Talk:Hopewell tradition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, which collaborates on Native American, First Nations, Inuit, Métis and related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
???	This article has not yet been rated on the assessment scale.
Suggested article edit guidelines: To help us prioritise our workload, and in readiness for Wikipedia:1.0, we need to assess our articles for Quality. If this article is Unassessed, please assess it. See the Article Classification for instructions. If you disagree with a rating, you can change it or discuss it at Article Classification. Before assessing this article, be sure to check the existing Archive of assessments made under the previous system (used until July 2006), and feel free to help in migrating the existing comments besides from adding your own evaluation. After assessing this article's quality, please make sure it to add it to the Lists at Article Classification, following the grading scheme detailed there.
Please rate this article and leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

It is requested that a map or maps be included in this article to improve its quality. Wikipedians in the United States may be able to help!

Contents 1 Monoculture vs. trade network 2 Rename/move 3 Areas, Sites, Dates, etc. 3.1 Areas 3.2 Specifics 3.3 Sites

[edit] Monoculture vs. trade network

"The Hopewell tradition was not a single cultural group or society; rather, it was an exchange system for goods and information that connected distinct local populations. The complex trade network that defined this tradition has been referred to as the Hopewell Interaction Sphere." - Images of the Past, page 275 (Price & Feinman) - Fuzzform (talk) 19:52, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Rename/move

I propose that this article be renamed "Hopewell tradition", based on the above information. Fuzzform (talk) 19:53, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Areas, Sites, Dates, etc.

Following information was adapted from Price & Feinman, Images of the Past, pages 274-277 (see citation in article). Info should be incorporated into article once rename is decided.

• Price & Feinman give the Hopewell tradition's dates as 100 B.C. - 400 A.D. (p. 274)
• Seriation/typology (similarities in style, motifs, etc.) provides evidence of trade routes

[edit] Areas

• Hopewell tradition first appeared in Illinois, around 100 B.C.
• Spread as far as Wisconsin, Louisiana, New York
• Core was in Midwest (specifically, the Scioto River Valley in south-central Ohio)
• Demise of Hopewell tradition thought to be due to disruption of trade routes (due to increasing competition for resources, etc.)

[edit] Specifics

• Most sites are associated with burial mounds, but not all.
• Some are only effigy (earthwork) sites - earthen representations of humans or animals. Note that the "effigy" article should mention this type of effigy.
  • E.g. Serpent Mound of the Adena culture (which is closely associated with the Hopewell tradition).
  • Note that Earthworks (archaeology) does not cross-link to any pages that have to do with earthen effigies, such as the one listed above and the Hopewell tradition article.

• Social structure was based on achievements, rather than inherited ranks. This information is inferred from burial practices (e.g. type/quality and quantity of burial items), remains of structures, etc.

• Burial items (found in mounds) include: unsmelted copper, earspools, gorgets (circular ornaments, flat or convex on one side and concave on the other, usually worn on chest), beads, pendants, panpipes (wind instruments), mica sculptures/effigies (see picture), various tools, pottery, shells, animal teeth, smoking pipes, etc.

• Carved stone smoking pipes ("platform pipes") are thought to have been used to mediate peaceful interactions over long distances. Most pipes were in the form of "ritual weapons", e.g. atlatls (spearthrowers). According to Robert L. Hall (emeritus professor at University of Illinois, Chicago), these pipes may have provided a situation where participants were "fighting with words" (so-called "peace pipe diplomacy"), or they may have been actual ritual weapons.

• Many sites were excavated before modern archaeological techniques (i.e. before 1900), leading to poor records and destruction of artifacts, ecofacts, etc.
• Sites in river valleys were inhabited year-round.

[edit] Sites

• Ross County, Ohio
  • 40 mounds across 45 ha (110 acres)
  • Most are small, but one is 9 m (30 ft) high, 152 m (500 ft) long, 55 m (180 ft) wide, and contained more than 250 burials
• Mound City, Ohio
  • 24 mounds across 5.2 ha (13 acres)

Fuzzform (talk) 21:32, 12 May 2008 (UTC)