As we have seen in recent weeks, there has been much focus on the well-known site of Stonehenge, with archaeologists there embarking on a dig to try and confirm their pre-existing beliefs as to the putative healing function of the monument. However in this brief essay, we're off to another enigmatic site, in this case located thousands of miles away in the New World, and specifically that of the Newark Earthworks, in Ohio. As this represents uncharted territory for this blogger, I'm going to give a site description, which will include various observations made by Bradley T. Lepper, in an article he has written for the Ohio Historical Society, namely "The Newark Earthworks - Monumental Geometry and Astronomy At A Hopewellian Pilgrimage Center", the introductory lines of which read thus...
The Newark Earthworks in central Ohio comprise the largest complex of monumental geometric earthen enclosures ever built by the Hopewell culture (A.D. 1-400). The site originally encompassed more than four square miles (10 km square) and included two gigantic circles, an even bigger ellipse, a square and an octagon - all connected by a network of parallel walls.
In addition, there were numerous smaller circular enclosures, mounds of various shapes and sizes, a second large square just across a river to the east, and another oval earthwork encircling the highest hilltop to the south. Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis, among the foremost of the early students of American archaeology, declared in 1848 that the works occupying this "remarkable plain" were so complicated that it was "impossible to to give anything like a comprehensible description of them."
The archaeologists weren't aided in their interpretive efforts because much of the original site was destroyed by ploughing and the encroachment of the expanding city of Newark - and we are further told that other parts of the site only survived because they were co-opted into the 'contemporary cultural landscape' by the good citizens - for example, we learn that the Great Circle was used as a fairground from 1854, whilst the Ohio State Militia took up residence inside the Octagon and its circular earthwork.
Today, the Octagon is primarily used as a golf-course, although both it and the Circle are now under the aegis of the Ohio Historical Society. Early maps detailing features that have since disappeared from view are described, one of which was drawn in about 1860 by Wyrick and Unzicker - and rather than being a random set of constructions dotted across the landscape, seemingly without rhyme or reason, it is apparent that there was a definite sense of order and purpose at work; as we see...
"The Newark Earthworks were precisely sculpted and molded in accordance with architectural canons that emphasized monumental earthen geometry enclosing vast interior spaces tied to multiple water sources and oriented to the tracks inscribed across the sky by the moon.
The earthworks were not just symbols on the landscape, they were built to be part of the landscape; and perhaps, to allow their builders to transcend the boundaries of their terrestrial sphere."
We are next given the dimensions of some elements of the site, including the Great Circle, the Observatory Circle as well as the Octagon and Newark Square,which are then compared to other prominent constructions from the ancient world - the Great Pyramid at Giza would be easily accommodated by the Newark Square, whilst the equivalent of four Colosseum structures in Rome would fit into the Octagon, and its adjoining circle, a monument the size of Stonehenge would find itself with room to spare.
Note is made that not only are these structures vast, but reflect a knowledge of geometry exploited by the designers and builders - there was a study made in the 1980s by astronomer Ray Hively and philosopher Robert Horn, who surmised that...
"the distance from the center of the Observatory Circle to the center of the Great Circle is six times the diameter of the Observatory Circle. The distance from the center of the Octagon to the center of the Newark Square is also six times the diameter of the Observatory Circle. William Romain has recently observed a number of geometric relationships between components of the Newark Earthworks, that suggest they were conceptually integrated.
The circumference of the Great Circle, for example, was nearly equal to the perimeter of the Square. Romain suggests that this reflects the geometric exercise of 'squaring the circle' also found at Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid."
It is further claimed by surveyor James Marshall that not only is there a 3-4-5 triangle implicit in the relationship of the Observatory Circle and Great Circle, but that Newark can be tied in with other Hopewell sites across south-central Ohio, which are suggested to comprise the 'true core of Ohio Hopewell'.
We next turn our attention to another element in abundance at the Newark site, that of water; as we see...
The entire complex of earthworks appears to have been built around a large pond, and streams formed the northern, eastern and southern boundaries of the site...
...The pond most likely formed at the end of the last Ice Age and therefore would have been a prominent part of the Hopewellian landscape both before and after construction of the earthworks...
...there were only three principal ways to enter the earthworks without climbing over an earthen wall. These three portals are framed by parallel walls extending from each of the surrounding streams...
After reading details of other, artificial waterways incorporated into the earthworks, another interesting feature is mentioned here... ...
the Great Circle has an interior ditch that. when observed by Caleb Atwater sometime prior to 1820, was partially filled with water. Since this is the only one of the great enclosures at Newark that has a ditch associated with it, it is likely that it served a special function. Perhaps it was intended to hold water and serve as a reflecting pool, reservoir, or water barrier.
This use of natural and artificial water sources as part of the intentional sacred architecture has been observed at other Hopewell earthwork sites, including Fort Ancient, located in Warren County, northeast of Cincinnati. The ways water is used to frame ritual spaces suggests it is not simply a matter of locating the sites conveniently near drinking water or canoe routes"
I'm reminded here of the way the River Avon has been suggested as linking the earlier sites of Woodhenge and Stonehenge in England, possibly indicating a ritual passage from the world of the living to the land of the dead, from the former site to the latter by way of the Avon, but whether any direct connection exists between them and the function of streams at the Newark Earthworks, is moot.
We now turn our eyes upward to the night skies above the Newark Earthworks, and how the monuments on the ground were tied into the lunar cycles, with various features tracking the Moon as is sets and rises during the course of the year, as well as an 18.6 year cycle which culminates in the so-called Lunar Standstill, which can be discerned by standing on the Observatory Mound and looking north-east into the Octagon...
"...can be encompassed by four points on the eastern horizon marking a marking a maximum northern moonrise, a minimum northern moonrise, a maximum and minimum southern moonrise, and four points on the western horizon marking the corresponding moonsets."
...The Hopewell builders encoded (all of) these astronomical landmarks into the architecture of the Newark Earthworks. Whether or not they ever intended to use this site as an astronomical observatory, the Hopewell architects certainly succeeded in bringing down some of the Moon's magic down to Earth."
Astronomy, or at least a consideration of the rising and setting of Sun, Moon, planets and stars appears to have been important - even crucial - to other monument builders at various locations across the prehistoric world, in particular at the site mentioned at the top of this article, Stonehenge.
We next consider the mounds that make up the 'Cherry Valley Mound group', in which most of the known human burials at Newark have been found - (it's worth bearing in mind that some of the burial mounds at Stonehenge were maybe also used as artificial horizons by which to observe the rising and setting of stars, though whether that's the case here may again, be debatable to say the least)...
" a group of eleven conical mounds surrounded a large, irregularly shaped mound at the center of a now-demolished Ellipse...Canal workers in 1827...discovered a large number of burned human bones covered with varying amounts of 'very beautiful transparent mica'.
One of the skeletons was set aside from the others and was completely covered with an extravagant quantity of cut mica sheets. The total amount of mica removed from this small mound exceeded 'eight or ten bushels'.
The main mound of the group was largely destroyed during the course of railway construction between 1852-55, before finally being levelled to make way for a rolling mill - but during the course of these somewhat regrettable engineering and construction works of the modern era, a number of human burials came to light, as described in an account written about ten years later...
"At the base of the mound, there was a 'tier of skeletons' - their heads placed together with their feet radiating outward.' (Antiquarian J.N.) Wilson observed several post molds suggesting the former presence of some sort of substantial structure, or structures, possibly similar to the Great Houses uncovered at the bases of the Tremper and Harness mounds. It is now impossible to determine how these various discoveries were associated, but the burials originally may have been interred inside the wooden structure.
The mound itself was said to be composed of alternating layers of black loam, blue clay, sand and cobblestones, punctuated by periodic episodes of burning and burial. Artifacts found in association with numerous fragmentary burials included mica sheets, a copper axe, large shells, beads and at least one drilled canine tooth of a bear...
...a remarkable stone image of a Hopewell shaman wearing ritual regalia made from a bear's head and hide, and with an apparent decapitated human head in his lap."
The essay goes on to discuss the Great Circle Earthworks, Salisbury Square and the Great Hopewell Road, which in turn I hope to address in a later essay, but for the sake of this post, I'm going to finish up by looking at the final section, 'The Machinery of Ritual'. Here we see how the various components of the site, from the specially selected soils, sands and stones, the size of the constructions which allowed for the presence of large numbers of people to travel in from the outermost reaches of the Hopewell, bringing with them artifacts destined for burial therein.
The intricate network of waterways enabled visitors - or pilgrims - to access different areas of the site, the walls and mounds of which were carefully linked to the heavens above - a good view of which would have been afforded by the wide open stretches of prairie that the site once occupied. This from the article...
"These facts suggest that the Newark Earthworks can be viewed not merely as arcane symbols built upon the landscape, but as a gigantic machine or factory in which energies from the three levels of the Eastern Woodland Indian's cosmos - the Upper World of the sky, the watery Underworld, and the Middle World of soil and stone - were drawn together and circulated through conduits of ritual to accomplish some sacred purpose.
Perhaps they were the Hopewellian equivalent of our giant superconducting supercolliders, monumental machinery for unleashing powerful cosmic forces. A surprising implication of this interpretation is that the Newark Earthworks, the grandest architectural achievement of the Hopewell culture, were planned and built within a relatively brief span of time."
This last remark is set against a background of evidence which suggests that other Hopewell sites underwent long and transitional stages of construction, rather than having been built as a specific project at one time. It is thought that there might not have been a sufficiently sophisticated level of organisation for these monuments to have been built in their entirety in one fell swoop, and that the variance in architectural expression speaks of a longer process of construction in which requirements and styles changed over time.
However it is also thought that if there were episodes of construction, they segued into one another, with no significant gaps in the overall project as one phase was completed and another begun - it is suggested that although a great many years may have passed during the build, the whole project proceeded along design lines marked out from the very start.
Bearing in mind that there was no central urban concentration of the population, who instead are believed to have resided in a series of 'small scattered hamlets, with some swidden agriculture, and little evidence of hereditary leaders', it is clear that the Newark Earthworks were a remarkable achievement y those who built them, not only for the ingenuity displayed, but the organisational efforts that must have been required.
It would be interesting to know how the original plans were drawn up, if and how they changed, and the nature of the motivational force that kept the population committed to seeing through such a project.
This has been an introductory and brief introduction not only to the site of the Newark Earthworks, but also the Ohio Hopewell in general - I recently took delivery of a mighty tome written by Martin Byers, and which goes by the title of "The Ohio Hopewell Episode: Paradigm Lost, Paradigm Gained", which at 674 pages long, will take me a little while to complete. It's divided into four main sections, 'The World Embodied', 'An Immanent, Sacred, Deontic Ecology', 'Ohio Hopewell, Sacrifice and World Renewal' and 'Factional Competition Conflict and Rupture', whilst towards the end there is a glossary, extensive notes and what looks to be a comprehensive index.
(UK/US)
But as far as this particular essay is concerned, I'm very grateful to Bradley T. Lepper , curator of archaeology at the Ohio Historical Society, and contributor to the Columbus Dispatch, for kindly forwarding me a copy of the article discussed above - which was some time ago now, so my apologies for the overly long delay in getting just this preliminary piece written.
see also : images from James Q. Jacobs : The Great Circle Earthwork and The Newark Octagon...
...and if you have Google Earth, please click this link, also at James Q. Jacobs' site, click the box marked 'Newark Earthworks', and you'll find yourself looking at the Squier and Davis overlay map of the site - very nice. (many thanks to James for the heads-up)
Google Books: Ancient Earthen Enclosures of the Eastern Woodlands
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