<< Our Photo Pages >> Hopewell Culture National Historic Site - Misc. Earthwork in United States in Great Lakes Midwest
Submitted by bat400 on Monday, 10 June 2013 Page Views: 22190
Multi-periodSite Name: Hopewell Culture National Historic Site Alternative Name: Mound City, The Chillicothe Hopewell MoundsCountry: United States
NOTE: This site is 0.109 km away from the location you searched for.
Region: Great Lakes Midwest Type: Misc. Earthwork
Nearest Town: Chillicothe, Ohio
Latitude: 39.376000N Longitude: 83.006W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Internal Links:
External Links:
I have visited· I would like to visit
eirrac5 would like to visit
stonetracker visited on 1st Oct 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Site is as described in the overview and comments. A mostly faithful reconstructed site, due to damage from previous excavations and military or agricultural use of property. Many Hopewell mound and earthworks sites have suffered from similar modern activities. Some have been at least partially rebuilt.
eforrest25 visited on 21st Aug 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5 The National Park Service has done an excellent job of preserving and expanding the site since the last time I visited there in 1994. I don't remember the enclosing walls having been visible at that time due to shrubs and foliage. The visitors is very good and has an excellent film which talks about the various other Hopewell and Adena sites in the area.
mfrincu visited on 2nd Jul 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Rangers are very helpful and answer all questions. There is also a 20 minute film giving an overview of the culture.
rrmoser visited on 7th May 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 second visit to this remarkable place. Its a knockout.
bat400 have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.75 Ambience: 4.25 Access: 4.5
The Mound City Group is part of the Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, near Chillicothe, Ohio, US. (Website)
The park consists of several separate sites. For the most part the site is a detailed reconstruction. Mound City is a group of earthen mounds within a nearly square enclosure on the banks of the Scioto River. It was built and used by the Hopewell people roughly 2000 years ago over a period of a few hundred years.
This was not a living site, although Hopewell group camps and living areas are found throughout the area. Several have been found very close to this group of mounds. The burial mounds were generally built over time and are of different types of burials. One of the most interesting mounds (the Mica Grave Mound) started as a wooden building with burials in the floor. Later the building was broken down and burnt. An earthen mound was raised over the site. The burials were accompanied by grave goods and other artifacts. Many of these artifacts (or reproductions) can be seen in the museum. The artifacts found on the site included pottery, effigy pipes, and ornaments made from copper, mica, iron ore, and shells. (The materials mentioned originated outside the Lower Ohio Valley.)
There are over twenty mounds within the enclosure. Five of them are fairly large, one about 80 feet in diameter at the base. One mound is narrow and about 100 feet long.
You enter the site from the visitor's center. The mounds and enclosure earthworks are kept clear of trees and brush and are grass covered. Beyond are the wooded banks of the river. Like most easily accessible sites in the Ohio Valley, this one was completely excavated several times. A WWI army camp stood on the site. Most of the mounds are reconstructions - although they are thought to be very good ones as the original excavators (Squier and Davis, in the 1840s) made a systematic and detailed record of the site. Early or late in the day, especially in the "off" season, it's fairly easy to ignore the fact that you're just off a major highway, with a museum and visitor's center right behind you.
Fairly unobtrusive signage near individual mounds identifies them as you walk among them with or without a guide book. You can walk out to the river as well.
Note: Like most federal and state properties Hopewell Culture NHP is about presenting the site and educating the public. Important to note that the Hopewell Mound Group referenced in some of the old map images is a geographically distinct site from "Mound City" and at a different location and river system (North Paint Creek). But both sites are under the jurisdiction of HCNHS. Posted photos here are strictly for Mound City. Note that the so-called Shriver Circle (large circular earthwork a short distance outside the Mound City enclosure shown in the Squire and Davis map) is gone, as is a smaller circle. Victims of farming, road building, and a correctional center. There is at least one mound in a wooded area on the approach road to the visitors center that is outside the enclosure, but that's it.
Note: Researchers launch a website that makes a collection of artifacts of Hopewell Culture publicly accessible. See comments.
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