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Reviews
The Ohio Hopewell Episode Paradigm Lost and Paradigm Gained
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By A. Martin Byers
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(Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 2004. Pp. xvi, 674. Maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, index. $59.95.)
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| The term Hopewell, in its most inclusive sense, refers to a series of regional prehistoric cultures that were situated in the mid-continent of North America and that existed for a few hundred years on either side of year zero of the Common Era. These people were hunters, gatherers, fishers, and horticulturalists who had domesticated several indigenous plant species including sunflower, squash, goosefoot, sumpweed, and, perhaps, other starchy and oily annual seed crops. The threads that tied them together into a major tradition were the construction of large earthworks and the fluorescence of a great artistic tradition executed in stone, metal, and pottery. Today, the most visible remains of these regional traditions are found in southern Ohio, in the valleys of the Scioto, Muskingum, and Little and Great Miami Rivers. The earthworks include large conical and loaf-shaped mounds that covered a variety of buildings, human remains (both within and outside of prepared tombs), and groups of cremations and caches of artifacts. There are also large geometric earthworks, some of which exceeded five meters high and enclosed up to sixty-five hectares. The manner by which these earthworks were constructed—the limited choice of geometric forms and construction techniques—provides the empirical starting point for the book's argument. |
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