside a double human burial. But the bobcat was a separate, human-like interment wearing a necklace of shell beads and effigy bear canine teeth (Figures and ). To our knowledge, this is the only decorated wild cat burial in the archaeological record. It provides compelling evidence for a complex relationship between felids and humans in the prehistoric Americas, including possible taming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of construction and function of earthen mounds along the Mississippi River Valley by Native American groups. Topics discussed include collections of stone artifacts from Poverty Point, extension of stone material exchange network of the Poverty Point from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast along the Mississippi River, and the cessation of trade interactions and burial activity that characterized Hopewell Interaction Sphere society at around 500 CE.

Although not published until 1980, Robert L. Hall's paper "An Interpretation of the Two-Climax Model of Illinois Prehistory" was extremely influential from the time it was distributed and presented at the Ninth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, held in Chicago in 1973. The paper synthesized a vast amount of information about Hopewell and Mississippian cultures (the two climaxes) employing an inclusive approach that incorporated historical, processual, environmental, and ethnographic perspectives. The paper's emphasis on the Hopewell "decline" and the characteristics of the succeeding Late Woodland period was particularly notable. Hall applied concepts of frontier settlement, the challenge of abundance (the "shmoo effect"), and technological and agricultural change to show that Late Woodland cultures were dynamic and innovative rather than mere placeholders in a gap between the two cultural climaxes. Hall's analysis supplied numerous testable hypotheses and was instrumental in establishing research agendas for the following three decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on what I view as the inability of archaeologists to distinguish patterning in the treatment of the dead in the central Ohio Valley Middle Woodland (Adena and Hopewell combined), I suggest an interpretive shift to focus instead upon agency; that is, upon mortuary events as the products of individuals and teams performing ritual acts using relics of their dead. That said, the remains we interpret as persona become, in effect, the "abandoned projects" of that agency, and their interpretation in the archaeological contexts we excavate (accretional mounds and other forms of mortuary features) is hedged around with what I call interpretive ambiguity. This approach embraces what we see as the extreme mortuary variability characteristic of the time and place without denying that underlying mortuary beliefs were real and conservative. Rather, it focuses upon the interpretation of place and how historical events occurring in places reflect larger social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle Woodland period in eastern North America witnessed a florescence of monumental architecture and material exchange linked to widespread networks of ritual interaction. Although these networks encompassed large geographic areas and persisted for several centuries, extant archaeological models have tended to characterize Middle Woodland interaction as an historically unitary process. Using new data from the Garden Creek site in North Carolina, I argue that these frameworks obscure important historical shifts in Middle Woodland interaction. Recent collections-based research, geophysical survey, targeted excavation, and 14C dating (including Bayesian modeling) of this site reveal two coeval diachronic changes: a shift from geometric earthwork construction to platform mound construction; and a shift from the production of special artifacts (mica, crystal quartz) to the consumption of exotic artifacts in association with platform mound ceremonialism. These data hint at important changes in interregional relationships between the Appalachian Summit, the Hopewellian Midwest, and the greater Southeast during the Middle Woodland period, and provide a springboard for considering how processes of culture contact contributed to precolumbian cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past twenty years, lithic use-wear studies have been used to determine the function of Hopewell bladelets. These studies have uniformly shown that the bladelets were multipurpose, utilitarian tools in domestic contexts. Debate arises as to their function in ritual or ceremonial contexts. The question of bladelet function in ceremonial contexts remains unanswered because use-wear studies of bladelets have not been extensively applied to well-provenienced ceremonial assemblages. Microwear analysis was conducted on a sample of bladelets recovered from the Moorehead Circle within the Fort Ancient Earthworks in order to comment on the above debate as well as to determine the activities that occurred there prehistorically. The Moorehead Circle was a center of intensive activity as evidenced by the high rate of utilization and numerous tasks performed with bladelets. Intersite comparison indicates that the Moorehead Circle bladelets were utilized for the same range of tasks as bladelets from other sites in Ohio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I explore in this paper the significance of the headdress interred on Burial 11 under Hopewell Mound 25 by reexamining its archaeological context and the history of its interpretation. Following Shetrone's (1926) initial interpretation, I argue that it was an avian headdress that specifically portrayed a two-headed raptor. I support this reassessment with an iconographic analysis of related representations from the Central Ohio River Valley, especially the imagery engraved on a femur from Hopewell Mound 25.1 also delve into what these two-headed raptors might have meant to people in the Eastern Woodlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on anthropology which includes the transportation of supplies for General Andrew Jackson's campaign during the Creek Indian war, examining dog burials sites for evidence on dogs used as beast of burden and a study on Hopewell culture developed around 200 B.C.

The article discusses Hopewell culture art found in Ohio that depicts composite animals. The authors focus on the animals' association with the underwater-underground areas of Woodland and Plains Indian cosmology, arguing against the traditional ethnohistorical understanding of such animals as harmful. The animals discussed feature elements of rattlesnakes, salamanders, fish, and alligators. The authors connect the composite creatures to Hopewell ceremonialism and rites while arguing that the animals do not necessarily relate to the concept of Hopewell world renewal.

Mary W. Helms's observation that spatial distance often correlates with spiritual power has become an axiom in interpreting the role of exotic materials in societies. This is especially evident in explanations of the North American Hopewell Interaction Sphere. The circulation and accumulation of exotic materials in massive mortuary caches peaked during the Hopewell era (100 B.C. to A.D. 300). The premise that Hopewell smoking pipes were made in Ohio, primarily of local raw material, and circulated to foreign locations was an integral part of this interaction model. In this study we demonstrate, primarily using reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy (NIS), that early Hopewell Tremper Mound pipe raw-material acquisition focused on exotic pipestones from Illinois and Minnesota. By contrast, later Mound City cache pipes were almost exclusively made from local limestone and pipestone. The discovery of this shift in preference for and/or access to different quarry sources by Ohio Hopewell societies provides new perspectives on early Hopewell development and long-distance interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of variously colored soils in the construction of Hopewellian earthworks located in the Illinois River valley in west-central Illinois. The author argues that the practice of mound building, involving the hauling and placing of various soils in a particular order, was part of a shared process of community construction and reproduction. The contrasting soils, most obviously differing in their color, clearly demarcated each component of the mound as the community witnessed its unfolding construction. The author argues, however, that contemporary observations of the colors of the soils are very different from the original Hopewellian experience.

The Mann site (12P02), most noted for its large Hope-wellian mound complex, is a little studied but significant archaeological site in southwestern Indiana. Non-mound habitation areas at both the Mann and nearby Mann phase Grabert site were the sole source of archaeobotanical information for these sites prior to the current macrobotanical analysis of two newly available and fairly large (55-60 g of charred material each) samples collected from Mann site mound pit features. Analysis of the macrobotanical material from these pits, in the context of what is already known from both the Mann and Grabert sites, provides additional evidence that plant resources were being used in the Mann phase subsistence system consistent with interregional Hopewellian influences. Data indicate that the inhabitants were using some form of seed storage and may have been participating in non-burial-related ceremonial feasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines burial customs and ceremonies at Sugar Run Mound, a burial mound associated with the Squawkie Hill Phase of the Hopewell Native American tradition in Warren County, Pennsylvania. The author describes the unearthing of various Hopewellian antiquities at the excavation site, including a stone ax, bird effigies, and stone box tombs, all of which are associated with three different phases of the mound's construction. The author also notes the different types of burial practices connected to these phases, which include cremation and interment in box graves.

ABSTRACT Max Weber's concept of routinization offers a useful framework for understanding the relationship between political economy and the organization of religious movements. Here, we apply this concept to a comparison of Hopewell and Mississippian, two of the most important religious movements in the precolonial Eastern Woodlands. We focus on two archaeological contexts in particular-Mound 25 at the Hopewell site and Mound C at Etowah-to illustrate how Weber's concept allows for a more nuanced comparison than concepts associated with a more traditional neoevolutionary logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article stems from a reexamination of the Middle Woodland chert disks recovered from the Neteler mound (Havana mound group) in the central Illinois Valley. These disks were used to form beds or platforms beneath several primary and secondary burials. The disks were recognized by James B. Griffin and H. Holmes Ellis, among others, as probably deriving from the Wyandotte (Harrison County) chert formation in Indiana; however, they were later reassigned by Howard Winters (1984) to the Dongola chert source of southern Illinois. An examination of 98 of these disks demonstrated that the disks are, in fact, of Wyandotte chert. Based on this conclusion, we explore the historical significane of the use of Wyandotte chert in this context in the Illinois Valley. We conclude that Neteler Mound is pivotal to understanding the historical development of Hopewell as a cultural phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Crystal River site (8CI1), located on Florida's west-central Gulf Coast, has long been counted among the most impressive yet inscrutable archaeological sites in the eastern United States. Excavations by C. B. Moore in the early twentieth century produced a number of artifacts with apparent Hopewellian affiliations, thus indicating an occupation during the Middle Woodland period. However, other features of the site--particularly the presence of flat-topped mounds and negative-painted pottery--suggested a later (Mississippian) date. This apparent conflict cast a cloud of confusion over the site, exacerbated by the later discovery of three purported limestone stelae. We present new insights into Crystal River based partly on new field work, including detailed topographic mapping, geophysical survey, and limited small-diameter coring. These field investigations, when combined with radiocarbon dates and the data gleaned from previous investigations, allow us to make new inferences regarding the chronology of settlement and mound construction at Crystal River. Specifically, we posit, based on these data, a greater degree of planning, structure, and complexity to the site from its founding, possibly as early as cal. 300 B.C. Further, these early practices impact the overarching historical trajectory of the site, guiding subsequent practices over a long time span, likely as late as cal A.D. 600. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biltmore Mound, located on the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, was constructed over a Connestee phase habitation, the earliest evidence dating to about A.D. 300. Mound construction began sometime between A.D. 400 and 550, with the second to last mound stage constructed about A.D. 580-600. Because of the diverse contexts and the excellent preservation of faunal remains, we are able to provide some insights into Connestee ritualism at Biltmore Mound. The Biltmore Mound was a platform used to support large public structures for ritual and ceremonial activities. It was constructed of varying colored and textured soils from a variety of source areas that arguably had symbolic importance. The mound was primarily built out (rather than up) with several mantles that may have comprised a complete ritual cycle of mound construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination and analysis of five ceramic vessels from the Brogley Rockshelter site located in Wisconsin's Drftless Area. It discusses what each vessel demonstrates about the individuals who occupied the shelter including the extent of their trade networks and time period the shelter was occupied. The presence of a Havana-style Hummel Dentate Stamped vessel and a burnished Hopewell Zoned vessel indicate interaction with the Hopewell of central Illinois, while a Madison ware vessel suggests the presence of a Late Woodland Effigy Mound.

The creative ways in which native North American peoples of the Eastern Woodlands utilized copper throughout prehistory present provocative contrasts to models of Old World metallurgical development. Archaeological approaches that incorporate laboratory methods into investigations of indigenous metalworking practice have brought new insights and raised new questions about the development and use of techniques, sources of materials, and the social dynamics of copper consumption. This paper integrates the results of these studies into a discussion of copper use in Old Copper, Hopewellian, and Mississippian traditions that focuses on illuminating the complex relations among levels of technological sophistication in the manipulation of the material itself, the often elaborate and meaning-laden contexts in which artifacts were used, and the relative social complexity of the cultures that supported copper procurement, transformation, and use. It is suggested that ‘technological style’ approaches will assist archaeologists in efforts to flesh out culture-specific aspects of its consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

William S. Webb's post circles, which he interpreted as Adena houses, are best seen as defined ritual spaces representing a type of construction which was elaborated through time with the addition of different spatial footprints and was closely related to the shapes of earthwork enclosures in the Adena-Hopewell continuum. There is good, emerging evidence for quite different domestic structures in the preceding Late Archaic, as well as in sites that have been called Adena, which also resonates with the emerging evidence for Hopewell domestic architecture. These examples suggest domestic structural variability and short-term occupation/use despite the complexity of the ritual spaces reflected in post circle's and earthworks. Interestingly, it has taken some time for this reality to emerge, reflecting Webb's skill in presenting his data for the pivotal role Adena has played in culture history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents summary comments on the interpretation of the seven structures associated with Hopewell architecture uncovered by the Ohio Historical Society at the Seip Earthworks Complex, in Ross County, Ohio between 1971 and 1977. A re-analysis of the artifacts and data does not support the commonly held view among North American archaeologists that these structures served as craft houses. The theory was found to be falsely based on the assumption by the excavators that the materials in the mound placed over a decommissioned structure were directly related to the activities that took place inside the structure. It is argued that the location was a place of ritual that saw repeated visits over generations.

The article presents a summary of paleoethnobotanical data procured from assemblages recovered from an excavation conducted by the Ohio Historical Society at the Seip Earthworks Complex, in Ross County, Ohio between 1972 and 1975. Samples from the flotation processing of sediment collected from features of the excavation were examined and materials identified, including wood charcoal, bark, nutshell, squash rind, and seeds. Data from a variety of material extracted from other Ohio Hopewell sites was used to form a comparative database to place Seip plant materials within a broader chronological and regional context.

The article presents research examining the features of seven Hopewell structures uncovered during an excavation conducted by the Ohio Historical Society at the Seip Earthworks Complex, in Ross County, Ohio between 1971 and 1977. A detailed description of the features based on archived field notes and photographs is provided. The possible function of each of these features is discussed. It is suggested that many of the large features inside the Seip structures are large post holes, rather than pits used for craft-production or other related functions.

I examine mortuary, artifactual, symbolic, and proxemic data from Hopewell sites in southwestern and south-central Ohio to suggest that people associated with south-central Ohio sites such as Hopewell and Seip implemented more exclusionary political strategies, while people at southwestern sites such as Turner and Fort Ancient maintained a more corporate orientation through much of the Middle Woodland period. The recognition of this dimension of variation among Ohio Hopewell peoples has important implications for the study of the evolution of middle-range societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shell-tempered ceramics first appear in the archaeological record of the upper Mississippi River Valley in the post-Hopewellian period (ca. A.D. 250-500) of the Woodland Tradition as a minority ware in northwestern Illinois and south-central Wisconsin. Following alive-century hiatus, shell tempering was reintroduced via Middle Mississippian expansion front the American Bottom into the northern hinterland about A.D. 1000-1050. The following century witnessed the adoption of this technology by Terminal Woodland groups as they also incorporated corn agriculture into their economy. After A.D. 1150, shell tempering dominated the ceramics of the intensive agricultural Oneota Culture until French contact and the coinciding introduction of brass kettles. Experimental replication of Oneota wares, coupled with archaeological evidence, offers insight into the manufacturing technology of this last prehistoric culture in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]