Examining the meaning of the Ohio Hopewell monumental earthworks within the societies that built them
 
“This volume should be read by all researchers interested in the Hopewell phenomenon, but the theoretical perspectives and dialogues contained within have implications and applications well beyond the geographic and temporal focus of the book.”—Southeastern Archaeology
 
“Important to all those who want to understand current directions in Hopewellian studies. Its most intriguing aspect is the sense it gives of scholars at work, debating and refining their ideas and interpretations about the Hopewell world.”—Sarah Ward Neusius, professor emeritus, Indiana University of Pennsylvania  
 
“Highly recommended for its intellectually probing examination of Ohio Hopewell archaeology.”—James A. Brown, professor emeritus, Northwestern University

Were the builders of the famous earthworks and mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley, people we today call Ohio Hopewell, residentially mobile or sedentary populations? What role and meaning did Hopewell earthworks play within these ancient societies? Ultimately, can they teach us anything or help us see things anew?

This collection of essays addresses important questions, like these and others, by examining the cultural and social nature of the well-known Ohio Hopewell monumental earthworks. Scholars discuss the purpose, meaning, and role of earthworks and other artifacts, theorizing on how they may have reflected political, social, and practical ecological organization.

Presented in a unique "dialogical" structure, this series of open conversations and debates about divergent archaeological practices provides a unique opportunity for the contributors to directly assess their colleagues’ various approaches to studying these ancient communities.
 
Contributors:  Lauren Sieg | Douglas K. Charles | Robert V. Riordan | Paul Pacheco | Jarrod Burks | Robert Horn | Warren Deboer | Deeanne Wymer | John E. Hancock | Bradley T. Lepper | A. Martin Byers | N'omi B. Greber | Ray M. Hively 
 
A. Martin Byers taught anthropology and archaeology for thirty years at Vanier College, Montreal, and is now a research associate at McGill University. He is the author of The Ohio Hopewell Episode: Paradigm Lost, Paradigm Gained and Cahokia: A World Renewal Cult Heterarchy. DeeAnne Wymer is professor of anthropology at Bloomsburg University and her work on paleoethnobotany has been widely published over the past twenty years.

Sample Chapter(s):

Table of Contents

Excerpt

"An interesting feature of the volume is the 'commentary' which follows each major section of the book. The give-and-take repartee illustrates both how much is yet to be known about--and how difficult it may be to explicate--Hopewellian archaeology."
--Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology, Volume 26 (2010)