The Influence of the Hopewell Culture
Hopewell Culture Vs. Other Native American Civilizations
It may seem weird to imagine navigating your way through life without technology, but believe it or not, many customs we practice today were originally formulated by past Native American tribes. I know what you might be thinking; how on earth could a civilization that roamed the earth centuries ago, be able to influence the way we live today? Well here's an example. Think about the butterfly effect. If this is a foreign concept to you, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "The Butterfly Effect is a property of chaotic systems by which small changes in initial conditions can lead to large-scale and unpredictable variation in the future state of the system. For example, let's say Benjamin Franklin was just about to create electricity when all of a sudden there was a raging thunderstorm causing a distraction. His genius idea of electricity might have never been created. If this was the case, the whole world would be an entirely different place than it is today. That one distracting moment could have changed the entire course of history. These little moments in time effect everything else in the big picture. If the Hopewell weren't around to influence the Native American cultures after them, specifically the Cahokia culture, then imagine how many instances in life would be different today.
Agriculture, dispatching systems, and pottery are just a few of the many examples of how the complexity of the Hopewell culture has influenced other Native American Civilizations and even parts of our present day lives. The Hopewell culture, developed around 200 B.C, was a time period of influence and innovation across the Midwest. The Hopewell people were known for their strong focus on agricultural settlement, intricate trading system, and advanced architecture.
Agriculture
The Hopewell people who inhabited the earth around 2,000 years ago, influenced the mound-building cultures of the Southeast. Hopewell tradition consisted of the construction of small platform mounds for ritual practices and because of their expertise in agriculture, their settlements were generally smaller in size and temporary. They would often live a nomadic lifestyle, relocating frequently in order to find the freshest resources available. The hopewell demonstrated a switch from hunting to agriculture, officially marking the start of mass farming within the American Indian network.
A thousand years ago one of the largest cities in the world was located across the Mississippi river from present-day St. Louis, called Cahokia (Cahokia, meaning "Wild Geese"). Like the Hopewell, the Cahokia people had extremely advanced agricultural skills. Hmm...wonder who they learned this from??? These two different groups of people were similar in a number of ways, including the cultivation of various vegetables a part of the squash family.
Trading
Their intricate trading system was marked one of the most admirable in history. There were routes connecting communities throughout the Eastern region, making it possible for the exchange of exotic goods. The system was organized where the people in possession of the important goods would be placed at key places within the connecting trading regions, making it easier for products to be transported using local dispatching systems. Comparably, the city of Cahokia maintained trade links with communities as far away as the Great Lakes to the North and the Gulf Coast to the south, trading in exotic items such as copper, Mill Creek chert, and whelk shells. Cahokia's location in a strategic position near the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers, was critical for its success and prosperity in its trading networks. Pictured in the visual below, as you can see there are various Hopewell trading routes, existing a thousand years before the establishment of the city of Cahokia, stretching across the Great Lakes and all across the Northwest.
Art
The Hopewell art era is considered one of the finest because of the many resources available to them due to their trading system. Not only was their artwork beautiful but it has also helped historians learn more about their culture. From their pottery making skills to their burial mounds, it is obvious that art and architecture were among their strengths. Their earthworks and burial mounds were used for a variety of ceremonies and the storage of exotic artifacts. Many of these artifacts have been discovered, causing for a better understanding of the Hopewell culture. Likewise, the Cahokia people possessed a great amount of expertise in the field of architecture (art and pottery). There have been many artifacts found within the Cahokia mounds portraying a similar style to the art of the Hopewell culture. The Hopewell time period in particular, was incredibly influential socially and economically for the advancement of many further Native civilizations.
Resources:
John. (1970, January 01). Art of the Hopewell Indians. Retrieved from http://benedante.blogspot.com/2012/10/art-of-hopewell-indians.html.
Ohio History Central. Hopewell Culture. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Hopewell_Culture.
It may seem weird to imagine navigating your way through life without technology, but believe it or not, many customs we practice today were originally formulated by past Native American tribes. I know what you might be thinking; how on earth could a civilization that roamed the earth centuries ago, be able to influence the way we live today? Well here's an example. Think about the butterfly effect. If this is a foreign concept to you, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "The Butterfly Effect is a property of chaotic systems by which small changes in initial conditions can lead to large-scale and unpredictable variation in the future state of the system. For example, let's say Benjamin Franklin was just about to create electricity when all of a sudden there was a raging thunderstorm causing a distraction. His genius idea of electricity might have never been created. If this was the case, the whole world would be an entirely different place than it is today. That one distracting moment could have changed the entire course of history. These little moments in time effect everything else in the big picture. If the Hopewell weren't around to influence the Native American cultures after them, specifically the Cahokia culture, then imagine how many instances in life would be different today.
Agriculture, dispatching systems, and pottery are just a few of the many examples of how the complexity of the Hopewell culture has influenced other Native American Civilizations and even parts of our present day lives. The Hopewell culture, developed around 200 B.C, was a time period of influence and innovation across the Midwest. The Hopewell people were known for their strong focus on agricultural settlement, intricate trading system, and advanced architecture.
 |
| Hopewell Tribe (Albany Mounds State Historic Site) |
The Hopewell people who inhabited the earth around 2,000 years ago, influenced the mound-building cultures of the Southeast. Hopewell tradition consisted of the construction of small platform mounds for ritual practices and because of their expertise in agriculture, their settlements were generally smaller in size and temporary. They would often live a nomadic lifestyle, relocating frequently in order to find the freshest resources available. The hopewell demonstrated a switch from hunting to agriculture, officially marking the start of mass farming within the American Indian network.
A thousand years ago one of the largest cities in the world was located across the Mississippi river from present-day St. Louis, called Cahokia (Cahokia, meaning "Wild Geese"). Like the Hopewell, the Cahokia people had extremely advanced agricultural skills. Hmm...wonder who they learned this from??? These two different groups of people were similar in a number of ways, including the cultivation of various vegetables a part of the squash family.
Trading
Their intricate trading system was marked one of the most admirable in history. There were routes connecting communities throughout the Eastern region, making it possible for the exchange of exotic goods. The system was organized where the people in possession of the important goods would be placed at key places within the connecting trading regions, making it easier for products to be transported using local dispatching systems. Comparably, the city of Cahokia maintained trade links with communities as far away as the Great Lakes to the North and the Gulf Coast to the south, trading in exotic items such as copper, Mill Creek chert, and whelk shells. Cahokia's location in a strategic position near the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers, was critical for its success and prosperity in its trading networks. Pictured in the visual below, as you can see there are various Hopewell trading routes, existing a thousand years before the establishment of the city of Cahokia, stretching across the Great Lakes and all across the Northwest.
 |
| Hopewell Trading Routes (Sapiens) |
The Hopewell art era is considered one of the finest because of the many resources available to them due to their trading system. Not only was their artwork beautiful but it has also helped historians learn more about their culture. From their pottery making skills to their burial mounds, it is obvious that art and architecture were among their strengths. Their earthworks and burial mounds were used for a variety of ceremonies and the storage of exotic artifacts. Many of these artifacts have been discovered, causing for a better understanding of the Hopewell culture. Likewise, the Cahokia people possessed a great amount of expertise in the field of architecture (art and pottery). There have been many artifacts found within the Cahokia mounds portraying a similar style to the art of the Hopewell culture. The Hopewell time period in particular, was incredibly influential socially and economically for the advancement of many further Native civilizations.
Eagle Platform Pipe
(Bensozia)
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| Hawk Eye (Ohio History Central) |
Resources:
John. (1970, January 01). Art of the Hopewell Indians. Retrieved from http://benedante.blogspot.com/2012/10/art-of-hopewell-indians.html.
Kardulius, Nick. Native American Farming. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/history/native.htm.
National Geographic. (2012, October 15). Intriguing Interactions. Retrieved from
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/news/intriguing-interactions/.
Ohio History Central. Hopewell Culture. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Hopewell_Culture.
Albany Mounds State Historic Site. The Sacred Mounds. Retrieved from http://albanymounds.com/pages/mounds.html.
Nash, S. E., Nash, S. E., Coutros, P., & Watkins, J. (2016, September 08). Transcontinental Travel-2,000 Years Ago. Retrieved from https://www.sapiens.org/column/curiosities/hopewell-culture-transcontinental-travel/
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