Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mounds at Mound City – one of eight earthworks included in the site
Criteria(i)(iii)
Reference1689
Inscription2023 (45th Session)

Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is a World Heritage Site in the United States preserving eight monumental earthworks constructed by the Hopewell Culture. The sites consist of large geometric shapes covering several acres in area. Constructed between approximately 0 and 400 AD, the earthworks lie along tributaries of the Ohio River in the present-day state of Ohio. They depict the richness and depth of pre-Columbian culture, science, astronomy, and sacred monumental architecture. Many sites were plowed and reduced in size during almost 200 years of agricultural use.

In 2008, the Department of the Interior submitted Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks as one of 14 sites on its tentative list from which the United States makes nominations for the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[1] UNESCO inscribed the earthworks as the United States' 25th and newest World Heritage Site on September 19, 2023. The complexes are owned and managed by the National Park Service and Ohio History Connection.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ "Secretary Kempthorne Selects New U.S. World Heritage Tentative List", Dept. of Interior, 25 Jan 2008, accessed 28 Oct 2018
  2. ^ Weingartner, Tana (19 September 2023). "Ohio's Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are now a UNESCO World Heritage site". NPR. Archived from the original on 9 February 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks - Hopewell Culture National Historical Park". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-03.