[CP]
Middle Woodland Stage communities occupying the Ohio Valley and much of the eastern woodlands and midwest of North America in the period c.200 bc to ad 400. Named after the owner of a farm in Ross County, Ohio, Hopewellian Culture developed out of the Adena Complex of the eastern woodlands to become one of the most remarkable cultural traditions in North America.
Characteristic Hopewellian material culture includes pottery with deeply incised or rocker-stamped decoration, broad-bladed chipped stone points, and small stone platform-pipes for smoking tobacco. These pipes were often carved in zoomorphic forms.
Settlements were semi-permanent or permanent hamlets and villages, often in river valleys and at intervals of about 20km. Houses were rectangular or oval in plan, built with wood forming a frame, over which mats and animal skins would be stretched. The subsistence base mainly depended on hunting and gathering. Small mammals, turkeys, fish, and shellfish were important foods, as too were hickory nuts. Some maize may have been cultivated, but was probably not a major component of diet.
The Hopewellian is best known for its ceremonial centres, of which the largest were those built in the Ohio Valley. Each centre typically comprises one or more earthwork enclosures containing burial mounds. Both cremation and inhumation burials are known, although inhumation appears to have been reserved for the elite. The burial rites involved placing the dead person in a charnel house made of wooden posts, burning it, and then constructing a mound over the top. The elite were often buried in log-lined tombs within the charnel houses, accompanied by a selection of rich grave goods.
Extensive trading links known as the Hopewell Interaction Sphere are reflected in the range of imported goods and raw materials. The Hopewellian Culture had many local styles and regional variations (e.g. Havana Hopewellian, Illinois Hopewellian, Marksville Hopewellian), the differences sometimes being greater than the similarities. Throughout, however, artistic expression and craftsmanship were of a high level and many fine artefacts were created or acquired by Hopewellian communities.
