By: Eric Olson, Kevin C. Nolan, Michael J. Shott
Principal Investigators: Michael J. Shott and Kevin C. Nolan
Reports of Investigation 105, Applied Anthropology Laboratories, Ball State University


Abstract

Just as Rome was not built in a day, the great Hopewell earthwork complexes were not built in a day, or in a social vacuum. We know a great deal about the earthworks, but much less about the societies that created them. Hopewell people were interacting with one another, but the social networks they were forming and dissolving is poorly understood. Understanding these social networks is vital to ultimately understanding how and why these earthworks were created. “Scale and Community in Hopewell Networks: Expansion” (SCHoNE) builds upon previous research to create multi-scale, empirical understandings of the nature and structure of Middle Woodland period interaction. The expansion study focused on the Fort Ancient and Newark Earthworks. The key findings of SCHoNE are that the occupants and visitors to Ft. Ancient and Newark and of sites around these ceremonial centers were engaging in social networks oriented in various directions with degree of participation varying by location and possibly through time.