The Clovis culture "made us live for a long time." The reason could be the fall of a huge asteroid or some other reason, but the result is important - it disappeared. And this is known for sure, because in the upper, that is, early layers of the soil, spearheads of a completely different shape and a mass of bones piled up in one place are already found, which was uncharacteristic for the Clovis people.
"Hill of the Monks". It was poured in 950 - 1100.
However, people in America have not disappeared. They lived, lived and created a new culture called the Hopewell Culture. On the territory of the North American continent, it existed from 100 to 500 BC. and represented the culture of horticulturists and hunter-gatherers. Moreover, their culture was not only original - this can be said about many cultures, but also very original. It is original, first of all, in that its representatives were able to create a completely unique for their time "trading system" from the Great Lakes to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico from north to south and up to Yellowstone National Park in the Far West. They also engaged in excavation work and poured an impressive number of mounds in their areas of residence. Well, there was a region of distribution of the "Hopewell culture" in the woodlands that lay along the river valleys on the watershed of the Mississippi River, as well as rivers such as Missouri, Illinois and Ohio, where the villages of "Hopewell" are especially common. But this does not mean at all that they were not found in other places. Traces of this culture are also found in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and they are also found in the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida - that is almost half of the territory of the modern United States. So much for a country without history and its own culture. Well, yes, the Pithecanthropus did not get here, but this does not mean at all that the culture of the ancient Americans was absent in principle. Well, the center of the "barrow building" work is the southeastern part of Ohio, which historians consider the "center" of the Hopewell culture.
If we look at this map, we will see that the "Hopewell culture" was breaking up into many local complexes, which, however, is not surprising, considering the distances that separated these or those areas. But they also had a lot in common. Today, scientists distinguish several "Hopewell complexes", which have received in the United States the most different and, at times, even unusual names. These are Laurel Complex, Peninsula Tip Complex, Porter, Miller, Cooper, Kansas City Hopewell, Copena, Havana Hopewell, Ohio Hopewell, Crab Garden Culture, Marksville Hopewell, Couture Complex, Guball Focus, Trempelei Hopewell, Swift Creek Culture, Widen Island Culture, Saugin Complex. As you can see, many of them are located very far from each other. The common core uniting them was trade.
The ancient hopewells built impressive groups of sod block mounds, the most famous of which is the Newark Burial Group in Ohio. Some of the man-made "hills" of the Hopewell Culture were tapered, a number of mounds were flat, while others were figures of animals and birds.
Arrangement of burial mounds in the Mississippi Valley: Intrusive burial (1) - burial on the slope of the mound; Wattle and daub summit (2) structure - an adobe structure at the top; Ramp with log stairs (3) - ramp (slope) with a log staircase; Multiple layers of fill (4) - several layers of filling; Multiple terraces and secondary mounds (5) - Several terraces and secondary mounds. True, this scheme belongs to the later "Mississippian culture", but in principle, little has changed in their structure.
The Hopewell mounds are believed to have a ritual purpose. That these were the foundations on which rituals were performed or temples stood. Also, many Hopewells labored solely for the manufacture of various ceremonial items, many of which were in turn used as votive gifts.
But the people themselves did not live on these elevated mounds. Their dwellings were located along the banks of rivers, but relatively close to one or more bulk ritual centers. That is, the Hopewell society was very religious and the performance of the rituals took a significant place in their life.
Hopewell culture products.
There was a time when archaeologists believed that every member of the Hopewell culture, that is, all those who built these mounds, must have been farmers. However, archaeological excavations and analysis of the finds showed that the builders of the mounds were … gardeners, that they were engaged in intertribal trade, but they participated in earthworks only occasionally, when the inhabitants of nearby settlements were gathered for some reason for solemn meetings.
This was proved by studying the diet of the Hopewells, who, firstly, hunted white-tailed deer and caught river fish, and secondly, they ate nuts in large quantities from seeds of local plants such as Maygrass, knotweed, sunflower and chenopodium. At the same time, they ate nuts in such quantities that they were clearly grown on purpose.
Hopewell culture ritual knife.
Each of the cultures shown on the map contributed to trade exchanges with other cultures. So it makes no sense to argue that in a subsistence economy, and the Indians of this culture had it more than natural, the inhabitants of one region have nothing to sell to the inhabitants of another. True, we do not know what part of the artifacts found during excavations in burial mounds and other places turned out to be here as a result of trade, or they were brought by the locals themselves during, say, seasonal migrations. But such artifacts have a precise location, which indicates an established trade exchange.
Hopewell products made of copper, mica and stone.
So, what supplied who and to whom?
Bear teeth, mica and steatite came from the Appalachian mountains.
The Upper Mississippi Valley was the source of galena and finished spearheads and arrows.
Yellowstone National Park area: obsidian and mountain sheep horns.
The Great Lakes region was the most important source of native copper and silver.
Missouri River Region: Flint Knives.
The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast of the United States: Seashells and Shark Teeth.
In addition, the Hopewells made ceramics, metal tools and textiles.
That is, it can be said without exaggeration that it was the “civilization of associated traders”. From the Great Lakes to the south, native copper and products from it, as well as silver, went. Someone supplied arrowheads, horns of rams, fabrics, of course - nuts, honey, sunflower seeds (in huge quantities!), Probably dried and jerky meat, including the meat of bison, already inhabited by millions of herds. And from the south upstream the Mississippi came seafood - dried fish, shellfish, shark teeth. All this was somehow evaluated, compared and exchanged. We do not know what was the "money", and it may well be that there was no money at all, but all the same, some concepts of value and prime cost among the "Hopewells" undoubtedly existed.
A strange copper decoration. Hopewell Culture. ("Field Museum", Ohio)
Further more: social stratification has already occurred in this society. There were chiefs, priests, artisans, traders … possibly prisoners of war slaves. The elite were buried in mounds, ordinary people were buried in common burial grounds. The number of grave goods is incomparable! But how the power of the higher exercised control over the lower, we, alas, are not able to find out. Although it is obvious that there was such control, otherwise the man-made mounds would not have been built.
It was possible, however, to find out that relations between the groups were usually non-violent. The fact is that in the burials found on the Hopewell skeletons, there are no characteristic injuries. That is, peace reigned between different groups of "Hopewells" (or as American scientists call them - "people of the Hopewell tradition")?
Copper chased "bird". Hopewell Culture. (Museum of the American Indian, Washington)
By the way, the reason why hunter-gatherers and gardeners suddenly began to build large earth mounds is also a secret behind seven seals. After all, the "Hopewells" lived along waterways, along the shores of sea basins, and on lakes and in forests. What made them everywhere pour round and square mounds and bury representatives of the nobility there? Whether they were all religious leaders of their communities, and the height of the burial indicated their proximity to the Sun, Sky, Thunderbird … is unclear. Rather, no one can say this.
These were their mounds and there were many of them!
Little is known about why the construction of the Hopewell Culture burial mounds suddenly ended. In the lower valley of the Illinois River this happened around 200 AD, and in the valley of the Soto River in 300 - 350 AD. There is no evidence of widespread epidemic diseases and increased mortality rates. Everything seemed to be the same as before, only many valleys were abandoned. And no one poured any more embankments.
A decorative crow-shaped smoking pipe discovered during excavations in Mound City. Yes, the Indians of this culture already knew tobacco. Grown and smoked.
