Ohio’s Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks mark UNESCO World Heritage designation

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) — For 400 years, Indigenous North Americans flocked to a group of ceremonial sites in what is present-day Ohio to celebrate their culture and honor their dead. The sheer magnitude of the ancient Hopewell culture’s reach was lifted up to a new set of visitors from around the world Saturday. Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma Chief Glenna Wallace says the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks’ UNESCO World Heritage designation means the world now knows ancient Native Americans were “uncommon geniuses.” The eight earthworks sites are described as “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory.” They stretch across 90 miles in southern Ohio.