Economy of Hopewell

Partly though not entirely because of the influence of cultural anthropology that has emerged as a critique of Eurocentrism, it has become a commonplace of contemporary archeological commentary that to dismiss as primitive the prehistoric cultures of the indigenous peoples of North America is a grave mistake. The evidence of excavated sites is very much to the contrary, that the societies exhibit complex levels of social organization. The major Hopewell period is agreed upon as lasting the second century B.C. to fourth century A.D., although there is evidence of continuity in organized social activity as far back as 1000 B.C. and as far forward as A.D. 1500.

The evidence of Hopewell culture, centered in the southern part of Ohio but ranging into Illinois, derives principally from so-called mound building or earthworks construction. The Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, located in Chillicothe, Ohio, is the site of the Mound City Group, where a large concentration of mounds is to be found (Austin 165). The

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ng the Hopewell peoples that has been found (Brown, passim; James 41) reflects a tendency toward but not arrival at sedentary existence in the Middle Woodland period. James distinguishes between migratory activity and organized agriculture: "Since few Europeans appreciated it, it is worth pointing out that, in some ways, the logistical demands [of migratory societies] were greater than those for villagers and farmers" (41). It seems worth pointing out as well that migration patterns might reflect strategic agricultural responses to seasonal differentials and social challenges of cultivation and food distribution in climate or terrain inhospitable to year-round subsistence farming, a hypothesis suggested more than demonstrated by James (42). An important inference from these elements is not so much the existence of social organization as such, for social organization occurs in nomadic and sedentary societies alike. However, migratory patterns can help explain the fairly wide geographical range of culture and would be consistent with trade-related subsistence economies, whether in respect of ceramics and sculpture or varying mound structures. Rather, as in the case of European societies that went in a linear path from foraging to fa
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Woodland, North America, Late Woodland, Asch Asch, Shape Hopewell, III Social-cultural, Woodlands Mississippian, Hopewell Road, Ceremonial Public, James Hopewell, hopewell culture, social organization, hopewell society, hopewell road, hopewell peoples, migratory patterns, ohio valley, trade exchange, middle woodland, north america, patterns hopewell peoples, greber kent ohio, naomi greber kent, ohio kent 1979, migratory patterns hopewell,
Approximate Word count = 1596
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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