This report presents the results of a large-area magnetic gradient survey at Hopewell Mound Group, a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio. The survey was conducted by Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., under contract with the Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, during 18 days of work spread across the period from October 18, 2012 through March 27, 2013. Along with an additional 3.1 acres of data collected in September and October of 2011, the results presented here cover 73.4 acres of the eastern half of the site on the lower terrace (the landform containing the bulk of the earthworks). Hundreds of magnetic anomalies of potential archaeological interest were detected during the magnetic surveys, including known features from nineteenth century maps that have since disappeared from the ground surface (e.g., the square) and many other new features of interest. Chief among these new features are a post circle and central pit cluster within the medium-sized circle, a cluster of pits located outside the small circle detected in 2001, a complex of features associated with Mound 4, at least four possible burned structures just north of the square, and one or perhaps two possible prepared/burned surfaces or floors located near the main enclosure wall to the south of Mound 1. Many other anomalies detected during the survey are associated with possible cultural or landform features that are not fully understood. Two long linear features could be natural linear depressions or soil borrow features intermittently filled with refuse. Numerous large-area positive anomalies appear to be arranged in an oval pattern to the north of the square. The source of these large anomalies is uncertain. In addition to providing numerous maps of the results and an appendix containing information about anomalies of interest, several recommendations for additional kinds of geophysical survey and ground-truthing work also are presented.

In the past twenty years, lithic use-wear studies have been used to determine the function of Hopewell bladelets. These studies have uniformly shown that the bladelets were multipurpose, utilitarian tools in domestic contexts. Debate arises as to their function in ritual or ceremonial contexts. The question of bladelet function in ceremonial contexts remains unanswered because use-wear studies of bladelets have not been extensively applied to well-provenienced ceremonial assemblages. Microwear analysis was conducted on a sample of bladelets recovered from the Moorehead Circle within the Fort Ancient Earthworks in order to comment on the above debate as well as to determine the activities that occurred there prehistorically. The Moorehead Circle was a center of intensive activity as evidenced by the high rate of utilization and numerous tasks performed with bladelets. Intersite comparison indicates that the Moorehead Circle bladelets were utilized for the same range of tasks as bladelets from other sites in Ohio.

Hopewell archaeology in the early twenty-first century is radically transforming our vision of the monumental mounds and earthwork enclosures of the Ohio Valley. It is increasingly apparent that the mounds and earthworks-the above-ground architectural features-are only one aspect of the ritual landscapes at these great centers. The recent availability of hardware and software capable of conducting landscape-scale geophysical survey is demonstrating that the vast spaces between the monuments were filled with wooden architecture: wooden post circles and roofed buildings devoted to a range of public ritual and ceremony. Recent landscape-scale geomagnetic surveys demonstrate that many plowed-down mounds and earthworks retain considerable subsurface integrity, and the spaces between the monuments are filled with a host of magnetic anomalies.This chapter describes three seasons of ground-truth excavations focused on these anomalies between the mounds. One of these is a gigantic pit feature with an estimated volume approaching 15 cubic meters, apparently a borrow pit where distinctive sands were quarried. Another of these is the Great Circle, a circular earthwork nearly 120 meters in diameter thought to have been entirely obliterated by plowing before 1891. Our excavations revealed that the plowed-down earthwork was flanked on the exterior by a deep ditch, and bordered on the interior by a row of huge wooden posts—an enormous Hopewell woodhenge, interpreted here as a World Center shrine. Four outsized pits at the center of the circle likely served as earth ovens capable of provisioning large gatherings. A causeway across the encircling ditch is aligned to the summer solstice sunset, perhaps a clue to the timing of these grand feasts. These recent investigations are revealing ritual landscapes at the Hopewell Mound Group on a scale heretofore unheralded.

This report presents the results of magnetic gradient surveys covering 74.6 acres at the Great Circle and octagon of the High Bank Works earthwork site, a unit of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County, Ohio. The Great Circle survey was conducted under contract with the Midwest Archeological Center and the octagon survey is the result of a collaboration between Ohio Valley Archaeology, Inc., the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Ohio State University, and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. To date, all of the ground around the Great Circle (46.3 acres) has been surveyed and 28.3 acres of the fields containing the octagon have been covered. The magnetic surveys have detected many anomalies of archaeological interest, including the main earthwork embankments, one probable and another possible small enclosure, feature clusters at the centers of the Great Circle and the octagon, and hundreds of possible pit and posthole features spread all across the survey area. Some of the possible pits, including several that appear to be especially large, fall along important lines of astronomical observation identified by Hively and Horn (1984). The report concludes with a further discussion of the results and suggestions for additional work, including geophysical survey and ground-truthing techniques.

Ritual economy provides a powerful framework for examining aspects of the organization of craft production, especially in the absence of a strong, centralized political economy. This paper outlines the basic tenants of ritual economy and describes how this framework can expand the understanding of the organization of production in small scale societies. I apply these concepts in a case study based largely on microwear analysis of Hopewell bladelets from the Fort Ancient earthworks in southwest Ohio. Microwear analysis from many different localities excavated within and near the earthworks demonstrates that craft production was an important activity conducted using bladelets. Each of the localities in which crafts were produced concentrated on media distinct from the others. These findings have important implications for our understanding of Hopewell economy and social structure as well as craft production in general.

The Applied Anthropology Laboratories at Ball State University conducted a data enhancement project for archaeological resources in Benton County, Indiana for a FY2015 Historic Preservation Fund Grant (Grant #18-15FFY-03). This Historic Preservation Fund grant project investigated the archaeological resources of Benton County, Indiana with a focus on the northern half of the county. Approximately 841.29 acres (ac) (340.46 hectares [ha]) of agricultural land were surveyed, and 85 new archaeological sites were recorded. The survey recovered 81 precontact artifacts and 442 historic artifacts from 12 parcels of land within Benton County. Cultural periods that are represented in the artifact assemblage include precontact components dating to the Late Archaic, Terminal Middle Woodland/Late Woodland, and possibly the Early Archaic, in addition to 54 Historic components. The average site density recorded in the project area for precontact sites was one site per 20.03 ac. The average site density recorded in the project area for Historic sites was one site per 15.58 ac. Through these surveys we have been able to document special use of unique microenvironments that are characterized by dry upland rises surrounded by a combination of diverse ecozones within a small area providing rich and diverse resource for precontact inhabitants of northwest Indiana.