Hopewell

An agricultural subculture of the Woodland Stage Complex settling in Ohio and Illinois around 100 BC and lasting to 500 AD. It was one of the most advanced Indian cultures of North America, with conical or dome-shaped burial mounds, large enclosures with earthen walls, and fine pottery with corded or stamped decoration. Farming was practiced and trade brought exotic raw materials from many parts of the continent. Hopewell is noted for its minor art objects, such as carved platform pipes, ornaments cut out of sheet copper or mica, Yellowstone obsidian, distinctive broad-bladed points, and ceremonial obsidian knives - often found in rich burials of the Hopewell rulers. Between 200 BC-600 AD, the Hopewell Interaction Sphere flourished in the Midwest which constituted Hopewell religious cults and distinctive burial customs associated with a widespread (through trading) art tradition. The culture which had both agriculture and hunting-gathering succeeded the Adena culture.

A widespread Middle Woodland culture whose major focus was in southern Ohio, USA, but with sites as far away as Kansas and the Florida Gulf Coast. Sometimes seen as an extension of Adena, it is characterized by large earthworks, ceremonial burial practices and long-distance trade. Both inhumation (often interment in log tombs) and cremation were practised and were frequently accompanied by rich grave goods. Other cultural traits include deeply incised or rocker-stamped pottery, distinctive broad-bladed points (some clearly ceremonial) and small stone platform-pipes, often carved in zoomorphic shapes. Both agriculture and hunting and gathering contributed to subsistence activities, but archaeologists disagree as to the relative importance of each. It has recently been suggested that internal variability is so great that Hopewell sites are best considered as local manifestations linked only by pottery styles and limited social interaction. Dates vary considerably but characteristic traits appear in the late centuries bc and come to an end c400