Art of the Hopewell

The Hopewell Peoples were named for Captain Mordecai C. Hopewell, the man whose land their famous mounds were discovered on. They lived in Southern Ohio, their culture thriving from 200 to 500 C.E. The Hopewell are widely believed to be a more advanced continuation of the earlier Adena people. Both peoples constructed these famous mounds, pictured at left. The mounds were used for a variety of reasons, from funerals to rituals. Many of the mounds are artistically structured, in either snaking, winding forms, or in geometric patterns. The large scale of the mounds, and their often complex structures, provides insight into the Hopewell culture, showing that they were adept at planning, engineering, and social organization.


In addition to their mounds, the Hopewell were known for their skilled artistry in a variety of mediums. Pottery was especially prominent, and the object at right is a pottery pipe with a bird effigy. Pipes featuring birds or other animals were common. The bird figure is very distinct and realistically shaped, and there is great detailing of the beak and wings.
At left is a fragment of a Hopewell pottery piece. As stated above, the Hopewell were very well known for their pottery, and the fragment shows why. They used various forms of stamping to create the ornate detail shown here. Cross-hatching was a popular decoration as well.

To the right is another example of Hopewell pottery. Similar patterns can be seen; dots, cross-hatching and lines, and patterns on the left that show similarities to the structure of the bird on the right. This pot, unlike the fragment, shows their full artistry in all its glory; viewed as a whole structure, their pottery is intricate in its detail. A bird is shown on this pot, as was a bird on the pipe. Animal imagery was very popular in Hopewell art.

At right is the Hopewell Hand, one of the more famous artifacts from Hopewell culture. The hand is crafted of Mica, evidence of the Hopewell's long-distance trade that brought them materials from the Appalachians, Yellowstone, and even as far as the Gulf of Mexico. The hand is stylized similarly to other Hopewell art; the bird figure, for instance, on the pot (above) shares stylistic patterns with the hand. Both are simple in structure, with clean lines and an almost geometric shape.

Similar to the Hopewell Hand is the next object, at right. Also cut from sheet mica, this is not a human hand, but a hawk claw (continuing with bird imagery). It is stylized similarly to the hand, and the material of the mica gives the two pieces an even more similar appearance. Archaeologists are unsure how the Hopewell used these mica cut-outs - for decoration? For what purpose would they even be used?

While mica, the material of the last two artifacts, was very popular in Hopewell art, they were also skilled in their work with copper. To the left is (another) bird made of copper. Even when the materials change - be it pottery, mica, or copper - the clean, distinct lines of Hopewell art remain as a defining feature. The outer silhouette of the bird is as such, but the inside takes on more detail than is seen in either of the mica objects. Feather detailing on the stomach of the bird adds texture, as do the circles and dots on the upper wings. Its coloring makes one think of a pigeon, but scholars debate as to whether it is a Carolina finch or a hawk.

To the right is another pot. Many similarities can be seen between this one and the pot above; both feature a similar hatched pattern around the rim, and the body of each is decorated with geometric figures (above, a bird, and here, a more winding pattern). These pots are common artifacts, and are a good example of the ways that the distinctive Hopewell art made its way into everyday use in their civilization.

This artifact, though unnamed except for "sandstone plate", is a beautiful piece of Hopewell art. It is another medium, and thus shows the Hopewell's skill in working with yet another material, now copper, pottery, mica, and sandstone. Their stylized art still remains - clean lines, curving in neat, geometric patterns comprise the design found on this plate. The artifact is extremely well preserved, and demonstrates greatly the skill and precision that the Hopewell were able to exercise when creating their various works of art.

This last artifact is another bird-shaped smoking pipe, yet very different from the one at the top of this list. The previous bird pipe featured a bird that looked more like a sparrow; this one, with its long neck, more closely resembles a crane. The pipe at right also has a reddish color, while the sparrow pipe has a clay/pottery type coloring. Lastly, the style of this pipe is more refined; the figure is more clearly shaped, and its edges are smooth and more realistic. The sparrow features many of the signature details and patterned designs of Hopewell art, however, while this pipe remains largely unadorned.

Sources

1. http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-119443/The-Adena-people-constructed-the-Serpent-Mound-near-Peebles-Ohio

2. http://www.touring-ohio.com/southwest/chillicothe/hopewell-indian-mounds.html

3. http://www.touring-ohio.com/southwest/chillicothe/hopewell-indian-mounds.html

4. http://www.historylines.net/img/Photos_2011/big/Hopewell_Bird_Pottery.jpg

5. http://www.touring-ohio.com/history/hopewell-culture.html

6. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Hopewell_Culture?rec=1283

7. http://apps.ohiohistory.org/ohioarchaeology/category/hopewell/

8. http://www.eiu.edu/~history/ha/exhibits/2006/Hopewell%20designs.htm

9. http://childrenofthesunnativeculture.com/cosnc/?q=node/368

10. http://childrenofthesunnativeculture.com/cosnc/?q=node/368