What is the Hopewell culture? Is it an Indian tribe?
The “Hopewell culture” is the name archaeologists have given to the people who built the Newark Earthworks. It is an archaeological culture defined on the basis of certain kinds of artifacts, architecture, and cultural practices that occurred in southern and central Ohio (and other regions of eastern North America) from about 100 B.C. to A.D. 400. The term is not the name of any American Indian tribe. We have no idea what the ancient peoples who built the great earthworks might have called themselves, but their descendants undoubtedly include many of the historic tribes who lived in the Eastern Woodlands. The people of the Hopewell culture were farmers, fishers, hunters, and gatherers of wild plant foods. They lived in small villages scattered along the major tributaries of the Ohio River – especially the Great and Little Miami, the Scioto and Muskingum rivers. They are known especially for their monumental earthworks and for their spectacular art objects crafted from materials such as
