The mounds at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park have been added to the World Heritage List kept by UNESCO/NPS file

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has added Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, a group of eight ancient earthwork sites in southern Ohio, to the World Heritage List. Among the eight sites is Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Five of the earthwork sites are managed by the National Park Service and three are managed by the Ohio History Connection.

The sites that comprise Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks were built between 1,500 and 2,200 years ago by people now referred to as the Hopewell Culture. The earthworks, built on an enormous scale and using a standard unit of measure, form precise squares, circles, and octagons as well as a hilltop sculpted to enclose a vast plaza. The geometric forms are consistently deployed across great distances and encode alignments with both the sun’s cycles and the far more complex patterns of the moon. Artifacts, which are among the most outstanding art objects produced in pre-Columbian North America, show that those who built the earthworks interacted with people as far away as the Yellowstone basin and Florida. These are among the largest earthworks in the world that are not fortifications or defensive structures.

The properties comprising the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks: 

• Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, including the Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, High Bank Earthworks and Hopeton Earthworks
• The Ohio History Connection’s Octagon Earthworks and Great Circle Earthworks in Newark and Fort Ancient Earthworks in Oregonia

As Traveler contributor Kim Kobersmith noted in her story on the historical park earlier this summer, there is no evidence that people lived in these earthworks, which were named after the family that once owned the land. They are believed to be part of a vast network of ceremonial sites, in use from 50 to 400 AD. They were the temples of a complex religion, practiced by people throughout the entire Eastern United States, and on high holy days would have been cosmopolitan cities full of elaborately dressed practitioners who spoke a panoply of languages.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the designation, approved Tuesday, "is a tremendous opportunity and recognition of the contributions of America’s Indigenous Peoples. World Heritage designation is an opportunity for the United States to share the whole story of America and the remarkable diversity of our cultural heritage as well as the beauty of our land. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are unique creations of America’s indigenous people and a remarkable survival of our ancient history.”

The inclusion of a site in the World Heritage List does not affect U.S. sovereignty or management of the sites, which remain subject only to U.S., state and local laws. Detailed information on the World Heritage Program and the process for the selection of U.S. sites can be found at the National Park Service’s website.