Ritualised Craft Production At The Hopewell Periphery: New Evidence From The Appalachian Summit

ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Alice Wright Ph.D, Assistant Professor (Creator)
Institution
Appalachian State University (ASU )
Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/

Abstract: Ritual items made of thin mica sheet are among the most spectacular of the special objects from the Hopewell sites of the Ohio Valley. Hitherto it has generally been believed that the mica was imported in raw material form from sources in the Appalachian Summit and cut into shape in the Hopewell core. Recent excavations at Garden Creek, a ritual enclosure on the margin of the source area, throws doubt on this model through extensive evidence for mica-working at this site. The Garden Creek community may have been drawn into the Hopewell sphere through its proximity to the mica sources, and the people of Garden Creek may have carried cut mica and crystal quartz as offerings to the major Hopewell centres in the course of pilgrimage.

Additional Information

Publication
Alice P. Wright & Erika Loveland (2015). "Ritualised Craft Production at The Hopewell Periphery: New Evidence From The Appalachian Summit" Antiquity 89 pp. 137-153 Version of Record Available From (www.cambridge.org)
Language: English
Date: 2015
Keywords
Ohio Hopewell, Appalachian Summit, Garden Creek, Middle Woodland period, mica, crystal quartz, geometric enclosures, prehistoric pilgrimage

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