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Ruby, Bret J.

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The University of Akron

The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron Encountering Hopewell in the Twenty-first Century, Ohio and Beyond The University of Akron Press Spring 2020 Vol. 1 Ch. 0 Preface Bret J. Ruby Follow this and additional works at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/encountering_hopewell Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Recommended Citation Ruby, Bret J., "Vol. 1 Ch. 0 Preface" (2020). Encountering Hopewell in the Twenty-first Century, Ohio and Beyond. 27. https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/encountering_hopewell/27 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by The University of Akron Press at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Encountering Hopewell in the Twenty-first Century, Ohio and Beyond by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact mjon@uakron.edu, uapress@uakron.edu. viiPrefaceBret J. RubyThis volume, and its companion, Volume 2: Settlement, Subsistence, and Interaction, are the products of the “Third Chillicothe Conference on Hopewell Archaeology,” sponsored by the Ohio Archaeological Council. The “First Chillicothe Conference” was held in 1978, and was sponsored by the National Park Service and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. The idea grew out of discussions between Fred Fagergren, who was Superintendent of what was then known as “Mound City Group National Monument,” and David Brose, who was Curator of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Brose and Greber 1979:xiii-xiv). Research in the field and in museum collections during the 1960s and ’70s produced a tremendous body of new data bearing not only on Ohio Hopewell proper, but also on Hopewellian manifestations to the west, north, and south. In addition, developments in method and theory trans-formed Hopewellian studies during this period. Cultural ecology, processual and evolutionary explanation, and advances in chronometric methods and raw mate-rial sourcing were particularly influential. Fagergren and Brose recognized the need for a new topical and regional synthesis reflecting advances in the field since Caldwell and Hall’s seminal Hopewellian Studies (Caldwell and Hall 1964). Their discussions culminated in the First Chillicothe Conference, and what many con-sider to be the “Green Bible” of Hopewell archaeology—Brose and Greber’s Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference (Brose and Greber 1979). The published volume still stands as a foundational source in our understanding of regional variability in Hopewellian interactions, chronology, and patterns of sub-sistence and settlement.The “Second Chillicothe Conference on Hopewell Archaeology” was held in 1993, and like the current volume, was sponsored by the Ohio Archaeological viii PrefaceCouncil (OAC). This second effort toward synthesis was much more Ohio-centric in focus, and evidenced growth in both the pace and diversity of research focused on Ohio Hopewell. In addition to subsistence and settlement patterns, many of the contributors were concerned with Hopewellian technology and material culture, social organization, symbolism, and cosmology. Paul Pacheco edited the conference proceedings and produced A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell Archaeology (Pacheco 1996).The Third Chillicothe Conference on Hopewell Archaeology grew out of dis-cussions among OAC board members. Almost two decades had passed since the last Chillicothe Conference, and few broad-based and synthetic treatments of Hopewell research had appeared in the intervening years (the exceptions being Charles and Buikstra’s (2006) Recreating Hopewell and Byers and Wymer’s (2010) Hopewell Settlement Patterns, Subsistence, and Symbolic Landscapes). It was clearly time to again take stock of the state of the field. OAC members Brian Redmond, Bret Ruby, and Jarrod Burks volunteered to organize the program for the confer-ence and served as editors of the current two-volume set.The organizers envisioned a geographically and topically wide-ranging effort, and the Conference, held May 13–14, 2016, was titled “Hopewell Research in the 21st Century: Ohio and Beyond.” Almost 30 podium presentations and five posters touched on diverse topics including regional manifestations in Ohio, the Great Lakes, the Atlantic coast, and the Southeast; Hopewell settlements and subsistence; material culture and technology; remote sensing of earthworks and settlements; and Hopewell astronomy, cosmology, iconography, and ontology. Mark Seeman deliv-ered a keynote address, “Twenty-first Century Hopewell,” from the vantage point of a Hopewell scholar whose career neatly spans all three Chillicothe conferences.Most of the conference presentations are included in this two-volume collec-tion. The present volume is largely concerned with Hopewellian ceremonialism and its expression at monumental mound and earthwork complexes. The compan-ion volume takes a complementary look at Hopewellian settlements, subsistence, and interactions at multiple scales. Taken together, the two volumes encompass, extend, and elaborate on the themes sketched out in the first two Chillicothe Con-ferences. Encountering Hopewell in the Twenty-first Century: Ohio and Beyond pres-ents a wealth of new data from recent field investigations and novel analyses of legacy collections, and the authors bring to bear on these data the most diverse toolkit of method and theory yet seen in Hopewellian studies.Br et J. Ruby  ixReferences CitedBrose, David S., and N’omi B. Greber (editors). 1979. Hopewell Archaeology: The Chillicothe Conference. Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio.Byers, A. Martin, and DeeAnne Wymer (editors). 2010. Hopewell Settlement Patterns, Subsistence, and Symbolic Landscapes. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Caldwell, Joseph R., and Robert L. Hall (editors). 1964. Hopewellian Studies. Illinois State Museum, Scientific Papers 12, Springfield. Charles, Douglas K. and Jane E. Buikstra (editors). 2006. Recreating Hopewell. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. Pacheco, Paul J. (editor). 1996. A View from the Core: A Synthesis of Ohio Hopewell Archaeol-ogy. Ohio Archaeological Council, Columbus.

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