Overview

Nearly 2000 years ago, people living in the river valleys of southern Ohio built earthen monuments on a scale that is unmatched in the archaeological record for small-scale societies. The period from c. 200 BC to c. AD 500 (Early to Middle Woodland) witnessed the construction of mounds, earthen walls, ditches, borrow pits and other earthen and stone features covering dozen of hectares at many sites and hundreds of hectares at some. The development of the vast Hopewell Culture geometric earthwork complexes such as those at Mound City, Chilicothe; Hopewell; and the Newark earthworks was accompanied by the establishment of wide-ranging cultural contacts reflected in the movement of exotic and strikingly beautiful artefacts such as elaborate tobacco pipes, obsidian and chert arrowheads, copper axes and regalia, animal figurines and delicately carved sheets of mica. These phenomena, coupled with complex burial rituals, indicate the emergence of a political economy based on a powerful ideology of individual power and prestige, and the creation of a vast cultural landscape within which the monument complexes were central to a ritual cycle encompassing a substantial geographical area. The labour needed to build these vast cultural landscapes exceeds population estimates for the region, and suggests that people from near (and possibly far) travelled to the Scioto and other river valleys to help with construction of these monumental earthen complexes. Here, in the first American Landscapes volume, Mark Lynott draws on more than a decade of research and extensive new datasets to re-examine the spectacular and massive scale Ohio Hopewell landscapes and to explore the society that created them.

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9781782977544

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Reviews

Hopewell Ceremonial Landscapes of Ohi is, in my estimation, the most authoritative, up-to-date, and attractive overview of ancient North America's allimportant Hopewellian world (c. 150 b.c.-a.d. 350). The book's authority and up-to-date quality rest on the late author's decades-long experience with the archaeology and archaeologists of this all-important indigenous cultural phenomenon. -- Landscape History * Landscape History * Mark Lynott has given us a successful account of the earthwork centers of southern Ohio and one that complements previous treatments focusing on grave lots, ritual production, and artifact-based interaction. It is a useful addition to our understanding of Ohio Hopewell and it will be read by generations to come. -- Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology * Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology * Well illustrated with photos and drawings. A must for those interested in Hopewell and for scholars around the world researching ceremonial earthworks. -- CHOICE * CHOICE *

Mark Lynott has given us a successful account of the earthwork centers of southern Ohio and one that complements previous treatments focusing on grave lots, ritual production, and artifact-based interaction. It is a useful addition to our understanding of Ohio Hopewell and it will be read by generations to come. -- Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology Well illustrated with photos and drawings. A must for those interested in Hopewell and for scholars around the world researching ceremonial earthworks. -- CHOICE CHOICE

Mark Lynott has given us a successful account of the earthwork centers of southern Ohio and one that complements previous treatments focusing on grave lots, ritual production, and artifact-based interaction. It is a useful addition to our understanding of Ohio Hopewell and it will be read by generations to come.--Mark F. Seeman, Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kent State University. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Volume 40, 2015.

Mark Lynott has given us a successful account of the earthwork centers of southern Ohio and one that complements previous treatments focusing on grave lots, ritual production, and artifact-based interaction. It is a useful addition to our understanding of Ohio Hopewell and it will be read by generations to come. -- Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology

Author Information

Mark Lynott was for many years archaeologist with the US National Park Service and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

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