Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks
Photo by David Barker
While researching the life of Gloria Steinem for my post on her passing on September 2, 2026, I learned that, as Gloria travelled across America, she walked upon sacred landscapes, mounds, that historical timelines have ignored.
The secret of these mounds is two-fold.
First, the mounds reveal the magnificent mathematical and astronomical abilities of the Indigenous peoples who lived in the U.S. thousands of years ago. One of their sites is a rival to Stonehenge and other magnificent cosmic wonders of the world.
Secondly, the mounds are physical reminders of a time before the patriarchal order divided us into borders and hierarchies.
The Indigenous Mounds of North America
Thousands of ancient earthen mounds bear witness to the remarkable civilizations of Indigenous North America.
They exist today in the eastern and central United States, from the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley to the Mississippi Valley and the Gulf Coast.
They are called Earthworks, built over many centuries by different Native peoples. They served as ceremonial and sacred places, burial grounds, gathering spaces, and foundations for important buildings.
At least one site is a phenomenal astronomical lunar calendar.
These mounds also call us to a time long before Europeans arrived, when this continent was home to complex, creative, and spiritually rich societies whose relationships with the Earth shaped their communities and traditions.
Not only were these people brilliant mathematicians and builders of cosmic sites, but some of the cultures signal to us evidence of egalitarian societies that existed before patriarchy took hold.
In some of the cultures, women were well-respected and honored, holding high positions within their society.
The descendants of those ancient people are living Indigenous peoples whose histories and connections to these places continue today.
Among the best-known of the Earthworks are the
Hopewell Earthworks Complexes of Ohio.[1]
Where Earth Meets Sky
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio
STONEHENGE OF AMERICA
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is the umbrella name assigned by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to a collection of eight 2,000-year old Native American earthwork sites located across central and southern Ohio.
The crown jewel of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks is Octagon Earthworks, one of the eight sites.
Octagon Earthworks
Octagon Earthworks contains a highly precise 50-acre octagon-shaped enclosure connected by parallel walls to a massive circle.
The octagon and the circle were miraculously built by ancient architects to track the complex 18.6-year lunar cycle, a celestial cycle most modern humans don't even know exists.
Yes, you did read that right: a lunar cycle of18.6 years!
When we think of ancient civilizations masterfully tracking the cosmos, our minds immediately go straight to the towering monoliths of Stonehenge and similar wonders of the world.
But hidden right in the heart of the Ohio area of America is a prehistoric engineering marvel that, in reality, does not just rival Stonehenge, but in many ways, mathematically outperforms it.
The Lunar Clock
The octagon section of the site encloses 50 acres and has openings at each of its 8 corners. Within the octagon opposite these openings are small mounds.
The circle section encloses 20 acres.
Opposite its entrance, in direct alignment with the parallel walls, the Observatory Mound appears to be built across a former gateway.
In a New York Times article of November 28, 2005, Christopher Maag explained:
The mounds' purpose remained a mystery until 1982, when professors from Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., discovered that they aligned perfectly with part of the lunar cycle.
Once every 18.6 years, the moon rises at the northernmost point in its orbit. Pregnant and huge, its light framed by rounded earth, the moon hovers within one-half of a degree of the octagon's exact center.
This makes the Newark Earthworks twice as precise as the lunar observatory at Stonehenge. (Stonehenge could fit inside the mounds' aligning circle, one of the smaller geometric shapes at the Newark site.) [2]
The Complex Lunar Cycle
The Hopewell were master lunar astronomers.
The Moon follows a highly complex 18.6-year cycle known as the lunar standstill cycle. [6][7]
NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE VIEW FROM EARTH.
What we know:
We know that the Moon has a monthly cycle as it circles the Earth. During this cycle, we see the Moon’s changing phases (New Moon to Full Moon).
What most of us do not know:
There is a longer, almost two-decade cycle of the Moon.
During this cycle, from our view on Earth, we see the Moon rising and setting in different locations across the Earth’s horizon.
We also see the Moon rising and setting to different heights and lows relative to the Earth.
How the 18.6-Year Lunar Cycle Works
This longer cycle refers to the shape of the track (the cosmic highway) that the Moon follows as it circles the Earth during each month.
That highway is not a stationary roadway in the sky, however.
The roadway itself moves.
The roadway turns in a circle at the same time the Moon is whizzing around the Earth.
And, while the Moon‘s roadway is turning in a circle, it also wiggles (or wobbles like a spinning coin that is beginning to lose its spin).
The Moon’s own orbital plane, or roadway, takes 18.6 years to complete its own 360 degree rotation.
Now, the big question:
What causes this crazy movement of the Moon’s path?
Blame the Sun's gravity. It is the gravitational pull of the Sun on the Moon’s roadway.
Here is a way to visualize how the Earthworks track the Moon:
It might be clearer to think of the Moon's 27-day orbit as a dinner plate with a ball (Earth) in its middle.
Visualize tilting the plate so that there is a high edge and a low edge. The ball remains where it is in the middle of the plate.
Now think of the Moon as a marble.
Picture the marble zipping around the rim of the plate (around the Earth) every month.
Hold that picture in your mind.
Note this: The plate does not stay still.
It is slowly rotating at the same time as the marble is zipping around its rim.
If you are holding a plate in your hands while doing this visualization, then you represent the Sun.
3. You could manually slowly turn the plate like a steering wheel.
4. Once you have made a complete rotation of the plate: Voila!
It’s 18.6 years later and your plate will have completed a cycle.
This slow cosmic turning of the plate (the Moon’s orbital plane) creates shifts in where the Moon rises and where it sets on the Earth’s horizon every year.
This time-lapse photo captured the Moon rising above the Hopewell Earthworks in central Ohio, framed between the site’s earthen walls. Photo by: Timothy E. Black
The genius of the Hopewell architects was building the Octagon's massive earthen walls to perfectly frame the exact spot where the Moon reaches its ultimate, dramatic peak during its18.6-year cycle.
What is even more staggering is that tracking the almost two-decade lunar orbital cycle (the locations of the rising and setting of the Moon relative to the Earth) required meticulous observation and mapping over generations. [8][9]
This is because an individual astronomer might only see two or three major standstills in their entire adult lifetime.
To build the original Octagon Lunar Clock, the people had to:
Keep precise generational records without a written language.
Isolate the Moon's shifting movements from the Sun's annual movements.
Calculate the exact mathematical center of an 18.6-year swing, all while moving millions of cubic feet of earth by hand.
It proves that these ancient people possessed a sophisticated, highly advanced understanding of geometry and astronomy that rivaled any other civilization on Earth at the time.
FUN FACT: In 2024, in addition to the April 8 total solar eclipse and vibrant displays of auroras, there was another celestial treat for skywatchers: the first "major lunar standstill" of the 18.6 cycle since 2006.
Who knew?
In this 2024 photo, the precise geometry of Newark’s circle-octagon centers on its axial center line, beginning at the center of the Observatory Mound.
~~~~~~
Understanding the sheer genius required to map this complex lunar cycle has to change how we look at the Octagon Earthworks—and even how we look at history.
For generations, the Indigenous peoples were wrongfully stripped of their history and labeled as "savages" by a colonial narrative that couldn't comprehend the complexity of the world it had invaded.
The geometry of the Octagon Earthworks tells a different story.
The landscape stands as an undeniable, mathematical monument to the brilliance of their ancestors.
For modern descendants, this knowledge is a powerful source of reclaimed pride and self-esteem, a permanent reminder that greatness, intellect, and cosmic awe have always been in their DNA.
The Hopewell Culture: A Brief Look
The Hopewell culture itself was a highly sophisticated, widespread network of Native American societies that flourished during the Middle Woodland period (c. 100 BCE - 500 CE).
The Woodland period is calculated at c. 1000 BCE – 1000 CE.
While the culture centered primarily in the Ohio River Valley, its influence reached across a vast portion of eastern North America.
They were not a single unified tribe, but rather a collection of distinct communities linked by a shared spiritual ideology, monumental earthwork architecture, and a trade network that spanned continents. [3][4]
The Mound Builders
Specific Features of the Culture
Egalitarian: The people who built the Hopewell Earthworks had an egalitarian-structured society. They lived in small, peaceful, spread-out farming hamlets. They had no centralized government, no kings, and no standing armies. Archeologists have not found any evidence of war in the culture.
Their culture was different from those that built the Pyramids in that those latter cultures had powerful hierarchical empires with armies of slaves or peasants to work for a king.
Anthropologists believe the leaders in the Hopewell Earthworks were highly respected individuals whose power came from personal talent, persuasion, religious knowledge, or charisma, rather than force. Their status was earned, not inherited. [15][16]
Because there was no king to force people to work, these massive earthworks were built through voluntary community cooperation. People traveled from miles away to pitch in because they deeply respected their leaders and the sacred nature of the site. [15][16]
Geometric Mastery: The Hopewell are well-known for having carved massive geometric enclosures into the landscape. They built near-perfect squares, massive circles, and octagons out of earthworks that spanned hundreds of acres. [5]
The Hopewell Interaction Sphere: They managed one of the most extensive trade networks in ancient history.
Excavations in their mounds have uncovered raw materials imported from thousands of miles away: obsidian from the Yellowstone region, copper from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, marine shells from the Gulf of Mexico, and mica from the Appalachian Mountains. [4]
Masterful Artistry: Hopewell artisans used these traded materials to produce exceptionally fine craftwork.
They hammered copper into intricate animal silhouettes, cut translucent mica into celestial shapes, and sculpted highly detailed stone effigy smoking pipes depicting native birds, otters, and bears. [4]
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Side Bar: The Evolution of the Octagon Earthworks
The Octagon Earthworks existed as a private golf course operated by the Moundbuilders Country Club, which had leased the grounds beginning in 1910.
Octagon Earthworks continued to operate as a golf course until it officially transitioned to public control and opened as a public park on January 1, 2025. Before that time, the grounds were only open to the public a few times during the year.
There’s a Story here!
Those were my words to C:WED founder Eleanor Rae one day when, early in my research, I was telling her about the mounds that Gloria Steinem had mentioned in her writing.
Eleanor zeroed in on the word “mounds” and proceeded to share a memory about her older sister Lucy Donohue.
Eleanor remembers hearing stories, years ago, about how her sister Lucy, who cared deeply about the Indigenous mound sites in her hometown of Newark, Ohio, would walk to the golf course every day out of concern and in protest over ongoing building construction that was damaging the site.
She would arrive around noon, bringing her lunch. Then she would sit nearby guarding the mounds, especially when the workers were on their break and the large machines were still.
According to her family, Lucy, who passed in 2014 at the age of 94, had been a one-woman protest that was aimed at protecting the grounds from being damaged by construction.
Eleanor remembered “Newark” as being part of Lucy’s story.
How surprising, and delightful, it was for me to realize that, most likely, the mounds Lucy Donohue was protecting were the Octagon Earthworks in Newark!
The damaging construction could have been the country club’s announced plan in the mid-2000s to build a massive expanded clubhouse that would have dug deeply into the Earthwork foundations.
After Lucy served many weeks as a lone voluntary guard, other people started coming out as well. Together they formed a protest group that grew large enough in 2005 to be covered by the New York Times.
They successfully blocked the clubhouse building plan. [2]
However, the New York Times article never mentioned Lucy. Her family had considered her the real initiator of the protest effort and whose name, they felt, should have been included in the news report. They were disappointed by the omission.
The protests, however, did create a spark.
In 2007, efforts were begun to apply to UNESCO for Earthworks to be recognized as one of its World Heritage Sites.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and the Great Wall of China, must have outstanding universal value to humanity.
In March 2018, the Ohio History Connection, the Newark historical society, submitted the application to UNESCO.
The protests did something else as well.
They laid the groundwork for a legal battle between the Moundbuilders Country Club and the Ohio History Connection, which had acquired the land containing the Earthworks in 1933, and had been leasing it to the country club under a long-term contract.
The lawsuit, which the Ohio History Connection had filed in 2018, resulted in the 2022 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court in support of the historical society.
The court stated that the Ohio History Connection could buy out the remaining lease contract from the Moundbuilders Country Club under the law of eminent domain, which is the constitutional power of a government to seize private property for a public use, provided the owner receives fair financial compensation. [17]
A golfer pushing his cart over a Native American mound at the Moundbuilders Country Club in Newark, Ohio. Photo by Andrew Spear for The New York Times.
In a New York Times article on August 1, 2024, Sarah Bahr reported that, after agreeing to a monetary settlement that allowed for the golf club’s relocation, the historical society would take over the club’s lease on January 1, 2025.
On that first day of January, 2025, Octagon became a public park and welcomed a crowd of about 800 people. [14]
Guests tour the Octagon Earthworks at UNESCO World Heritage site on Wednesday, January 1, 2025 in Newark. Photo by Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch
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On September 19, 2023, the international delegates to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee unanimously voted to add the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks to its prestigious list.
Octagon is now a National Historical Landmark and part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks UNESCO World Heritage Site.
One could imagine that Lucy Donohue would be quite pleased with this outcome for the mounds she had so carefully guarded.
IN CONCLUSION
The Indigenous descendants of the Hopewell Earthworks have evidence that they are people whose histories and connections are to these cultures and places of the earthen mounds.
The descendants say that they have been told for many years that their people were “savages”.
THE HOPEWELL CEREMONIAL EARTHWORKS UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
BRINGS TO
OUR NATIVE SISTERS AND BROTHERS THE KNOWLEDGE, HONOR, SELF-ESTEEM, AND THE ROOTS THEY HAVE LONG BEEN MISSING.
Now they can visit Octagon Earthworks any day they wish.
Perhaps some of us might join them one day in Newark.
We might also be pleased to learn about egalitarian culture.
RESOURCES
World History Encyclopedia, Joshua J. Mark, ”Ten Great Native American Mound Sites,” 4 May 2021.
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1746/ten-great-native-american-mound-sites/
New York Times, November 28, 2005, Christopher Maag, “Ohio Indian Mounds: Hallowed Ground and a Nice Par 3.”
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), subsidiary of EBSCO Industries, Inc., a source for research content, supporting libraries and their mission . https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/anthropology/hopewell-people/
Video, “Who Were The Ancestral Builders You Were Never Taught About?”
Wikipedia, “Mound Builders,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders
Hopewell Historical Park, National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/hocu/learn/historyculture/high-bank-works.htm
Heartland Earthling Conservancy, “Aligned to the Heavens,” https://earthworksconservancy.org/astronomically-aligned/
WOSU Public Media Video, “What Did The Indigenous Astronomers Know About Space?,” March 31, 2026. https://youtu.be/Ibxc7jBNUvg?is=4mcEHxavWKVqbULD
Also excellent by WOSU Public Media, “Built to Last/Forced to Leave,” a six-part digital docuseries exploring the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks and honoring the legacy of their Indigenous leaders. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXo2mTq4AYbJRYLdVjAau9jcvLkmQCz7u&si=vWRaZZO5LgoZtqvB
Magazine of Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, Winter 2025/Spring 2026, John E. Hancock, “History Retold: Celestial Masterpieces: Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks Declared a World Site.”
https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/hopewell-ceremonial-earthworks
The Archeological Conservancy, “The Mound Builders.”https://www.thearchcons.org/bookreviews/the-mound-builders/
Mississippi Encyclopedia. “Mound Builders,” Jon L. Gibson, Homer, Louisiana. "https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/mound-builders/
Video, “The Mound Builders: Ancient Engineers of North America.“ https://youtu.be/qI-18ii1Eao?is=zDAG59rfRg4YrsTJ
SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012, Barbara Powers, "Newark Earthworks Ohio,” https://sah-archipedia.org/node/79125.
New York Times, August 4, 2024, Sarah Bahr, “Golf Course Atop Ancient Native American Earthworks to Be Removed.”
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), internationally recognized in the field of cultural anthropology. Founded in 1949 at Yale University, “TRADITION SUMMARY: HOPEWELL,” Peter Peregrine and Sarah Berry, https://ehrafarchaeology.yale.edu/traditions/np55/summary
Wikipedia, Hopewell Tradition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopewell_tradition
New York Times. December 9, 2022, Updated December 15, 2022, Susan Bahr, “Golf Course on Ancient Earthworks Must Surrender Lease, Justices Say.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/arts/design/octagon-earthworks-ohio-golf-course.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
COMMENTS
PREVIOUS POST: “EQUINOX”, written by Anne Andersson, October 3, 2026
—Very nice post! Very timely! I’m noticing that many people in [the support groups that I facilitate] have difficulty with their mental health when shifting from summer to winter. Your post could really inspire many people! 🥰🥰🥰 —MA
—Thank you. It is important to see how nature unites us. —RE
—Dear Anne, I took my time and savored the beauty of the equinox and what it offers us humans to savor. Thank you for this "treat" —LB
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