The Hopewell network
Earthworks in Ohio and an exchange system spanning half a continent.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 599 years
- Known to
- ± 50 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
From around 100 BCE, Hopewell communities across eastern North America build geometric earthworks of great precision — the Newark complex covers several square kilometres and includes a circle and octagon aligned to the moon's 18.6-year cycle — and participate in an exchange network moving obsidian from Yellowstone, copper from Superior, mica from the Appalachians and shark teeth from the Gulf.