How much do you know about the Hopewell culture and their Interaction Sphere?

3 Questions

A long-distance sharing of certain artifact styles and raw materials

Through the Hopewell Interaction Sphere

They are remnants of the Hopewell tradition

Study Notes

Large mounds and earthen walls in the Ohio River Valley are remnants of the Hopewell tradition, a culture that existed from 200 B.C.E. to 500 C.E.
The Hopewell people had regular contact with cultures thousands of kilometers away.
Artifacts found near the earthworks in Ohio suggest contact with cultures from the Gulf Coast, southern part of the East Coast, northern Great Lakes region, and Yellowstone National Park.
The Hopewell Interaction Sphere describes the long-distance sharing of certain artifact styles and raw materials, but it is not necessarily a trade network.
There are two theories on how the exotic objects ended up with the Hopewell: direct procurement and pilgrimage to Ohio to visit the earthwork centers.
Ohio was a nexus and cultural center for much of eastern North America during the Hopewell era in the Middle Woodland period.
There is evidence of people bringing offerings of thanksgiving or supplication to Newark and taking away pilgrim’s tokens.
The existence of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere corrects the misconception that ancient cultures like the Hopewell were isolated in little villages.
There is no definitive evidence of Hopewell roads, but they could have followed streams or rivers to travel.
People were moving and in contact with one another for thousands of years.

3 Questions